SOMONAUK — The opening three minutes of Friday night’s Little Ten Conference boys basketball contest here between visiting LaMoille-Ohio and the host Bobcats saw the two clubs on even terms.
However, the hosts began to cause havoc in their 1-2-2, full-court press and used a 9-0 burst in a two-minute span to grab an early double-digit lead. Somonauk closed out the first quarter with a 27-12 advantage, finished the first half shooting 69% (22 of 32) from the floor and caused 16 of the Lions’ 22 miscues on the way to a 73-28 victory.
Somonauk (8-4, 6-2) was led by game-highs in points (17) and rebounds (eight) by junior guard Payton Wyant, with sophomore forward Coleton Eade adding 10 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks, and senior Alex Krejci (four assists) and junior Parker Wasson (four assists, four steals) chipping in nine points each. Junior guard Brendan Roberts also had six assists and a pair of steals for the Bobcats.
LaMoille-Ohio (2-8, 1-7) was paced by 14 points and five rebounds from senior Jason Martin.
“There was a point in the first half when I looked to (assistant coaches) Tim (Jansen) and Reed (Goodbred) and said to them, ‘Have we missed a shot yet?’ The kids did a good job of creating turnovers in our press and then converting at the rim.”
— Somonauk coach Curt Alsvig
“There was a point in the first half when I looked to (assistant coaches) Tim (Jansen) and Reed (Goodbred) and said to them ‘Have we missed a shot yet?’ The kids did a good job of creating turnovers in our press and then converting at the rim,” said Somonauk coach Curt Alsvig. “We really played good overall team basketball on both ends of the floor and had balanced scoring. That’s what we’re looking for each time we take the floor, and I think we are playing pretty good basketball right now.
“Parker has started for us at times this season, but right now he’s coming off the bench. You know there was a time (NBA star and current Brooklyn Nets shooting guard) James Hardin came off the bench for a while too. Sometimes you have to accept a role, and Parker has done that for us. We are fortunate to be able to go eight to 10 to 12 players deep and not really have to change up what we are doing.”
The contest began with the Lions holding leads of 2-0 and 4-2 after hoops from Martin and Joe Quest, but a pair of free throws from Brock Zimmerman and a 3-pointer from the top of the key from Eade started the aforementioned run for the hosts.
Wyant came off the bench to pop in four baskets in the final two minutes of the first, and a drive by Wasson in the final seconds closed out the opening frame.
“We knew that (Somonauk) was going to press us, and I thought we handled it pretty well for a while, but then we had a few turnovers in a row, they picked up a couple steals, and they were getting easy layups.”
— LaMoille-Ohio coach Kenny Shrimplin
The Bobcats, who finished the game hitting 57% (31 of 54) from the floor, continued to extend their lead in the second, outscoring the Lions 24-7 and closing out the first half on a 13-0 run — with five points each from Eade and Julio Salgado (seven points) to take a 51-19 lead into the intermission.
“We did everything we wanted to do in the opening three minutes,” said LaMoille-Ohio coach Kenny Shrimplin. “We talked taking our time on the offensive end, making good passes and moving without the ball. We knew that (Somonauk) was going to press us, and I thought we handled it pretty well for a while, but then we had a few turnovers in a row, they picked up a couple steals, and they were getting easy layups.
“Jason has stepped for us a lot this season, and the past couple of games has done a good job of taking the ball to the basket. He been our leader and has done a very good job this season of trying to help make the younger players we have better. I thought he played a really nice game tonight.”
Next up: Somonauk has a quick turnaround as the Bobcats travel a few miles east down Route 34 to take on Sandwich on Saturday at 3 p.m. LaMoille-Ohio will play its final game of the season Monday at 5:30 p.m., hosting LTC foe DePue.