Lockport cranks up defensive effort to spark win over Joliet Catholic

Porters improve to 6-2 on the season

LOCKPORT — In this compressed basketball season, there’s not going to be a lot of time to ruminate on what may or may not be working from night to night.

And fresh off an overtime win Tuesday night, the Lockport boys basketball team was a little off to start Wednesday night’s nonconference game against visiting Joliet Catholic Academy.

After a sluggish first quarter that had the two teams deadlocked at 6-all, Lockport (6-2) went back to what they hope can be a bedrock for them this season, a tenacious defensive effort. And that inspired effort helped generate offense the rest of the night as the Porters rolled to a 56-32 win over the Hilltoppers.

The increased intensity sparked a second-quarter push that allowed the Porters to rattle off the first 11 points and held the Hilltoppers (0-6) scoreless for about five minutes.

“It was probably our aggression on the defensive end. We got a lot of steals, and we just kept running it,” Lockport guard Angelo Vassilakis said. “Good defense usually comes with good offense. We started off slow this season, as we’ve gone on we’ve gotten better on the defensive end, and it kind of shows that defense is carrying us.”

That allowed Lockport to carry a 23-10 lead into the break, and they didn’t relent heading into the second half quickly running the lead to 20 points, scoring the first seven points of the third quarter.

The gap on the scoreboard allowed Lockport to freely substitute over the course of the game, but the reserves didn’t miss a beat during their extended playing time, distributing the ball and allowing 10 different players to score. Matas Deksnys still managed to reach double digits with 11 points despite playing sparingly in the second half.

“The defense had to ignite the offense, and that’s easier said than done, but I thought we were able to do it,” Lockport coach Brett Hespell said. “Unselfishness is definitely a part of the fabric of this team, especially from the guys that play all the time. So I expect nothing less from the guys that go out there at the end because that’s what they do every day in practice.”

Lockport will head into Friday night’s matchup against undefeated Homewood-Flossmoor hoping for a better showing for themselves than a 75-46 loss that started the season for both teams Feb. 9.

“I think we are hungry to show that we’re better than we showed the first time we played them,” Hespell said. “They are really good. The scores show that. But we’re a lot better than the way we played that first game. I expect us to play better. I don’t know if it is a goal. I don’t know if we have goals beyond having a good season and a good experience overall. But I know they want to play well on Friday and have a chance to win that game, because that would mean a lot to them.”

Not much went right for Joliet Catholic. After the low-scoring first quarter, the Hilltoppers couldn’t catch a break. Shots frequently rattled out and they didn’t make a 3-pointer in the game.

Thus far, the season schedule has been a relentless gauntlet for the Hilltoppers. JCA opponents, which include the state’s No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A in Niles Notre Dame, have combined for a 30-10 record in the early going.

Drew Buss led the Hilltoppers with 12 points and no other JCA player had more than four.