SYCAMORE – The Sycamore boys basketball team was without Isaiah Feuerbach, the team’s leader in pretty much every statistical category.
Josiah Mitchell and the Spartans made sure his production wasn’t missed.
Mitchell scored 19 off the bench in Sycamore’s 62-53 wire-to-wire win over La Salle-Peru in Interstate 8 Conference action Tuesday.
“It definitely makes us play harder and play better,” Mitchell said of Feuerbach’s absence. “He’s a leader, and I know they know that. I’m sure they were excited and happy about that. We just came out and played harder.”
Sycamore coach Ethan Franklin said Feuerbach tweaked his knee in practice Monday and is in wait-and-see mode for how long he will miss. The Spartans (18-6, 6-1 I-8) host Kaneland (22-1, 6-0) on Friday.
Against the Cavaliers (11-15, 4-3), the Spartans never trailed. The Sycamore lead dwindled to 27-26 at halftime, in part to some rebounding issues for the Spartans. The Cavs had five offensive rebounds in the quarter.
Franklin said the rebounding was responsible for a nine-point lead early almost evaporating. The Spartans still finished with a 37-20 edge on the boards.
“I should have crashed the boards a little harder, get more rebounds and stop them on offensive rebounds,” said Mitchell, who had six rebounds. “That was really our struggle during the game and why it stayed close. They had the offensive rebounds.”
Sycamore scored the first 11 points of the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers for Unique Shaw after he made only one his five first-half 3-point attempts.
The Sycamore lead remained more than 10 until the closing seconds.
“We just didn’t run the offense; we didn’t keep anybody in front of us on defense,” L-P coach John Senica said. “We didn’t do anything we were supposed to do. Period.”
Mikey Hartman led the Cavs with 19 points and five rebounds.
During the Cavaliers' second-quarter run, Senica said it wasn’t so much what was going right for his squad but what was going wrong for Sycamore.
“They missed some shots. That’s basically all that happened,” Senica said. “We did not play any defense. We did not run our offense. We just did not come to play.”
Shaw had 15 points for the Spartans, and Jakob Shipley had 11. Carter York had a game-high seven rebounds. Michale Chami had six points, six rebounds and six assists.
“They stepped up,” Franklin said. “Obviously, with Isaiah being out it created a big void for us. And these guys stepped in flawlessly.”
He said the win shows the importance of summer ball. When a player’s number was called, he could match Feuerbach’s production.
“This whole season is a yearlong process once we gather our group in June,” Franklin said. “Guys have played without certain players whether it’s been an injury or were gone for a specific summer game or whatever. That group has played together, and that group has found ways to win.”