Wheaton Academy participated in the East Aurora Christmas Tournament playing 4 games in 5 days. The Warriors finished 2-2 after being edged by 1 point in the 3rd place game against Geneva. The Warriors started the pool play strong winning the first 2 games by a whopping margin of 149-53 against DRWT Prep and Lincoln Way Central. The final game of pool play matched the host East Aurora Tomcats against our Warriors and while the final score ended up 61-47 most of the game was much closer. Wheaton Academy showed great poise and resolve against the Tomcats home court advantage and played with a defensive tenacity that we haven't seen from these Warriors all year. Their growth in the month of December has been explosive and a exciting to watch.
On Tuesday night Dec. 30th the Warriors took on the Vikings of Geneva in the 3rd place matchup. Wheaton Academy came out firing on all cylinders. The Warriors were severly outsized with the Vikings measuring 5 players 6'7" or taller but intimidation was not a factor in this contest. Wheaton Academy battled all night long in this gritty contest varying their defensive schemes and matchups that caused all sorts of problems for all of the Vikings except Nate Navigato who finished not only with the game winner but also 32 points. After
Bryce Sandberg scored following an offensive rebound on his own miss to put the Warriors up 53-52 under a minute left in the contest, Navigato scored the go ahead leaner with just under 30 seconds to play. Coach Froedden called a timeout and drew up a play that was never realized as
Christian Smith had to force up a long 3 point effort that missed the mark as the buzzer sounded Vikings 54 Warriors 53. "I love this team!!!" remarked Coach Froedden after the game, "They are buying into the process of one of our mottos 'Next Best Action' and you saw the results of it tonight."
The Warriors will now have a couple days off and leave for their winterim trip to Tennessee Jan. 5th.
