The Thunder rolls
Sakenis scores all 19 of his points in first half as Andrew downs Lincoln-Way West
Years of battling and challenging his older brother gave Andrew’s Grantas Sakenis a crash course in playing against big men.
Grantas, a 6-foot-8 junior forward, appreciates the sometimes painful apprenticeship courtesy of bigger brother Arnas, who’s a 6-11 freshman center at SIU-Edwardsville.
“We went up against each other all the time,” Grantas said. “It would get very aggressive. He won a lot. He was bigger than me, but there were some games I won, too.
“When I was moved up from the sophomore team to the varsity to practice last year, it was a lot of fun going up against him.”
Andrew coach Dave Wilson said Grantas Sakenis still needs to get better against big men, but against a smaller team, he has shown some dominance.
Sakenis scored all 19 of his points in the first half Friday night to go with nine rebounds and two steals in a 69-51 SouthWest Suburban
Red victory over Lincoln-Way West in New Lenox.
Lewis recruit Austin Kulig added 12 points for Andrew (15-11, 5-1). Kaleb Simms and Nathan LaPlant each had 10.
Eli Bach scored 19 points for Lincoln-Way West (10-16, 1-5) — all in the second half. Daniel Reniguntala contributed 14 points off the bench.
The first time the two teams met on Jan. 17, Sakenis had 31 points and 18 rebounds.
The national NY2LA Sports summer basketball circuit is calling Sakenis a breakout junior on its website, saying “he has a strong build and aggressive play to just bully opponents inside.”
Kulig, who is 6-7, said he enjoys watching his teammate go to work.
“I like how he can just move people — it’s just too easy for him,” Kulig said. “There is nobody in the conference who can body him up.”
The Warriors don’t have player listed on their roster taller than 6-3 so Sakenis feasted, but Wilson said he wants to see more of that against taller teams.
“He has a lot of potential growth ahead of him,” Wilson said of Sakenis. “He needs to dominate the way he can against guys his size.
“For him, it’s confidence. He has a tendency to doubt himself at times. He has to understand what he wants and understand it’s not going to happen overnight.”
Sakenis said he had that confidence against Lincoln-Way West.
He opened the game scoring Andrew’s first three baskets and zinged a pass to Athan Berchos for a 3-pointer to help account for the team’s first nine points.
Sakenis also scored the Thunderbolts’ first six points in the second quarter. Andrew rolled to a 47-22 halftime lead.
In the second half, Sakenis was only able to get off one shot as the Warriors made sure two or three players were hounding him when the ball came his way.
“We had a game plan against him to start the game,” LincolnWay West coach Tanner Mitchell
said. “We just didn’t execute that game plan very well. We reviewed it at halftime, and we actually did execute it in the second half.
“In our defense, we don’t have the bodies to physically match up with him. We had to junk it up to do some fronting, and they have good players around him.”
The Warriors have lost five of their last six games, including Tuesday’s 64-59 heartbreaker in triple overtime to Stagg.
For Andrew, Kulig recently announced his commitment to Lewis. He said the Flyers offered him early on.
“I like the program and how it’s only 25 minutes away from my house,” Kulig said. “My parents can come to the games, and it’s a good Division II program.”