Trojans Give OPRF a Run for its Money in 53-48 Loss

Prior to facing Downers North in Thursday night's West Suburban Silver opener, Oak Park-River Forest averaged 83 points per game in two of its first three 2010-11 matchups.

However, the Trojans managed to contain the Huskies' offensive juggernaut most of the evening—in fact, OPRF scored just 17 points in the first half. But an eight-point run at the start of the third quarter, combined with some clutch free-throw shooting during the fourth quarter, enabled the Huskies to secure a 53-48 victory.

The Trojans followed their game plan to the letter and frustrated the Huskies, as OPRF head coach Matt Maloney noted afterward.

"Jim Thomas does a great job at Downers North," Maloney said. "Whenever he plays us, his big thing that he tells his kids, 'If we keep the game in the 30s, it's theirs. If we keep it in the 40s, it's anyone's game.' He does not want it in the 60s.

"We preached that all week; it was a game goal, and they won the tempo back."

The Trojans (4-2, 0-1) led throughout most of the first half, but OPRF, which remains undefeated (4-0, 1-0), took the lead at intermission on a three-pointer from the baseline by Steve Ramsey.

OPRF threatened to blow the game open two minutes into the second half after making four straight shots from the floor and taking a 25-15 advantage. But the Trojans kept their composure and slowly chipped away at the lead.

Senior guard Tom Wengren fired in two treys and scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the third quarter. Meanwhile, classmate Ross Johnson capped a 5-0 Trojan run with a layup that sliced OPRF's lead to five, 34-29.

"We wanted to keep them in the 40s," Thomas said. "We thought it would give us an opportunity to win the ballgame. I thought it did give us a chance. We cut it to four at one point. They did a heckuva job knocking down free throws. I don't know what they were from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, but they were great."

The Trojans came within four points of OPRF twice in the fourth quarter. A Wengren free throw and a bucket inside the paint by Johnson (11 points) made it 45-41 with 2:51 remaining. Then with 23 seconds to go, Johnson's spin move cut the Huskies' advantage to 50-46. OPRF, however, sank three free throws in the closing seconds to keep North at bay.

All told, OPRF nailed 12 of 16 free throws during the final eight minutes.

"Our kids want to win some big conference games this year," Thomas said. "They're down right now, so we're going to come back tomorrow (Friday) at practice and fix some things.

"We give up 17 points in the first half to Oak Park who's been scoring a ton of points this year. We said, 'Hey great job. Keep them under 20 (points for the half). Two single-digit quarters. (Then) we come back in the third quarter and give up 17 again."

The Trojans visit Elgin Larkin for a non-conference game next Tuesday night.

"I thought the kids stuck to the game plan the entire time," Thomas said. "I thought we battled for 32 minutes. I thought we did a good job executing on our sideline out of bounds, (and) baseline out of bounds (plays). We call that our special teams, and they did a really good job of getting some points out of there."

Oak Park-River Forest 53, Downers North 48

Oak Park-River Forest—Butler 0 0-0 0, Banks 0 0-0 0, Millsap 0 0-0 0, Levin 1 2-4 4, Bell 4 6-9 15, Lang 2 4-5 8, Miller 5 0-1 10, Ramsey 5 0-0 13, Nesnidal 1 0-0 2, Cammon 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 13-21 53.

Downers North—Johnson 5 1-1 11, Wengren 5 6-7 19, Mahlke 2 3-4 7, Vogler 3 0-0 7, Mason 0 0-0 0, Grace 0 0-0 0, Sigerich 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 10-12 48.

Three-point field goals: OPRF 4 (Bell, Ramsey 3), Downers North 4 (Wengren 3, Vogler). Total fouls: OPRF 19, Downers North 20 (Grace fouled out). Turnovers: OPRF 9, Downers North 15.