Even in seasons when they DON’T win the large school football state championship, Loyola Academy always brings that type of physicality and toughness to the basketball court, too.
The Ramblers met their match in that department Friday night in front of a packed house at the Class 4A New Trier Sectional tournament.
Top-seeded Evanston upped its intensity and physicality in the second half, after leading by just four points at halftime. They eliminated the Ramblers by a 48-32 margin in the championship game. It marked Evanston’s first sectional title since the Wildkits won three in a row between 2017 and 2019.
The Wildkits, now 29-5, will meet Glenbard West in Monday’s 8 p.m. super-sectional matchup at the NOW Center in Hoffman Estates. Glenbard West conquered Geneva 50-33 to keep its season alive Friday.
The winner of Monday’s showdown will advance to the Final Four in Champaign.
Theo Rocca’s game-high 16 points helped the winners shoot 48 percent (20-of-42) from the field against a Ramblers team renowned for its defensive aggressiveness and toughness under head coach Tom Livatino. And the Ramblers, who finished 26-9 after losing to the Kits for the second time this season, never backed off.
In fact, Friday’s battle was eerily similar to the first time the two teams met. In that game, Evanston also owned a four-point edge at halftime before pulling away for a 49-33 triumph.
The Wildkits out-rebounded Loyola 25-18 and won their share of 50-50 balls, especially in the second half.
“I wouldn’t say that one team was tougher than the other one,” said Evanston head coach Mike Ellis, “because Loyola is an outstanding program. We matched their toughness in the second half after we had some careless turnovers, and they beat us to some loose balls, in the first half. Loyola will play hard against you every time and, if you don’t play hard, you won’t beat a good team.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve won a sectional. Right now I’m just feeling it for the players, because they’re such an example of what a brotherhood is and for them to be able to keep this ride going. This just speaks to the fact that they didn’t want this ride to end.”
In the first two minutes of the second half, Kaidan Chatham’s dive on the floor to preserve a possession and a blocked shot by Vito Rocca in the paint were early examples of Evanston’s toughness. Those key moments took place during an 8-0 run on Evanston’s first four possessions — including a pair of baskets by Vito Rocca and one each for Theo Rocca and George Richardson — that stretched the Kit lead to 27-15 and set the tone for the rest of the contest.
“Going into the game we knew they’d play a football style, and we knew we had to match their physicality,” said Theo Rocca, who sank 7-of-11 field goal attempts and also contributed three rebounds. “Our team is tougher physically than most teams, and that’s because we spent so much time in the summer and in the preseason getting stronger for games like this. I don’t think we lack physical toughness.
“We knew that four-point (19-15) lead wasn’t enough and that the first four minutes (of the second half) were key. We had to get at least three kills (defensive stops) in a row, and we did that.”
Young brother Vito Rocca limited Loyola’s post player Brendan Loftus — also a starter for the state champion football squad — to just one field goal in the second half with the season on the line. Loftus did finish with a team-high 15 points and Donovan Robinson added 10 for the losers.
Next best for Evanston were Richardson and freshman Ben Ojala with eight points apiece.
“That’s one of the most physical games we’ve played,” Vito Rocca said. “That’s a team full of football guys. But you don’t have to be a football player to be physical. We were physical, and we were aggressive.
“We knew that that first half was not the best we could play. We couldn’t wait for the fight to come to us, we had to take the fight to them.”
Co-captain Ian Peters recalled the practices leading up to the battle between the two neighbors.
“As soon as we knew we were playing Loyola again, we got a group text from Coach Dante (assistant coach Dante Johnson) that we’d be using the 32-minute board drill,” Peters explained after he was credited with five rebounds and four assists Friday. “That’s a drill we have where when the shot goes up, there’s no such thing as out of bounds and you go after the rebound until you get it.
“We knew they’d try to beat us up tonight. Loyola was getting a lot of offensive rebounds and second chances in the first half, but we did a good job of eliminating that in the second half. This is our last ride as seniors and we had to come out strong and handle our business.”
Loyola shot just 23 percent (10-of-43) from the floor and only stayed close to the Kits in the first half by converting 5-of-10 free throw attempts. But Ellis was most impressed by the fact that his team scored 20 field goals of its own against hard-nosed defenders like the Ramblers always employ.
“I think that shows you the skill set of our players,” he said. “Shooting 47 percent against that type of intensity and physicality, and scoring 20 baskets, it seems more like we shot 67 percent. I’m really impressed with how our guys knocked down shots in the moment like that, against a team that’s so fundamentally sound on defense.
“In the first half they were more worried about the ball falling in (8-of-23 shooting from the floor) instead of making plays. It was just a matter of finishing possessions at both ends of the floor, and that’s what they came out focused to do in the second half.
“All summer long they were in at 6:30 in the morning and the first thing they did every morning was lift weights. Had we not made that an emphasis, we might have been taken out tonight by a bigger, stronger team.”
Evanston built the lead to 36-22 entering the fourth quarter and Loyola did manage to whittle the deficit down to 41-32 with 3 minutes, 3 seconds left in the contest. But the Ramblers never scored again and Chatham supplied the finishing touch for ETHS with a basket and three free throws down the stretch.
“Now we have to prepare to play our best game of the season Monday night,” Ellis added.
ETHS boys basketball: Kits get physical to top Loyola, capture sectional crown is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.