Analysis: Stagg First-Half Blitz Fueled by Dwyer

The Blizzard of 2011 did not slow down the Stagg boys basketball team.

The Chargers (14-6 overall and 5-4 in the Southwest Suburban Red) overcame an early 7-0 in a 72-51 victory over Lincoln-Way West on Friday night.

Stagg countered the Warriors' 7-0 run with an 11-0 run of its own and took an 11-7 lead. Lincoln-Way West (5-17, 2-6) stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer by T.J. Dikos to make it 11-10. But the Chargers quickly countered with another run, this time of 13-0 to take a 24-10 lead midway through the second quarter that would prove to be too much for the Warriors to overcome.

The first-half Stagg runs were made possible by an impressive performance by 6-5 sophomore Sean Dwyer. He came off the bench and scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the first half to help the Chargers take a comfortable 34-21 lead into the locker room.

Dwyer’s performance was especially important as the Chargers struggled with 10-of-30 shooting in the first half, including 4-of-13 from three. Take away Dwyer’s 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three and the results could have been devastating.

Stagg also used a decisive 23-14 rebound advantage in the first half, which helped limit West to one shot on most occasions . Defensively, Stagg limited West to 8-of-25 shooting in the first half and, combined with the rebound advantage, thwarted any comeback bid by the Warriors.

The Chargers continued to open up the lead in the second half behind jack-of-all-trades Darius Draper, 6-6 senior who ran the point and directed the Charger offense against the fierce West defense. Draper (19 points; 12 in second half) and 6-1 junior Brett Kaiser (13 points; seven in the second half) picked up the scoring slack in the second half. Dwyer was shut down by the West defenders and held to two second-half points.

Lincoln Way West struggled from the field as it hit only 19-of-58 (32.8 percent) shots for the game. The Warriors did receive a big night from senior Mike Marotta, who had a team-high 14 points to go with a game-high 12 rebounds. Teammate Robert Hubbard, despite being hampered by foul trouble, added 12 points.

Hot Links: Miss something: Read: "Stagg Keeps L-Way West in Deep Freeze" http://patch.com/A-dPgF 

Quotable: Coach John Daniels “ We are playing a wheel chair basketball game next week against the kids from Shriners Hospital and this is something the kids really look forward to and I think that shows what kind of kids we have”!

Some Good News. Draper is receiving strong recruiting from numerous schools including local powers Saint Francis and St Xavier among others.

Sophomore Update: Stagg made it a clean sweep as they defeated the West Sophomores 53-42.