Voitik, Niles North put hurt on Leyden
BILL PEMSTEIN Contributor January 17, 2012 10:38PM
1/17/12. Skokie. Niles North's Tafari Beckford goes in for the shot in front of Leyden's Patrick Listwan. Leyden took on Niles North at Niles North High School. | Tracy Allen~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 23, 2012 3:44PM
Niles North center Billy Voitik swears he doesn’t know how he fractured a rib. All he knows he missed five games because of it.
Well, this junior might be in the dark about the injury but anyone in the crowd on Tuesday night could tell him how he got hurt.
Voitik plays so darn hard, it’s no wonder he’s not more busted up. Niles North (12-5) made it nine out of its last 10 with a decisive 63-44 nonconference win over visiting Leyden.
“We wanted to run over offense through the high post,” said North coach Glenn Olson.”We knew that would be a good thing. And Billy made the high post offense work.”
Voitik not only scrambled after every loose ball but still managed to score 16 points. Twelve of those points came in the second half.
“It comes naturally to me,” Voitik said. “I give it my all. That’s what I do.”
Voitik is quick to point to his team’s defense for the reason the Vikings have been playing so well lately.
“Our defense stepped up,” he said. “We are beginning to understand how to play team defense. Everybody guards the ball.”
This game did not start well for the home team. The Vikings had no early answers for Leyden senior guard Samuel Moya. He had 10 of his team’s first 14 points. Leyden opened this game by scoring eight straight points.
“They came out and punched us in the mouth,” Olson said. “We got down 8-0 because we weren’t playing defense. It was a good learning experience for us.”
That quick start by the Eagles was countered by Niles North. When Mychael Henley’s three-pointer fell in the last half minute of the first quarter, the Vikings had finished an 11-0 run.
Clearly the first-half star was Niles North junior guard Tafari Beckford. He hit three three-pointers in the a two-minute stretch of the second quarter and had 16 of his game-high 23 points by halftime.
Niles North took a 30-20 lead into the break.
Moya’s flip shot cut the home team’s lead to 32-25 in the third quarter. And then Voitik began to score inside. On yet another three-pointer by Beckford, the Vikings busted this game open at 45-27.
North had help in the scoring department from Henley (11 points) and Malachi Nix (10 points). Moya led the Eagles with 13 points. Pat Listwan added 10 points for Leyden.
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