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Sports

Sandburg Height is Too Tall an Order for JCA

Hilltoppers fall short in fifth-place game at Lemont Christmas Classic despite the play of Brequan Tucker and Breshion Tucker.

LEMONT – Sandburg used its height advantage across the board to smother Joliet Catholic Academy into submission during a 63-50 victory in the fifth-place game of the Lemont Christmas Classic Thursday afternoon.

Sandburg (7-5) shot 53.3 percent (24-of-45) from the floor and outrebounded Joliet Catholic (4-8) 37-30 in the final round of the 33rd and final tournament.

"Our goal was to take advantage of our size, and I thought we shot the ball pretty well," Sandburg coach Todd Allen said.

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Taking advantage were 6-foot-4 senior Jason Viane and 6-6 junior Ken Payonk. Both posted double-doubles. Viane had 21 points and 10 rebounds and earned a spot on the all-tournament team. Payonk had 10 points and 11 boards.

"I thought he was very good here," Allen said of Viane, who averaged 22.5 points and eight rebounds during the tournament. "He's a good player. He's solid, strong and he rebounds the ball for us real well. He had a great tournament. He was fantastic and Kenny (Payonk) played well. He took advantage of his size."

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"We noticed we were bigger than them, so we tried to isolate a lot of guys down low," Payonk said. "We wanted to take advantage of the situation. We have a lot of faith in every guy on the team that he's going to get the job done."

Viane's layup just before the horn tied the game at 9-all after a quarter. Joliet Catholic made just 6-of-25 shots in the first half as Sandburg built 23-15 lead on Adam Davids' basket from Ryan Parker.

D.J. Deere's three-pointer and a layup by Viane gave Sandburg a commanding 35-20 lead at the midway point of the third quarter.

The Hilltoppers scored the next seven points in a little more than a minute, cutting the lead to 35-27.

"They can shoot it," Allen said. "Nos. 3 (Brequan Tucker) and 1 (Breshion Tucker) are good shooters. We knew they could shoot it."

The two Tuckers combined for 35 of Joliet Catholic's 50 points.

Nick Lehnerer's three-pointer later in the quarter allowed Sandburg to take a 42-33 lead into the fourth.

Brequan Tucker, who also made the all-tournament team, led all scores with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting. He also had a team-best nine rebounds. Breshion Tucker added 12 points. Joliet Catholic shot 31 percent (18-of-58) from the field.

"We came in with the idea we wanted to win the tournament, and we were one point short against Plainfield Central," Allen said. "Going 3-1 is OK, but we have a lot of work to do. The thick of (Southwest Suburban) Conference play is coming up and it's going to be tough."

"We fought back, got the wins we needed to and did what we needed to do," Payonk said. "I think we have a lot of momentum going into the rest of the conference. We're looking at things as 0-0. We're going to get after it and try to get better every game."

 

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