PONTIAC — The first moment of basketball that seemed to really grab the attention of fans at the 94th Pontiac Holiday Tournament came from New Trier senior Danny Houlihan. The High Point recruit swished a long-range three-pointer on the run in the third quarter of the No. 10 Trevians’ 58-43 win against West Aurora in the first round on Monday.
Houlihan, a High Point recruit, finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and two assists. Throughout his high school career, he has been known as a deadly shooter — the running mate to senior guard Christopher Kirkpatrick. But he has expanded his game over the last month, just in time to take on a larger role for the rest of the season.
Kirkpatrick, a Sun-Times’ All-Area selection last season, will miss the tournament with an injury and it is unknown when he will return.
“We are celebrating because [Kirkpatrick] hit the game-winning shot [last week in Arizona] and all of a sudden after the game something was wrong,” New Trier coach Scott Fricke said. “We couldn’t even enjoy winning out there.
“No excuses. Our guys have practiced really hard without him. We just have to come up with ways to replace that scoring and all the other things he gave us.”
The Trevians (11-1) jumped out to a 15-0 lead and dominated the first half. West Aurora (4-8) pulled within three, 34-37, midway through the third quarter on a three-pointer from senior guard Antonio Higgins, but New Trier responded with a 10-0 burst that included two threes from Houlihan.
“We can still make a deep run here without [Kirkpatrick],” Houlihan said. “My goal is to be more of a leader now that Chris is out. I can keep improving on that.”
Elton Jaegerskog finished with nine points and eight rebounds for the Trevians. Matthew Logue scored nine points, and Denym Wallace, a 6-6 freshman, added 12.
“[Wallace] is going to be a really good player,” Fricke said. “He’s had a solid start to the season, but that was one of his better games.”
Junior guard Travis Brown led the Blackhawks with 14 points and six assists. Higgins finished with 10 points.
New Trier will face Homewood-Flossmoor in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.