Boys Basketball: Brother Rice downs Highland Park despite slow start

Updated: December 28, 2011 9:15PM

Most coaches are pretty happy after seeing their team advance to the semifinals of a holiday tournament.

Although Brother Rice’s Pat Richardson wasn’t upset about reaching the semifinals at the Hinsdale South Holiday Tournament, he was disappointed with how his squad advanced.

The Crusaders overcame a slow start to lead by as many as 10 points in the third period before holding off Highland Park late to claim a 55-48 win in Darien on Wednesday.

Brother Rice (8-3) advances to Thursday’s 6:15 p.m. semifinals against Schaumburg (8-3), which captured a 65-50 win over Wheaton North.

“We seem to have a general lack of interest in playing defense,” Richardson said. “Defense for us has been a time period between when we have the ball and when we’re going to get it again. I’ve never had a team struggle so much with just being aggressive and playing hard.”

Fortunately for the Crusaders, their shooting touch was on while Highland Park (6-5) struggled from both the floor and the free throw stripe.

The winners shot 56 percent from the field while the Giants made good on 41 percent of their shots and just 44 percent of their free throws.

Things were tied at 28-28 early in the third quarter when the Crusaders took control by hitting five three-pointers to grab a 43-33 lead.

Highland Park, which plays Wheaton North on Thursday, managed to close to within 47-46 with 1:35 remaining in the contest.

But Brother Rice responded by scoring eight of the game’s final 10 points to assure themselves of a spot in the semifinals.

The Crusaders were led by Ray Rubio (17 points, seven rebounds), Sean Fitzpatrick (14 points), Garrett O’Neill (nine points) and Alex Majewski (eight points, eight rebounds).

Ross Chukerman paced the Giants with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Josh Sterns contributed 12 points and seven rebounds.

“I thought Brother Rice was really sharp after the first quarter,” Giants coach Paul Harris said. “We have to shoot better from the free throw line. Otherwise, I have no complaints about how we played since I thought that we laid it on the line against a very good team.”

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