Hawks' Defense Shuts Down Trevians for Home Win

While New Trier’s defense keyed on Maine South’s star forward Matt Palucki, it was his fellow forward Casey Bruce who did most of the damage Thursday.

Bruce scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Maine South to a 52-35 CSL South victory.

"(It was) a big night for [Bruce] and he really took what the defense gave him and didn’t force too much,” Maine South coach Tony Lavorato Jr. said. “They paid a lot of attention on Matt … and [Bruce] was able to finish from 2 feet and that’s all we asked him to do. He did a great job.”

Playing exclusively a zone defense, Maine South keyed on forward Connor Boehm and contested outside shots from New Trier’s guards. The plan worked early on as the Hawks held New Trier to four first-quarter points, both on Boehm hook shots.

The Hawks preached patience on the offensive end and had a more balanced scoring attack than they’ve exhibited all season. Forward Casey Bruce scored six points in the first quarter and Maine South got out to a 14-4 lead.

“It was a huge team effort; everyone had some great assists,” Bruce said. “They were definitely keying on [Matt] Palucki, triple-teaming him at one point and he was able to dish it and share the ball and that led to points.”

New Trier’s outside shots started to fall in the second quarter. The Trevians hit three three-pointers, including two from Austin Angel, and they cut the lead to four points at halftime.

Angel's layup to start the second half put Maine South’s lead at only two, but those would be the last points Angel would score, finishing with eight points in his second game back.

“His legs are at 20 percent right now. We’re trying to force him into it,” Fricke said. “We’re trying to get his legs back. It was evident by a lot of his shots being short tonight.”

In a seven-minute period starting late in the third quarter, New Trier failed to score, allowing Maine South to go on a 12-0 run that put the game out of reach. The offensive rebounds that the Trevians garnered in the first half didn’t translate to the scoreboard in the last 16 minutes.

“With our defensive scheme we want to keep the ball out of the middle,” Maine South's Lavorato said. “They did have offensive rebounds but in the second half none of those offensive rebounds led to points.”

New Trier had to extend its defense against the Hawks to try and cut Maine South’s double-digit lead but it led to easy transition baskets late in the fourth quarter. Maine South went 6-for-8 from the free-throw line to end the game.

Boehm finished with 16 points to lead the Trevians but had only two points after halftime. Palucki, who was held to six points, had seven assists and 10 rebounds.

Maine South plays Sterling on Saturday in the Galesburg MLK Tournament.

“Everything’s been a four-point game either way, every team. We’re 3-2 after round 1, we’re 3-0 at home and we’re 0-2 on the road,” Lavorato said. “What we’ve been saying since the very first game is we have to hold serve at home and we’ve got to steal some on the road.”