Boys Basketball: Leyden turns things around in the second half
By Chuck Fieldman Contributor January 27, 2012 11:40PM
Leyden's Brian McNamara eyes the basket over Addison Trail defenders, during Friday's game. | Stacia Timonere~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 2, 2012 4:11PM
Coach Bill Heisler’s forceful halftime pep talk certainly seemed to light a fire for host Leyden Friday night in its 53-30 West Suburban Gold win over Addison Trail.
The Eagles (12-7, 4-4) had the best of an 18-16 first half filled with poor shooting and turnovers by both teams. But Heisler’s halftime speech seemed to create the spark for the Eagles, who certainly didn’t waste any time in the second half in showing a better effort than was the case in the first two quarters.
“The first half was very ugly,” Heisler said. “In the second half, our energy skyrocketed. We talked at halftime about how we got outworked in the first half, and we really worked hard in the second half. I’m not going to tell anyone that we played particularly well, even in the second half, but we played hard after halftime, and I was glad to see the better effort.”
Leyden converted only 2-of-13 shots from the field, and Addison Trail was 3-for-8, in a first quarter that ended with the visiting Blazers holding a 6-4 lead on three baskets by 6-foot-6 Ricky Diaz (team-best 11 points).
Addison Trail (7-11, 0-5) led by as many as three in the second quarter and had a 16-15 advantage on a three-pointer by Tyler Little with 1:47 remaining in the first half. But a three-pointer by Alex Herrera (game-high 12 points) with :50 left in the half gave the Eagles an 18-16 lead they would never lose.
Leyden turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter and opened a 31-16 advantage while holding Addison Trail scoreless in the period until Little scored his team’s only points of the quarter on a driving layup with :33 to go. The Eagles forced the Blazers into 11 of their 25 turnovers in the third quarter, which ended with Leyden holding a 36-18 lead.
The Eagles continued to control the game in the fourth quarter, which allowed Heisler to give some of his little-used players about three minutes of court time.
“We really did need to pick up the energy, and coach let us know about it at halftime,” Herrera said. “Once we picked it up and started playing better defense in the third quarter, we were able to really get things going.”
Addison Trail coach Brendan Lyons said the third quarter was “the nail in the coffin’ for his team, which played without injured starting point guard James Pupillo.
“We were snowed-out last week, so this was our first game in two weeks,” Lyons said. “We knew Leyden could shoot the ball, and I didn’t think they’d have as poor of a shooting half in the second half as they did in the first half.”
After going 6-for-23 in the first half from the field, Leyden converted 14-of-22 shots in the second half.
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