HOBART | Pat Summit said defense wins games, but rebounding wins championships.
Times No. 2 Andrean only had to win a game Friday night in a Northwest Crossroads Conference match with Hobart. The 59ers came out with a 60-37 win, despite a 27-21 disadvantage in rebounds.
It was largely due to unrelenting defense.
"Our defense helped us set the tempo," coach Carson Cunningham said. "We tried to speed them up a little bit and I think they wanted to slow it down."
Andrean forced 23 turnovers. Matt Ruberry alone had six steals.
"We wanted to win the boards," Brickies coach Mike Black said. "We knew we had to to stay in the game and I thought our guys worked really hard in that aspect. I really thought their defense was the difference. We've got to find a way to score more than 37."
The 59ers (10-0, 2-0) struggled a bit early but came back to form in the latter portion of the opening quarter. Collin Wojcik hit three 3-pointers before halftime and the Andrean defense made things difficult for Hobart. It was 35-22 at the break.
Skyler Moss took over in the third quarter, scoring 10 of his 17 points.
"I had a little bit of a mismatch against their defenders," Moss said. "Coach drew up some good plays for me and I scored, thank God."
Moss said the coaches made it a point at halftime to try to get the ball in the paint more.
"We like to do (get the ball to Moss) often," Cunningham said. "Fortunately we were able to get it down to him consistently and he really played strong."
Anthony Burgos led the Brickies (3-8, 0-3) with 12 points. Collin Wojcik scored 17 for Andrean while D.J. Gonzalez had eight assists.
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