Joliet West can't hang with Metea Valley

Following Saturday's 68-41 loss to Metea Valley in the third-place game of the first Joliet West Tiger Classic, Tigers coach Luke Yaklich knew exactly how his Sunday would be spent.

"The coaching staff and I will be going over everything long and hard," he said. "It is back to the drawing board for us.

"We are going to reinvent ourselves as a team. I can guarantee you will see a different team and a different style of play on Friday (when West opens Southwest Suburban Blue play at Lockport)."

If the Tigers were disappointed in their play Friday when they dropped a 56-50 decision to Plainfield North, they were a double dose of bummed Saturday.

Metea Valley (3-1), in its first varsity season and without seniors, is a quality team. There is no shame in losing to the Mustangs.

On the other hand, the Tigers (2-2) never were in the game after Metea Valley grabbed an 18-9 lead after one quarter. West made one minor surge to get the deficit back under 10 points by halftime, but the Mustangs blew it open for good in the third quarter.

"Those guys played the way we want our kids to play," Yaklich said. "They have a chip on their shoulder in that they are trying to create an identity for their program, and a win over Joliet West probably is a great rung on that ladder.

"But the shocking thing about the last couple of nights is that the team that we have coached for two weeks in practice is not even close to what you saw on the floor when the lights came on."

West shot 31.1 percent on 14 of 45 and made only 11 of 23 free throws. Metea Valley, which shot a shade over 50 percent, held a 36-25 rebounding advantage and committed 13 turnovers to the Tigers' 17 as all the stats favored the Mustangs.

Brandon Tyson had 12 points and 7 rebounds and Marlon Johnson 6 points and 10 boards for West. Kenny Obendorf led Metea Valley with 17 points and Milan Bojanic added 11.

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