Postseason magic never appears for Trevians in regional finale

The slipper will have to fit another Cinderella in IHSA Class 4A this season.

Looking for its third straight trip to the state finals, New Trier basketball was stopped short this time around, falling 67-57 to Lane Tech in the regional championship Friday night at Maine South High School in Park Ridge.

The Trevians were chasing the Champions from the start, after Lane opened the game by making its first five shots and six of its first seven to snag a 17-4 advantage.

While New Trier recovered and was within striking distance most of the contest, it never evened the score.

“I’m proud of these guys; we persevered and came back. We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Trevians coach Scott Fricke said. “We’d cut it to two, cut it to one, then have a turnover. We just could not make the play we needed to make, and that’s how the game was decided.

“It wasn’t a 10-point game. It was a one-point game with three minutes to go.”

The Champions’ opening assault was especially frustrating to Fricke and company because it came off what the Trevians were hoping for.

Lane Tech starts three players who are at least 6 feet 7 inches tall. Using a box-and-one defense focused on Lane’s 6-foot-10 Dalton Scantlebury, the Trevians worked to limit the Champions’ post touches and force other players to make shots.

Six three-pointers — including two that banked in off the backboard — from Lane later, New Trier was in catchup mode.

“I thought our game plan was good. We had things exactly how we wanted,” Fricke said. “… (The Champions) stepped up, they made plays. A couple of their kids made shots who don’t shoot it, because we made them do it, and they did.”

Facing the early deficit, the Trevians went to work on a comeback. On the offense end, backcourt duo Christopher Kirkpatrick (29 points) and Colby Smith (19 points) led the way, primarily converting on dribble drives to the basket.

New Trier trimmed the deficit to eight (24-16) after one quarter and three (33-30) by halftime. Kirkpatrick was a menace, scoring 17 of his game-high total in the opening half.

In the third quarter, Kirkpatrick added seven more points as the Trevians flirted with a lead change multiple times, but six turnovers and a handful of key missed shots hurt their chances.

“Beginning of the game, things were going our way — one pass, two pass, getting down hill was working,” Smith said, “but (Lane) adjusted to that in the second half. I thought if we moved the ball more and loosened up the defense we could have got better looks, better driving angles.”

Unfortunately for New Trier, the fourth quarter was more of the same. But as time ticked away, New Trier’s misses were more painful, as they turned into Lane Tech rebounds and free throws on the other end. The Champions converted 15-of-18 from the charity stripe in the final quarter to put the game away and claim the program’s first regional championship.

Zach Mazanowski led Lane with 22 points, while Drew Bartolai scored 14. New Trier held Scantlebury, whom Fricke called the best big man in the state, to 5 points — all in the fourth quarter. Scantlebury did have 4 blocks and 8 rebounds.

Lane Tech will play the sectional’s top seed, Evanston, in a sectional semifinal on Tuesday at New Trier. Loyola and Niles North will square off in the opposite semifinal.

New Trier’s season concludes with a mark of 21 wins versus 11 losses. It is the Trevians fourth straight 20-win season, coming after three straight 30-win campaigns and two straight third-place state trophies.

In his final high school game, Smith — a three-year starter who is bound for the Washington University basketball program — surpassed 1,000 points as a Trevian.

“The way he progressed as a player throughout his years,” Fricke said. “He came in as an athletic kid who can shoot the ball and he developed himself into a defender, a kid who can go left and right, guard the best player on the other team. I’m so proud of his work.”

For Smith, it was an unforgettable experience.

“This has been the funnest three years of my life,” he said. “I’ve matured from a young boy to a young man with all these guys. So many life lessons, good times. It’s a brotherhood. It’s been the most enjoyable experience of my life.”

The Trevians will lose Smith and rotational pieces Ben Zieziula and Jake Hollack to graduation, but they likely will return juniors Kirkpatrick, Danny Houlihan, Max Vogel and Maks DePalo, all four of whom started on Friday. Junior Charlie Logue and sophomore Elton Jaegerskog also saw plenty of playing time this season.

Kirkpatrick said the sting of Thursday’s loss is going to stay with the group, and he hopes they can use it to their benefit in the future.

“We have a bunch of great seniors who have been great role models,” he said. “Next season doesn’t start with the first game it starts in the offseason so we’re really going to remember this feeling, because all we’ve seen from this program is going down state, going down state. Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward, so we’re going to remember this and channel it into good energy.”

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Subscribe to The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a subscriber? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.