Pingatore's 826th win ties state mark

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Gene Pingatore vividly remembers his first victory.

“It was December 1969, and we upset St. Patrick in our gym 51-50. They won the conference that year and we only won three games,” he said.

On Saturday night in Evanston, Pingatore claimed a significant part of Illinois boys’ basketball history. Behind a monster game from 6-8 UIC recruit Louis Green and a pivotal second-half burst, the Chargers overpowered the Wildkits 69-58.

The victory was the 826th of Pingatore’s career, tying him with Dick Van Scyoc for first all-time among Illinois boys coaches.

“It’s still fun, and I love working with the kids,” Pingatore said.

Pingatore is 826-273 in his 40th season as a head coach, all at St. Joseph. Van Scyoc was 826-399 in 44 seasons at Armington, downstate Washington and Peoria Manual. Rockford Boylan's Steve Goers has 825 wins after the Titans lost 66-57 to Rockford Auburn on Saturday night.

Green scored a career-best 29 points, hauled down 15 rebounds and blocked six shots to lead the Chargers (12-3).

“The guys were talking about the [importance of the game] before the game, but I didn’t want put more pressure on myself and get all nervous,” Green said.

“I just treated it like a normal game.”

Green scored 16 of the Chargers’ first 23 points. Showing a series of power moves, post-ups and putbacks, he scored 17 points in the first half to lead the Chargers to a 35-25 lead at the break.

“We’ve been waiting for him to emerge and have a game like this,” Pingatore said.

The Wildkits (7-7) opened the third quarter with a 14-6 burst. Sophomore Garrett Jones (15 points) scored on a three-point play to pull Evanston within 41-39.

Over the next four minutes extending to the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter, the Chargers countered with a 14-2 run. Junior forward Mantas Dubauskas scored six of his 18 points during the run.

“We had to do a better job of controlling their pressure and playing better defense,” Johnson said.

St. Joseph also benefited from the return of highly-regarded junior guard DeAndre McCamey. He played just his second game after recovering from a torn ACL ligament he suffered last spring.

“He brings a presence to the team, even though we had to do some different things offensively because he’s only been practicing a week,” Pingatore said.

McCamey scored three points, drilling a three-pointer from the right baseline in the first half. Senior guard Nate Rogers added nine points for the Chargers.

Ryan Frazier-Chambers and Isiah Irving added 13 points apiece for the Wildkits.