John Quinn had never experienced anything like it in his 30-plus years of coaching basketball. The Fenwick head coach’s team scored just 31 points in a 45-31 loss to Loyola on Friday night in Oak Park.
“Now I’ve seen it all,” proclaimed Quinn, whose Friars (10-10, 6-5) made just 11-of-45 field goals on the night. “Granted, Loyola had an advantage with their size, but we can’t miss that many shots and think we can come away with a win. It’s extremely disappointing and the guys know it, but we’ll take the experience and learn from it.”
The Ramblers (10-13, 6-6) hit seven three-pointers in the first half and took a 27-16 lead into halftime.
The Friars made seven straight stops to start the third, but scored only twice in the span. The team made some headway in the fourth when Dylan Barnett was fouled on a layup and sunk both free throws, putting the Friars within five with 6:42 left in the game. But the Friars were unable to sustain the momentum, allowing six unforced turnovers in the stanza.
Fenwick received just 11 points total from three of its starters, excluding Barnett who led the Friars with nine. Dave Suwada finished with six points, just two baskets and two free throws.
Six-foot-7 center Mike Lang scored 16 points to lead Loyola, while Brian Daly and Robbie Wennington each added 10 apiece.
The Friars didn’t get off to a good start, falling behind 11-4 in the first quarter. Defensive specialist Jack Dittmer was stricken with foul trouble in the first half and saw limited action.
“We have smart kids that panic at times,” said Quinn of the lackluster shooting performance of his team in this game. “It’s a mental thing, like a baseball team in a batting slump. We tried to turn up the tempo and press them but we had little success with that. That kind of a game, you need to hit some shots to turn the tide.”
The Friars will likely see a team similar to Loyola in size in the semifinal of the Curie Regional. A victory over Juarez in the first round will pit 12th-seeded Fenwick against cross-town rival Oak Park on March 3 (7:30 p.m.).
Quinn, who scouted OPRF on Saturday as the Huskies fell to Proviso West 55-52 in Hillside (see game coverage on backpage), wasn’t too pleased that two teams from Oak Park were likely to pair up on a court so far from their surroundings.
“It really makes no sense to me, but it will be an interesting game just the same,” he said. “Oak Park is very solid. I think it’s good we got this performance out of our system before playoff time.”
On Friday, the Friars travel to Mt. Carmel, a team they have defeated for nine straight seasons. They close out the regular season at St. Ignatius on Feb. 26.
