DGS Finishes Third at Jack Tosh Holiday Tournament

The only good thing about heartbreaking 52-50 loss to St. Ignatius Thursday in the semifinals of York’s Jack Tosh Holiday Tournament was that the Mustangs didn’t have much time to think about it.

Just 24 hours after seeing their eight-game winning streak snapped, the Mustangs bounced back with a gritty 53-46 victory over Naperville North Friday night in the third-place game.

That took some of the sting out of the loss to St. Ignatius, which won the game on a basket by Abdoulie Conteh with 1.5 seconds remaining after Downers South blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

“It was a very emotional day after yesterday, basically leading for 31 minutes or so and having it taken from us,” Downers South Coach Jay Baum said. “I give the other team credit, but we lost that game as much as we got beat, so it was painful and we were thankful we were able to play today.”

Jerron Wilbut, who scored 21 points against St. Ignatius, led the Mustangs (10-2) with 19 points, four rebounds and four steals, and Jamall Millison added 14 points and three assists.

Those two guards often like to freelance on offense, which sometimes creates good opportunities but too often gets the team in trouble. So Baum again stressed the importance of patience and both listened.

“I’m not really a patient person, so I tried something different tonight and tried to make Coach really happy,” Wilbut said. “I just have to stop, look at the court, just be very patient.”

The Mustangs (10-2), who won the tournament in 2010, were patient in the first half, matching Naperville North’s deliberate style. But they made only 6 of 22 shots and trailed 16-13 at the break.

“Our goal today was to move the ball,” Baum said. “We had too much one-on-one yesterday. So we did move the ball. I thought we got good shots in the first half. They weren’t falling and the game was close.

“We struggled to score yesterday in the fourth quarter and we struggled to score in the first half today. [Naperville North is] a very disciplined team. They’re well-coached, they run their stuff, they didn’t seem to panic.”

Neither did the Mustangs, even when the Huskies (8-4) took their largest lead, 34-29, on a rebound bucket by Paris Dunlap with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter.

Senior forward Kevin Honn, who tallied seven of his nine points in the second half, responded with a three-point play and Millison later made three free throws to tie the game at 36 before feeding Danny Spinuzza for a breakaway layup to put Downers South ahead to stay.

“We decided to go back to our main forte and that’s [to] pressure the ball,” Baum said. “Luckily enough it made them turn the ball over, make enough mistakes and rush some shots that enabled us to get back into the game.”

The same could be said for South’s improved shooting. The Mustangs made 10 of 17 shots in the second half as they got more comfortable in their half-court set.

“[Baum] is trying to get us to make more passes in our offense and play more as a team rather than just catching it and going,” Millison said. “We have more organization to it.

“Like [Baum] said at halftime, it was surprising us that we were passing so we were really weren’t ready to shoot. So we made an adjustment to it so everyone was more ready, in their stance to shoot and everything.”

The Mustangs also produced at the free throw line, sinking 17 of 19 foul shots in the fourth quarter and 18 of 21 overall, compared to Naperville North’s 4-for-11 effort. That was important because it was a one-possession game until the final minute, when Wilbut sank four free throws and Millison two. Wilbut was 7 of 9 from the line and Millison 7-for-7.

“Free throws are big,” Wilbut said. “We have to make them all and if we don’t, that window of opportunity for the opposite team opens a little bit bigger. So we made our free throws.”

So the Mustangs go home with a plaque and even though it’s not the one they wanted, they still were pleased about finishing 2011 on a positive note.

“It was good for us to bounce back that way off that loss,” Millison said. “We came out with a chip on our shoulders, so it helped us [to play today] instead of having another week until we’re playing again.”

Baum, whose team has 11 days off until hosting Fremd on Jan. 10, said the grind of playing four games in as many days, which forces teams to make adjustments on the fly, was beneficial.

“It’s nice to have practice, but to prepare for some of these teams and their different styles you have no preparation, you just go play, so I think it all bodes well for the future,” Baum said. “We have a lot of tough games in January so this is going do nothing but help us.”