Even with the slippery floor of the basketball court it did not stop the DGS boys varsity basketball team from a 85-49 domination against Willowbrook last Friday.
DGS junior guard Keon Maggitt was the first to put numbers on the scoreboard in the first quarter. The smooth layup got the game going after senior forward Justin Sveiteris won the jump ball against senior Willowbrook forward Andrew Ciesinski.
“You just got to go get the basketball, that’s the biggest thing. It’s more of a mindset thing than a skill thing really. You just have to want it and go get it,” Sveiteris said.
With much dust on the court, both teams were falling on the ground which created a high foul game of 35. It only took till the third quarter for Willowbrook senior guard Kenyon Rhodes to get fouled out of the game.
“A lot of our fouls came from crashing the boards and playing hard. Playing defense with our hands is probably one of our problems but we got around it and kept playing,” junior guard Daniel Laurich said.
DGS’s defense stood strong in the first quarter, holding the Willowbrook offense to four points on just two shots (19-4).
“We moved the ball really well, we got some good shots, probably missed more three’s then we should have but that will come. Our offensive rebounds kept us in it which just led us to a big lead,” senior gaurd Will Potter said.
The second quarter was not much different in how the score was going along. Throughout the quarter, the DGS starters worked the hardest, with Sveiteris scoring eight points, Maggit scoring seven and senior guard Richard Gassmen scoring four. DGS led the first half of the game by 26 points (45-19).
“Our rotations were good. The first half holding them with 26 points was quite a mark. The second half we kind of led up on the free-throw line but besides for that it was good; happy about it,” Potter said.
DGS did not slow down in the third quarter, they continued to keep their large lead. They gained 20 points even though Willowbrook sophomore Otis Powell was able to get 11 points on his own during the quarter. The quarter ended with a 65-36 score.
At the end of the game, DGS junior forward Joe Grippo and Laurich continued to build a significant lead. They both scored eight points each throughout the quarter as Willowbrooks players were double teaming them. Laurich was even able to grab a rebound from Grippos shot and score a layup resulting in him landing face first on the court.
“Daniels has been struggling a little bit this year so we’re just trying to get him going. Towards the end of the game he kind of found it, he got going and got us to that 40 point mark to get the clock running. Big things are definitely ahead for him, really excited to see it,” Potter said.
The next game for DGS will be this Thursday against Minooka at home.
