Christian Liberty advances

Christian Liberty produced a memorable finish to the first game in its history in the IHSA boys basketball state tournament Tuesday night.

Sophomore Luke Comerouski hit a tiebreaking free throw with 13 seconds left in overtime as third-seed Christian Liberty (14-9) beat Alden-Hebron 43-42 in the Westminster Christian Class 1A regional quarterfinal in Elgin.

Comerouski was 5-for-6 on free throws in overtime and finished with 21 points. Christian Liberty was 18-for-26 at the line as it advanced to Thursday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal against second-seed Chicagoland Jewish Academy, a 53-36 winner over No. 7 Faith Lutheran.

"We were trying to get the ball inside and get something going there, and they fouled us a lot," said CLA coach Ken Kramer.

Alden-Hebron (6-22), which split its regular-season meetings with Christian Liberty, missed 2 shots to win in the final seconds.

Christian Liberty had a shot at the end of regulation go in and out. Senior Aaron Johnson had 9 points, 4 steals and 4 blocked shots before fouling out three minutes into the fourth quarter.

"He played well," Kramer said. "He was everywhere he needed to be."

The Chargers also got 6 points apiece from Gabe Clayborne and Mike Hennek. Kramer was also impressed with the support they received.

"Our athletic director (Steve Rowland) got two fan buses to come out," Kramer said. "We had an advantage with our fans. It was loud in there for us."

Top-seed Westminster and No. 4 North Shore Country Day play in the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m. today.