Boys Hoops: Stagg rides hot shooting to win over Sandburg

By Randy Whalen
Correspondent

The Stagg defense made sure it was not a happy homecoming for John Daniels.

Connor Williams scored a game-high 16 points and added seven rebounds, the Chargers made 11 3-pointers and their defense held Sandburg scoreless for nearly 13 minutes en route to a 49-21 victory Dec. 9 in Palos Hills.

With the win, Stagg (6-2) already has more than half the victories (11) it did last season. It was the fourth loss in a row for the Eagles (2-6).

Eagles coach John Daniels coached the Chargers for 14 seasons (2003-2017), leading them to a regional title 10 seasons ago. He is in his second season as head coach at Sandburg.

“I just try to make it as much about the kids as possible,” said Stagg coach Marty Strus, who played for Daniels and is now in his sixth season leading the Chargers. “What coach Daniels did for me, my family and many others, we all owe a lot to him.”

Daniels didn’t want to get caught up in the moment.

“There was no emotion,” he said of his return. “There is the emotion of disappointment in scoring six points in a half. I’ll take responsibility, it’s my fault.

“Defensively, I thought we played well. We held them to 23 points in the first half.

“Marty runs good stuff. So you know that they are going to be able to do some switches and make some 3-pointers. But we just couldn’t score.”

In the rivals’ sole matchup Last season, the Chargers beat the Eagles, 67-50, in Orland Park. This time, it was much lower-scoring.

Junior guard David Vargas, who had a team-high eight points, scored the first points of the game for Sandburg. But the Chargers hit four treys the rest of the quarter and led 12-6 after one.

Then sophomore forward Domas Narcevicius (14 points) knocked down three straight 3-pointers to open the second quarter, the last of which put Stagg ahead 21-6 with 5:33 left in the first half.

“It’s almost a nightly thing,” Narcevicius said of dialing in from long distance. “This is my first year on the varsity and it’s just getting shots and working on it that has given me that confidence.

“I feel like everyone, from the bench to the fans, was locked in. We just wanted the game. Sandburg is always one of those games that we want to win, but we want to move forward with the same energy every game.”

The Eagles went 0-for-8 from the field in the second quarter and made four turnovers.

“Our defense and boxing out were the best all year,” Strus said of the Sandburg game. “I love that this group comes every day to work hard and be successful.”

Things didn’t get any better for the Eagles to open the third quarter as Williams, a junior guard, capped a 7-0 run with one of his four treys for a 30-6 lead.

“Normally I’m all around the court,” Williams said. “But I was feeling it on the 3-pointers in pregame and that continued from the first shots in the game.

“I think we can win the [SWSC Red] this year. We have a lot of good players.”

Stagg junior forward Yousef Jarad had seven points, and senior guard Alex Czaja and junior forward David Ortiz each contributed five points.

Junior guard Ryan Tomczak had five points for the Eagles.

Vargas hit a 3-pointer with 4:18 to play in the third quarter to finally put the Eagles back in the scoring column. Those were their first points since senior guard Walter Davis (4 points) scored on a driving layup with 1:14 left in the first quarter.

Earlier last week, Sandburg traveled to Dolton and lost 62-55 to Thornridge.

That same night, the Chargers defeated Shepard, 61-44, in Palos Heights. Ortiz came off the bench to score 12 points. Williams added 11 points and nine boards.