Boys Basketball: Tyler Fawcett’s fast start fuels Wheaton Warrenville South’s win over Geneva

Fawcett scores 15 points, Tigers beat Vikings 61-37

Wheaton Warrenville South's Matthew Sommerdyke and Tyler Fawcett fight with Geneva's Ryan Huskey for the rebound during the varsity basketball matchup in Wheaton on Wednesday, March 3, 2021.

WHEATON – Wheaton Warrenville South teammates got Tyler Fawcett involved from the opening throw-in Wednesday, and he rewarded their trust and patience to deliver the ball to him in fine fashion.

His early three-point play evidently got him pumped, and he went on to score nine of his 15 points in the first quarter of the Tigers’ 61-37 win over Geneva on Wednesday in the DuKane Conference.

“I was just open on some lanes and I took advantage of open shots,” Fawcett said.

That energy, however, was feasted on by the Tigers.

Late in the first quarter, Fawcett forcefully blocked a bounce pass from Geneva forward Quin McNeive to force a turnover. It helped lead to a fancy feed from Tigers teammate Danny Healy to Fawcett for a driving baseline dunk that sparked WW South.

“We even said there was a stretch where we started shooting too many threes and we needed to get him a couple more touches,” Tigers coach Mike Healy said. “[Fawcett]’s really, really played well in the last 10 days. Asserted himself, finished around the rim, rebounding the ball. He’s done good stuff.”

Fawcett and the Tigers showed good patience on offense – but also hyper-intense defense to slow Geneva (7-4, 5-4).

WW South (11-2, 8-1) made life difficult on the Vikings on inbounds, evidenced by a stretch in the second quarter where it took three attempts for the Vikings to get the ball in play. Tigers defenders weren’t shy about getting deflections and doing whatever they could to force standout Vikings guard Nate Valentine out of the play.

“We pride ourselves on defense and just playing hard,” Fawcett said. “If we can’t control the offensive end, we’ll always play hard and try our best to control the defensive end.”

The Tigers led 30-19 at the half and extended their lead to 16 heading into the fourth quarter. With two minutes remaining, both teams emptied their benches.

Parker Brown’s 14 points and three rebounds paced WW South. Jaylen Brown chipped in nine points and three rebounds, while Rourke Robinson scored six points off the bench, one of seven Tigers to score.

“They’re so athletic. It’s hard to simulate what they do,” Geneva coach Scott Hennig said. “When they have a kid like Parker Brown; they have five college athletes out there. Maybe not [all] basketball players, but they’ve got a bunch of athletes that move around the ball and they’re just so disciplined on offense.”

“I thought we got them to turn it over a bit,” Hennig continued. “Kudos to them.”

Valentine scored 12 points – all on three pointers. McNeive finished with nine points and five rebounds while Ryan Huskey and Luke Engebretson each had five points.

Healy admitted a few weeks ago the Tigers collective shooting percentages were too low. Their most recent stretch of wins against Geneva, St. Charles North and Lake Park perhaps are an indication they’ve worked those issues out.

“We wanted to be aggressive, but they’ve showed a little bit, at this point, patience to get maybe a good shot and then for a greater shot,” Healy said. “In our stretch that we’ve played better, our assists have gone up. Which means, that kids are finding guys and maybe making that extra pass.”

“I feel like there’s a lot of trust with the guys right now,” Healy continued. “They all can score and and they trust, if they’re open, someone’s going to get it to them. Not that we were taking bad shots; I feel like they’re also realizing if they wait 10 extra seconds, that shot that was [initially] open, now was even more open and they can be fundamental.”