Boys Basketball: Von Steuben bounces back, tops Providence-St Mel

Updated: December 17, 2011 10:12PM

Von Steuben suffered a late heartbreaking loss a few days ago to Foreman and found a way to survive on Saturday night.

The Panthers pulled together a much better fourth quarter and got past Providence-St. Mel 42-32 in the Chicago Winter Jamboree and Shootout at Oakton College in Des Plaines.

“We had a big game back on Thursday,” Von Steuben coach Vince Carter said. “We kind of threw that game away. This one we did a much better job taking care of the ball and making our free throws. Our free throw shooting, still wasn’t the best, but we’ll take it. It was a matter of our guys concentration.”

“I thought it was our defense that held us in the game, and we wore them down a bit.”

Von Steuben (4-1) made 10 of 18 free throws in the final quarter and went 14 of 28 for the game.

Demetrius Faulkner scored nine of his game high 16 points for the Panthers in the fourth quarter and helped break a 24-24 tie early in the fourth. Von Steuben built a 10-point lead in the final few minutes.

“We know that we have to be patient,” Faulkner said. “We stuck to the offense and the system. Which helped us get the victory.”

Deqwon Horn also chipped in 10 points for the Panthers.

Khalil Small led Providence St, Mel (8-3) with 11 points. But the Knight had a lot of problems getting into its offense with consistency,

“We really couldn’t create any type of offense,” Providence St. Mel coach Tim Ervin said. “(Von Steuben) played some pretty good defense. When the offense isn’t going, it’s hard to keep up mentally on defense. We had a few mental lapses and gave up a few easy baskets in the (fourth quarter). It made the big difference for us.”

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