Boys Basketball: Gustafson sparks OPRF past Panthers

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Oak Park-River Forest's Alex Gustafson has successfully played many roles for the Huskies this season. | Jon Langham~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 17, 2012 8:13AM

Oak Park-River Forest junior Alex Gustafson was initially inserted into the starting this season as a defensive standout.

He’s proven to be much more than that.

“He’s played all five positions for us this year and never complains,” OPRF coach Matt Maloney said. “He’s a junior who has given us major minutes. He’s been a defensive stopper and now he’s scoring the ball. He’s a blue-collar guy who does all the little things. He hides mistakes that other guys make and is just a perfect teammate.

“I’m really excited about the type of player he is now, but he’s going to be a real good player for us next year.”

The 6-foot-4 Gustafson, who believes small forward is his best position, provided some offense Friday to help the Huskies cruise past host Proviso West 68-42 in a West Suburban Conference Silver game. He had 11 points, three rebounds and two steals.

“It felt good, but it’s a team game,” said Gustafson, who made 4 of 5 shots, including all three of his three-point attempts. “Defense has been my go-to thing, but (playing every position) has helped me develop. I think I’ve really grown as a player a lot. It’s tough, but I can tell it’s helping my game. I really worked on my shooting and Coach Maloney is a great shooting coach.”

OPRF (15-5, 7-2 in Silver) was coming off a tough 63-62 loss to Hinsdale Central last Friday that trimmed its conference lead to one game.

The Huskies, just like in their 72-54 victory Jan. 6 over the Panthers, got off to a fast start, leading 20-7 after one quarter.

Proviso West (8-14, 4-6 in Silver) scored the first six points of the second quarter to pull within 20-13, but the Huskies closed the half on a 15-4 run to take a 35-17 lead and then scored the first nine points of the third quarter to take a commanding 44-17 advantage.

“We talked about all week how we can’t afford anymore slip-ups,” Maloney said. “We felt like we had opportunities to win the game against Hinsdale and let it get away. We put ourselves in position where we control our own fate, but we have to be sharp every possession and play four quarters of basketball if we want to win that conference title. We played more the style we want to play where we’re up and down and active defensively. I was happy we got back into the flow.”

OPRF was led by Ka’Darryl Bell, who had a game-high 20 points and added three rebounds and two steals. The Huskies also got solid contributions from Gave Levin (nine points), whose minutes were limited due to foul trouble, Tacourrus Mattox (nine rebounds, two blocks) and Jakari Cammon (five points, five steals, four assists, four rebounds).

Proviso West did not have a player score in double digits, with Lawrence Moore leading the way with eight points and Dominick Roby grabbing seven rebounds.