Early struggles contibute to L-W East loss
By David Allen For Sun-Times Media December 15, 2012 12:00AM
Providence's Nate Vejvoda hits an outside jumper against St. Joseph Friday in New Lenox. Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 17, 2013 6:45AM
Homewood-Flossmoor jumped on host Lincoln-Way East and did not let up in a 72-42 SouthWest Suburban Blue win Friday.
The Vikings kept their road warrior campaign going as they stayed unbeaten after nine games despite playing only one home game.
“Our guys played hard and that’s what we need to do,” H-F coach Jim McLaughlin said. “We came out and got after it and really played hard from the very beginning of the basketball game. There are still some things we need to work on, but it is very promising to play with that much energy.”
H-F (9-0, 3-0) outscored No. 7 East 12-1 over the last five minutes of the opening quarter for an 18-8 lead. The Vikings had three baskets after steals in that stretch and a tip dunk by Lamar Wofford-Humphrey after a missed free throw.
The Griffins (4-3, 0-3) struggled early, even after beating the full-court press. East finished with 24 turnovers, 12 in the first quarter.
“We worked all week on trying to beat full-court pressure and we initially did that,” East coach Rich Kolimas said. “But we made a lot of mistakes in the half court and that’s because of H-F. Coach McLaughlin is going to enjoy this season because they’re deep, his kids listen and work very hard.”
Maurius Hill scored 11 of his 19 points in the first half for H-F and didn’t play the last seven minutes. Jason Scott added 13 for the Vikings.
East’s Eric Spudic, who scored 19 points against Joliet West in his previous game, was held to six points, just one in the first half.
“We always want to come out hard on the opponent’s home court and we did that,” Hill said. “We wanted to keep the pressure going and not let up.”
