Boys Basketball: Marian Catholic defeats Joliet Catholic
By Mike Fitzgerald For Sun-Times Media February 1, 2013 9:56PM
Updated: March 4, 2013 6:28AM
Marian Catholic standouts Tyler Ulis and T.J. Parham did not play Friday night, but the No. 3 Spartans didn’t need them in their 62-50 East Suburban Catholic Conference win over visiting Joliet Catholic.
“We just had a couple of things (last week) at practice that ... you know you get a little satisfied with a win, so I told them you have to come and be ready to go every day, so that was it,” Spartans coach Mike Taylor said. “It let these guys show them that they could step up, and Chris (Austin) stepped up. They got my message, but I wanted to make sure it was reinforced.”
Austin scored a game-high 20 points. He hit six three-pointers, including four in the first quarter to stake Marian Catholic (22-3, 3-2) to a 23-10 lead.
“(Friday) we needed a guy to come out and get hot right away, and he did it,” Taylor said of Austin, a sophomore guard.
Joliet Catholic (4-19, 0-5) trailed 54-41 after three quarters, but got as close as 58-48 on Ryan Peter’s three-pointer with 1:59 to play in the game.
“I was very pleased with how we played,” Joliet Catholic coach Joe Gura said. “Overall, I’m very pleased with our effort and our execution.”
Peter scored 19 points for the Hilltoppers. Marian Catholic’s Joshua Cohn had 17 points.
