On Tuesday, Jan. 27, the boys varsity basketball team faced off against the Lake Zurich Bears in the main gym after a win against Rolling Meadows last Saturday, Jan. 24.
“We knew we had to stick to the game plan, and that’s what we did,” sophomore Nick Baker (4) said. “That first quarter set the tone.”
The Wildcats focused on their defense for this game, proving to be a success as they won with a final score of 36-32.
“In a game like tonight, we’re not shooting the ball particularly well,” Head Coach Brian Zyrkowski said. “And tonight was one of those nights that we had to defend. And I credit this team overall. They played really hard on the defensive end, and that’s what won us.”
The Wildcats started with a lead against the Bears, but Lake Zurich responded and took back control as the game tightened up near the end. With both teams struggling offensively, the Wildcats looked to make key adjustments in terms of their confidence on the court.
“We were a little bit stagnant,” Coach Zyrkowski said. “[We needed] to have confidence to shoot the basketball.”
The Wildcats also needed to make sure that they didn’t allow the Lake Zurich player, Kain Kretschmar (3), to get too loose on the court.
“I think Trevor Wallace (2) did a phenomenal job on [Kretschmar], and Jack Cenar (25) had a great game defensively against Adrian Riep (14),” Coach Zyrkowski said.
These adjustments proved to pay off as, into the fourth quarter, Baker (4) delivered the game’s biggest moment, making a three-point shot with a couple of minutes to go, propelling the Wildcats to victory.
“All night, [Baker] was struggling from the three-point line,” Coach Zyrkowski said. “We just had to keep shooting the ball and get a big shot towards the end of the game… That’s a hard thing to do – especially when you’re not shooting the ball particularly well – to hit that shot at that time. That was a big shot.”
The Wildcats’ preparation played a key role in their win. Having previously played against Lake Zurich on Dec. 13 and won the game 60-54, the team already had a game plan set in stone.
“We already knew what [Lake Zurich] could do, so we stuck to that game plan,” senior Jack Cenar said (25). “We guarded our guys, hit our shots, but played our offense.”
The Wildcats will go on to play their next away game against Mundelein on Friday, Jan. 30.
