Boys Basketball: Niles West continues searching for leadership

• Reprints

Glenbrook South's Matt Siegel and Niles West's Alex Biser battle for a rebound during the boys basketball game on January 5, 2012. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:25AM

To be brutally honest, it has been downright ugly as of late for the Niles West boys basketball team.

After losing some close games early in the season, the deficits have grown worse as the losses mount. But even though the season didn’t turn around against visiting New Trier Friday night, there are some signs of encouragement coming from the Wolves’ camp.

Alek Biser, a 6-foot-5 senior forward, recently returned from a broken leg, and senior guard Nathan Sagett is back from a broken ankle, so reinforcements are coming. Biser, Sagett and their teammates just hope there is enough time left to save the season. To a man, they admit it starts on days when there’s no opponent.

“This is my fifth game back, and I’m really frustrated that I’m not getting the playing time I got last year,” Biser said. “I have to earn that in practice. On the floor, I feel like I was getting into the groove and hitting the shots I know I can hit, but I feel comfortable. If anyone came to see our practice, I believe we practice harder than anyone else in the conference. We bust our tails, and we need to come with that mentality every day.”

The Wolves (2-13, 0-6 CSL South) forced five New Trier turnovers in the first quarter, and only trailed the conference leaders by a deuce after one period.

Biser hit a 15-foot jumper about a minute into the second quarter to tie the score at 18-18, but he committed his second foul at the 6:39 mark and was forced to the bench for the rest of the half. The Trevs (17-2, 6-0 CSL South) went on a 21-4 run to end the first half, and it was 39-22 at the break.

New Trier scored the first six points of the third quarter, and then coasted to a 67-43 victory. It was West’s 10th loss in a row. Joe Younan led the Wolves with nine points on three three-pointers, while Biser and Alex Darville added six points apiece.

“I don’t know if it was 22-20 or whatever, but next thing you know, it’s 39-22,” said West coach Bob Williams. “They just went on that run and we just didn’t respond. That’s been something we’ve struggled with all year. There’s those certain points in the game where things don’t go well, and how you respond to that determines the outcome of the game many times. We had no response, we started throwing up bad shots, not running the floor. That whole combination just killed us.”

Williams has been prodding his team to find a leader to step up and demand accountability, but with two of his seniors out, it’s been a tough go lately.

“I think it’s just learning how to pull together as a team and respond when things don’t go well on the floor,” Williams said. “It sounds like a broken record, but we have to fix it. It has to be a record that plays for us. We have a great bunch of kids and there’s no quit in any of them. They want to work on it, but we just haven’t gotten there yet.”

West gets its next chance with a trip to Maine South on Friday, and then hosts Buffalo Grove in a nonconference tilt on Saturday.

“We need some leadership on the floor because our practices are very competitive and our kids are working really hard,” Williams said. “Somehow we have to get that confidence to play like we practice. It’s not something we’re going to quit at — we’re going to keep working.”