Lexus Drives Marist Past L-Way Central

After losing a tough East Suburban Catholic Conference game to Nazareth Friday night, Marist sophomore guard Lexus Williams couldn't wait to play again Saturday afternoon.

Williams helped the RedHawks bounce back by beating Lincoln-Way Central 49-31 to win the Knights/Warriors Winter Classic in New Lenox with a 5-0 record.

"This meant a lot to us," Williams said. "It boosted our confidence. We took a pretty tough (59-53) loss to Nazareth Friday, so we felt we had to come in here and take the championship. We played the way we played the whole tournament and were able to finish it out."

Williams scored 17 points and added four steals and a rebound in the victory.

He scored nine of his points in the first quarter to help Marist take a 15-10 lead and the RedHawks led the remainder of the game.

"Lexus (Williams) was steady," Marist coach Gene Nolan said. "Lincoln-Way Central plays a solid defense where they are in a pack and forcing you to make tough shots. Lexus hit a couple big ones in the first half. Then, in the second half when we tried to spread them out a little defensively, he was able to get defenders on his hip and score. Lexus did some good things."

Marist (8-4) also beat Providence, Evergreen Park, Bremen and Lincoln-Way West in the tournament.

"It's important for us and exciting when you get a chance to play for, compete and win a championship," Nolan said. "Our kids have done some good things this week. It's a busy week, and I thought our kids responded to that pretty well. We've got kids that believe in each other and they work well together.

"We beat a team we're very impressed with. (Lincoln-Way Central) is a team that has some size and plays good defense. They have a 6-8 kid (Brad Foster) in the middle that is just a load to handle defensively, so to be able to come out of here with a win is exciting for us."

Williams was selected to the all-tournament team, along with teammates LJ McIntosh and Geoff Godwin.

"It means a lot to me," Williams said of making the all-tournament team. "I felt I had to help my team a lot more since we lost (graduated all-conference guard) Nick Valla. I feel I need to contribute to scoring points, playing hard defense and rebounding.

"(Today) we had a play for me where I came off a ball screen. They were switching. Nobody stepped up on me, so I just took the shots and I was making them. I felt I had to get off to a good start early so we could get a good jump on them."

Marist also received key contributions Saturday from McIntosh (11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals), Paul Simmons (5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals), Godwin (6 points), Nick Weishar (3 points, 4 rebounds, steal, block) and Tyler Oden (5 points).

Lincoln-Way Central (6-6), which finished 3-2 in the tournament, was led by all-tournament selection Brad Foster, who had 17 points, four rebounds and a block. Evan Branyik added five points and two rebounds in the loss.

"We're making the same mistakes over and over," Lincoln-Way Central coach Bob Curran said. "You hope as a coach that you don't do that, so that's one concern. We have all next week to get in the gym and practice and it will be a good time to see if we can fix some of those mistakes. I'm proud of the kids. There were a lot of games in not a lot of days and they battled through some fatigue."

Marist led 26-16 with 3:45 left in the second quarter, but the Knights scored the next six points, stretching into the third quarter, to pull within 26-22.

The RedHawks responded with a 17-2 run to take a commanding 43-24 lead and never looked back.

"They were in control the whole game," Curran said. "It was nice to see us get a little bit close, but our lack of offensive efficiency has been a struggle for us. We need to get better at taking care of the ball and being able to control the game on the offensive end. Marist did a good job of taking that away from us."