Boys Basketball: Notre Dame’s Duante Stephens turns heads at Wheeling

Updated: January 3, 2012 7:01PM

Notre Dame spent its Christmas vacation picking up a fourth-place trophy at the 38th annual Hardwood Classic in Wheeling.

“I like coming to this tournament,” Notre Dame coach Tom Les said. “I thought our bracket was a tough bracket. There were four pretty good teams in our bracket. I thought it was a good tournament for us.”

Notre Dame, which won the tournament in 2010, got off to an exciting start in the tournament.

The Dons won their first game against Vernon Hills 48-44. Notre Dame then rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit and Duante Stephens nailed an off-balance shot at the buzzer to help lift the Dons past Lake Park 53-50 in the quarterfinals.

But Notre Dame couldn’t quite sustain the momentum, losing to Stevenson 58-49 in the semifinals and then 62-58 to Libertyville in the third-place game.

Les said he thought he team could have shot the ball better in the tournament.

“Obviously was I was happy the way we came back against Lake Park,” Les said. “The rest of the tournament we did not shoot the ball that well. It is hard to keep grinding when you aren’t hitting shots you normally hit. Most teams, when they shoot it well, defend better.”

Les did single out the play of Stephens as the highlight of the tournament for the Dons. Stephens, who averaged 14 points per game in the four-day event, was named to the all-tournament team and the sophomore garnered attention from observers with his play.

“If anything has come out of the tournament, Duante is stepping up and playing better,” Les said. “He is sophomore, so he has a lot ahead of him.”

Les is pleased with his team’s overall play as it gets ready to begin the second half of the season at Brother Rice on Jan. 10. The Dons (11-4) resume play in the East Suburban Catholic, where they are 1-0, on Jan. 14 against Nazareth Academy in La Grange Park.

“I lost five starters from last year,” Les said. “I have very little varsity experience and sometimes in close game that is exposed. But overall we are playing well.”

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