Curtain Falls on Wheaton High School Boys Basketball Teams

The month of March is all about high school and college basketball. But all it takes is one loss, and March Madness can abruptly turn into March sadness—something three city prep teams unfortunately experienced within a span of four days.

After defeating North Lawndale last Friday to win its own regional title, Wheaton Academy advanced to its opening game of the Riverside-Brookfield sectional Tuesday night against Chicago Crane.

However, the Warriors—seeded fourth in the R-B sectional complex—saw their season come to an end at the hands of the top-seeded Cougars, 68-53.

The end of the line also came for Wheaton Warrenville South and St. Francis at the Class 4A West Aurora regional and Class 3A Nazareth regional, respectively. The Tigers fell to Downers South in the regional championship game, 68-52, while the Spartans lost a title game to Riverside-Brookfield, 63-41.

Wheaton Academy

The Warriors’ loss to Crane ended one of the most successful two-year runs by a boys basketball team in the area. During the past two seasons, Wheaton Academy sported a 51-5 record. By comparison, Benet Academy, the state’s No. 1 ranked Class 4A team which was upset by East Aurora Tuesday night, finished with a two-year record of 55-5.

Wheaton Academy (27-2) led 14-9 after the first quarter versus Crane, but the Cougars stormed back and took a 26-23 halftime advantage. The Warriors were able to hold in check Crane senior Kieran Woods, a Division I prospect who scored 21 straight points during a game earlier this season. However, they couldn’t contain Willie Conner, who pumped in 32 points, including five threes.

WA remained within striking distance of Crane in the third quarter, but the Cougars pulled away and built up a 43-33 lead at quarter’s end.

Luke Johnson, who scored 22 points in the regional title game, set the pace once again for Wheaton Academy with 24 in the sectional.

Graduation will take a toll on the Warriors. The 6-9 Johnson, who has been getting interest from several colleges, played in his final game for the Warriors, as did Wes Koral, Luke Thorson and Tate Fritz (6-4).

Koral, a 6-3 jumping jack with a vertical leap of over 40 inches, transferred to Wheaton Academy from Joliet Catholic last summer. He also is being recruited.

The Warriors’ backcourt tandem of Lars Olson and Drew Sandberg will remain intact. Both are juniors.

Wheaton Warrenville South

In recent years, head coach Mike Healy has always started the year undermanned, waiting for his core players—among them, Reilly O’Toole, Jason Schuman and Travis Kern—to finish their commitments to the football team.

By the end of the year, however, the Tigers are firing on all cylinders. That happened again this season.

The Tigers rattled off 10 consecutive victories at season’s end, including a of West Aurora in the regional semifinal when O’Toole and Kern combined for 15 three-pointers (all told, WWS had 16 threes on the night).

WWS came out firing again during the first half of its regional title game against Downers South. O’Toole, who led the Tigers with 22 points, dropped in two three-points that helped lift WWS to a 23-15 lead at one point during the second quarter.

But the Mustangs, ranked among the state’s top 10 Class 4A teams in the Associated Press state poll, did a little three-point shooting of their own. Jeron Wilbut hit a trey at the buzzer that put in front, 26-23, at intermission.

The Tigers (19-10) never regained the lead.

It was the last game for O’Toole, Kern and Schuman (6-7)—all are graduating—as well as for Healy, who is stepping down as coach to focus on his duties as Wheaton South athletic director.

In addition to O’Toole, Kern and Schuman, the Tigers will lose senior role players Kevin Bridges, Dan Roadman and Nate Fuster. Wheaton South’s new coach next year will have 6-6 juniors Tim Zyburt and Zach Jadzak returning.

St. Francis

The Spartans are the consummate team. They’re not flashy and they don’t have a superstar. But head coach Shawn Healy, Mike’s brother, always has his team battling on every possession.

St. Francis kept pace with Riverside-Brookfield—the No. 2 seed in the R-B sectional complex—throughout the first half of its regional title game. The Spartans took a 17-13 first-quarter lead, but the Bulldogs turned it on in the second half and blitzed the Spartans for 25 points in the fourth quarter en route to their victory.

R-B star guard Ryan Jackson, who’ll be playing at Lewis University later this year, led his team and all scorers with 25 points. Ryan Coyle and Mike Scholl scored 15 and 12 points, respectively, for the Spartans, who finish with a 15-12 record.

Scholl, a senior, was the team’s second-leading scorer this season, but the Spartans will welcome back Coyle, their leading scorer, and No. 3 scorer Eric Stout next season (both are juniors). Sparkplug junior guards Nick Donati and Colin O’Donnell also return, along with 6-7 junior Zach Roswold.