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Boys Basketball: Waukegan drives past Evanston late
Updated: January 27, 2012 10:58PM
Junior guard Jordan Johnson scored on three consecutive driving layups as host Waukegan erased a 44-43 deficit and went on to beat Evanston 54-49 on Friday in a Central Suburban League South Division game.
The Bulldogs (10-8 overall, 6-1 in the division) will play at New Trier next Friday needing a win to move into a first-place tie. Evanston (13-7 overall after a 7-0 start) is 3-4 in the division.
Evanston went ahead 44-43 with 4:31 left on a putback by Leonard Garron (team-high 14 points).
Johnson then drove the length of the court and his layup put the Bulldogs ahead for good.
After an Evanston miss, Johnson again found a hole in the Wilkits’ defense and his layin made it 47-44 with three minutes left.
Evanston then turned the ball over and Johnson struck once more with 2:27 left to make it 49-44. Johnson finished with 19 points.
The closest Evanston got after that was 52-49 after another Garron putback with 45 seconds left, but Akeem Springs (11 points, 12 rebounds) and Davonte Taylor (eight points) each went 1-for-2 at the foul line to complete the scoring.
“Jordan’s playing with a lot of confidence right now,” said Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw. “He’s really good at finding holes underneath when we stay our of his way.”
Waukegan is 8-2 this when it holds teams to less than 54 points.
On the other side, sophomore Jackson Mihevc had nine points (3 of 5 from three-point range), Terrell Farmby eight points and nine rebounds, and Josh Irving had seven points.
“We’re just not playing tough enough offensively,” said Evanston coach Mike Ellis, whose team only went to the free-throw line seven time. “They were tough enoug to go to the line 29 times, and that’s one of the differences in the game.”
Waukegan made 16 free throws and Evanston four.
“It’s a constant, recurring theme for us,” said Ellis. “Offensively, we settle for jump shots instead of being tough enough to go inside and draw fouls. We have to get tougher offensively.”
Waukegan led virtually the entire game. Evanston’s first and only lead was 44-43. The Bulldogs led 15-6 after one quarter and 26-19 at halftime.
“We did a good job holding Springs, but the trade-off was Johnson’s penetration,” said Ellis. “That hurt us.”
Evanston’s next league game is Friday, at home, against Niles West.
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