Boys basketball: Strong JCA defense not enough in loss to Notre Dame

JOLIET — Defense and effort were not an issue for Joliet Catholic Academy on Friday night in a 55-44 loss to East Suburban Catholic Conference rival Niles Notre Dame.

What doomed the Hilltoppers (8-16, 1-12) was too many extended periods of time between baskets.

“I’m very happy with our defense,” JCA coach Adam DeGroot said. “If you would have told me before the game that Notre Dame was going to score 55 points, I would have liked our chances. The problem for us was that we didn’t get our offense going until late in the game.

“We don’t have a lot of size, so we have to be very efficient on offense. Give credit to Notre Dame. They played a good defensive game.”

JCA grabbed a short-lived 9-8 lead in the first quarter after a basket by Owen Wiers before Notre Dame closed the quarter on a 9-2 run. The final seven of the Dons’ points were scored by Brady Sehlhorst, who led all scorers with 26 points to go with a game-high seven rebounds.

The run continued into the second as Notre Dame (13-14, 8-5) scored the first 11 points of the quarter, including seven from Sehlhorst. JCA answered with a 7-0 run as reserve guard Jack Superits sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a free throw by Jmes Pilapil (8 points) before Sehlhorst scored to make it 30-18 Notre Dame at halftime.

“We really haven’t been able to put four full quarters together,” DeGroot said. “Without a lot of size, a lot of our possessions are one-and-done. We don’t have the size to clean up a lot of offensive rebounds, so when we aren’t making our shots, it can be tough for us.”

The second half was better for the Hilltoppers. They outscored Notre Dame 12-8 in the third quarter, getting four points from Hayden Armstrong and two each by JJ Sterrett, Wiers, Pilapil and Drew Wills (team-high 10 points), to cut the Dons’ lead to 38-30 entering the fourth.

JCA, which committed just five turnovers on the night, continued to fight back, getting to within 45-38 midway through the fourth on a 3-pointer by Wills. Notre Dame was able to put the game away by hitting 8 of 8 free throws in the final two minutes. During the fourth, JCA’s Connor Louthan scored all eight of his points, incuding a pair of 3-pointers. Louthan and Superits combined for 14 points despite not starting.

“I have all the confidence in the world in all our guys,” DeGroot said. “It has been by committee for us all year. There have been a lot of different lineups in for us in late-game situations. If someone is on a roll, I will leave them in there and ride that hot hand.”

JCA hopes to use the tough schedule in the ESCC to help them prepare for the Class 2A postseason. Last season, the Hilltoppers advanced to the 2A sectional championship game after negotiating the rigorous league slate.

“We are taking steps in the right direction,” DeGroot said. “We’re into February and that’s when you want to be playing your best basketball. We had a tough stretch for a while with seven straight road games because of weather cancellations. Now, we have a few home games in a row, so hopefully we can gain some good experience and improvement.

“This league will definitely have us battle-tested when the postseason hits. I think we can show people that we aren’t your typical 8-16 team.”