Neuqua makes statement, tips Morton

Kareem Amedu of Neuqua Valley tries to take a shot past two Morton defenders.
(Patrick Gleason/For the Sun-Times News Group)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said his team “lost composure.” Wildcats guard Rahjan Muhammad said the same thing slightly differently: “we got rattled.”

And this was after a win.

You can forgive Neuqua Valley if the 65-63 win over No. 13 Morton at the York Thanksgiving Tournament Friday in Elmhurst barely felt like a victory.

The No. 21 Wildcats played almost flawlessly in the first half, building a 42-24 lead. They held things together in the third quarter and led 52-30 after a rebound and basket by Kareem Amedu.

Then in the fourth quarter, the wheels fell off.

Morton still had a raucous crowd cheering it on despite being on the road and trailing by 22 points. The Mustangs seemed to feed off their energy and exploded for a 21-3 run, cutting the lead to 55-51 with two minutes to play.

“I think that crowd sort of kept our heads in the game a bit,” Morton coach Tony Martinucci said. “I’m really happy with the way we came back and played. That’s a very good Neuqua team.”

Muhammad (21 points) responded for Neuqua with a driving layup, the Wildcat’s first field goal in over five minutes. A steal and layup by Muhammad on the next possession extended the lead back to nine.

“My job is to come off the bench and try to give the team a spark,” Muhammad said. “A lot of times defense is the best way to do that.”

Morton chipped away over the final two minutes and a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Mike Coleman (nine points) brought the Mustangs within two, but time had run out on the comeback.

“Who knows what might have happened if the game was a little longer?” Martinucci said. “But we were in a lot of foul trouble there at the end.”

Dwayne Evans scored 11 and grabbed seven rebounds for the Wildcats (4-0) and Amedu added 11 points and six rebounds.

Luke Scarlata led Morton (3-1) with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Raul Guzman added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Oscar Macias contributed 10 points and five rebounds.

“We’re a very good team,” Sutton said. “But I learned tonight that we can be equally bad at times.”

The victory gave Neuqua Valley the tournament championship, but more importantly the win over a highly-regarded Morton team gives the Wildcats some respect in the area.

“We know people don’t think we are that good,” Muhammad said. “Beating Morton was a chance for some respect.”