St. Ignatius had too much of it and the Fenwick boys basketball team didn’t have enough of it. What was it?
Experience.
The young Friars were forced to endure a 65-51 loss at the hands of senior-laden St. Ignatius in front of a sellout crowd in their Catholic League opener at Fenwick’s field house in Oak Park on Friday night.
Fenwick stayed with the Wolfpack, who boast six seniors in their starting rotation, through the first quarter and managed to limit post player Peter Ryckbosch to just two points in the first half due to foul trouble. But St. Ignatius had other players step up, including senior center Brian Howard, who scored nine in the second quarter to help his team to a 29-20 advantage by intermission. Howard finished with a game-high 19 points in the game. Marty McClure, who bucketed three three-pointers in the second period, added 16 points for the Wolfpack (4-1, 1-0).
“We’re still growing as a team, and St. Ignatius is an experienced squad. They came to play,” said Fenwick head coach John Quinn, whose Friars dropped to 2-2 overall on the early season.
Fenwick’s youthfulness proved deadly as the team racked up 22 turnovers in the game and was outscored 21-11 in the third. Led by Luke Lattner, the Friars attempted a late rally in the fourth, but they only came within 12 points of the lead. Lattner scored 11 of his 14 points in the game in the final period.
Sam Ainsworth scored 10 points and hauled down nine rebounds for the Friars, who also received contributions from up-and-coming players Tom Planek, Keshaun Smith and Josh Carlisle. Planek and Smith, both sophomores, scored nine and seven points, respectively. The junior Carlisle added eight points.
“While we’re getting guys to score here and there, we’re really looking for a scoring punch,” said Quinn, whose team connected on 14 of 23 attempts from the free-throw line. “We’ve got a lot to work on.”
The Friars travel to Loyola on Friday (7:30 p.m.).
