Evanston’s basketball team advanced to the championship game of the Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving tournament by destroying Chicago Taft 64-42 Wednesday night at DePaul Prep.
Evanston (3-0) forced 30 turnovers and moved to the finals against Notre Dame, a 79-78 winner over Chicago Harlan. The title game is set for Friday night at 8 p.m. at Lane Tech.
Eleven different players scored for the Wildkits in the rout as head coach Mike Ellis was able to dig deep into his bench early in the contest. Among those breaking through for their first varsity career points were freshmen Matt Hall and Drevon Clayborn, who played most of the fourth quarter.
Hall scored 8 points and one of his buckets came on a feed from his fellow freshman, Clayborn. Clayborn was credited with 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists overall.
Elijah Henry paced ETHS with 12 points and Tommy Haughey dropped in 10, including three 3-point baskets. Elijah Williams added 9 points as Evanston built quarter leads of 13-6, 33-10 and 52-20 en route to victory.
“The freshmen are doing a good job of competing at practice, and it was good to get them an opportunity to get on the floor and get their feet wet,” Ellis said. “I thought we could have played a little smarter, but we came out and played hard. It was a great opportunity to get guys who have gone through 2-a-days and 2 weeks of training camp to play and have some success.”
Source: ETHS Sports Information