Riverside Brookfield High School senior guard Danny Loftus experienced pure basketball joy, Dec. 17.
“In all honesty, it was one of the best nights of my life,” Loftus said. “That was definitely the best game I’ve ever played, not just for points — rebounds, everything.”
Loftus scored a career-high 44 points in the Bulldogs’ 77-56 Upstate Eight Conference home victory over Elmwood Park by hitting 18 of 24 shots, including one three, and 7 of 10 free throws, along with five rebounds and three steals in 29 minutes.
“I felt like everything when I touched the ball was going in, but so much of that is giving credit to my teammates,” Loftus said. “All of the opportunities I had were due to them and [RBHS coach Mike Reingruber].”
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs (8-7), Loftus and that teamwork were tested more than ever during York’s 32-team Jack Tosh Tournament. The Bulldogs played the final 10 quarters without injured junior guard Cam Mercer, their other returning starter.
The Bulldogs finished 1-3, losing their finale 70-58 to Lemont, Dec. 30. They won their first game without Mercer, 64-59 over Andrew, Dec. 28, after losing to Glenbard West 66-55 on Dec. 27 and Christ the King 63-54 in the Dec. 26 opener. The tournament used a 35-second shot clock.
“I think we’re a better basketball team than we were a week ago. There’s still things we need to improve on,” Reingruber said. “We’ve played a monster of a schedule. [That] is only going to make us better in the long run. Maybe our record’s not where we want it right now but there’s definitely been improvement.”
Loftus collected team bests of 98 points and 31 rebounds with eight assists. Other standouts included seniors Vince Dockendorf (46 points with 10 three-pointers, 13 rebounds, 9 assists) and Mantas Sleinys (32 points, 17 rebounds), juniors Ben Biskupic (9 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists), Colin Cimino (14 points with 4 threes, 8 rebounds) and Liam Enright (7 points, 11 rebounds, 19 assists) and senior Brycen Grove (6 points, 10 rebounds).
Loftus scored 27 points against Lemont, and Andrew and had a double-double against Christ the King with 25 points and 12 rebounds.
“I was really happy with all of my performances. I really do wish we got more wins. Honestly, that’s all I care about but I was really happy with my shooting percentage,” Loftus said.
While the Bulldogs’ lineup gained valuable experience playing without Mercer, Loftus continued his offensive success even without that scoring option, though he was not named to the 20-player all-tournament team.
“If he doesn’t make it because of our record, he certainly gave an all-tournament performance,” Reingruber said after the Lemont game. “Danny’s a great basketball player. Danny’s got a knack for scoring. Danny plays super hard every possession. He’s tough to guard because he never stops moving. He’s been great for us.”
Prolific on scoring and defense, Mercer sprained his right ankle in the first minute of the second quarter against Glenbard West after driving the right baseline with a leaping one-handed shot.
Mercer already made two threes against Glenbard West after eight points against Christ the King. Mercer remained optimistic to return Tuesday against Ridgewood.
“Obviously I want to go out there and help them,” Mercer said.
“I saw a lot of confidence, experience [from my teammates]. I saw a lot more opportunity to showcase what they could do. I saw some problems in our defense, but I saw really good things coming together, being together and playing as a basketball team.”
Loftus, Dockendorf, Sleinys and Biskupic were joined by Enright in the starting lineup. Dockendorf scored in double figures three times and Sleinys twice with seven rebounds against Christ the King (10-5).
Enright had five assists and five rebounds against Glenbard West (11-4) and Andrew (6-9). Grove had five rebounds against Andrew.
“You saw some of those guys give us some really good contributions this week, which is going to make us better in the long run,” Reingruber said.
Speaking of runs, that continues to be the Bulldogs’ nemesis. Glenbard West took an 11-0 lead, pulling ahead 32-15. After RBHS closed to 45-44 entering the fourth quarter on Loftus’ inside bucket, the Hilltoppers scored 10 straight.
Against Lemont (11-4), RBHS trailed 32-26 at halftime before Lemont scored on 11 of its first 14 possessions of the second half for 26 points. That included a 7-1 run to end the third quarter for a 56-41 advantage.
“A lot of [our losses] have been carbon copies. We need to do a better job of limiting teams’ runs and playing four full quarters,” Reingruber said. “We’ve got the ability to hang with some of the top teams but we need to start winning some of those games.”