Boys Basketball: Watts, Deerfield prepping for postseason play

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Deerfield's Tony Shapiro grabs a rebound in front of Niles North's Lorenzo Dillard during Friday's game. I David Banks~for Sun-Times Media

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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:28AM

In an up and down season, there has been one consistent star for Deerfield High School.

Senior Mack Watts has been the go-to guy for coach JJ Pearl. He can’t really be pigeon-holed at either guard spot, as he does brings the ball upcourt, but Watts also comes off screens as a spot shooter. His ball-handing skills prevent him from being a power forward, despite being one of the bigger players on a small team, but his rebounding ability means he isn’t classified as a small forward.

Oh, Watts also is a captain, and the unquestioned team leader in his final go-round as a Warrior.

“Whatever we need, he does it,” Pearl said. “We need a three; he hits a three. We need a rebound; he gets it. We need to bring the ball up the floor; he does that. We need to close on a shooter; he does it. I can’t say enough good things about Mack Watts; he’s the heart and soul of this team right now. He was voted as an all-conference player and he played like an all-conference player. He just keeps getting better, it seems.”

In the final conference game of the year, held at Niles North Friday night, Watts drilled four three-pointers in the first half to give the Warriors a 26-21 lead.

Niles North (18-7 overall, 7-3 Central Suburban League North) fought back to take a two-point lead after three quarters, but Deerfield scored the first six points of the fourth to grab a 39-35 lead.

From there, the Warriors (9-15, 4-6) faltered under relentless pressure from the Vikings and lost the lead. Watts had a good look at a three that would have tied the game with 1:15 remaining, but it wouldn’t fall, and the Vikings made enough free throws to escape with a 55-51 win.

Deerfield held high-scoring Niles North (80-plus points in its last two games) well below its scoring average, and to only 3-for-20 shooting from three-point land.

“We stuck to the game plan — shortened the game a little bit — and our kids played their guts out,” Pearl said. “We don’t match up to them well — they’re very athletic — and our kids gave it everything they had. We had the four-point lead with about four minutes to go, had a couple turnovers, they put some pressure on us, got a couple easy baskets, got the crowd back into it and we just never recovered after that.”

Watts finished with 22 points, including six three-pointers, while sophomore Michael Alfieri had a big game in the post, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. Alex Glantz added 10 points.

“I just felt good,” Watts said. “I like playing here in this gym, coming off a couple good games, personally. My teammates did a good job finding me. We just wanted to slow it down. Last time (in a 66-48 loss), we had it close and they broke it open with fast breaks and threes. Our game plan was to slow them down, and it worked for about three-and-a-half quarters. It was low-scoring, we were getting stops, getting rebounds, and that was basically the difference until the end.”

Recap: The Warriors lost to Lakes 65-45 on Saturday, suffering their fifth defeat in six games. Deerfield was set to finish the regular season by hosting Niles West on Tuesday, but nobody in the Deerfield camp is discouraged going into the postseason. Injured contributors Eric Porter and Alex Sacks were set to return against Niles West to give the team some added firepower.

“Eric and Alex will both be back, and that helps,” Pearl said. “Defensively, we’ve been doing a great job. Offensively, we need to make sure the right guy is shooting from the right spots. Executing our stuff — and we’re just going to keep working. We’re not ready to pack it in yet. We’re playing until they tell us there are no games left to play.”

On the schedule: Watts, Sacks and the other veterans aren’t ready to see it all end yet, either, and Deerfield’s patient style of play is perfect for the grind-it-out mode of the state tournament. The Warriors will face off with CSL North foe Highland Park in the IHSA Class 4A Rolling Meadows Regional on Feb. 27.

“We’ve been fighting hard — losing close games — but we’ve been playing hard,” Watts said. “We should be able to carry that over into next week and the tournament. My plan is to give it 100 percent each time I take the floor. I don’t have any regrets, and I just want to keep representing Deerfield basketball. We can put together a couple wins and make a little run — that’s what I want.”