Mundelein wins on buzzer-beater
Those two-handed dunks delight, and Mundelein's Ryan Sawvell slammed another one Friday night at Stevenson. But the versatile, 6-foot-8 forward worked on a certain fadeaway jumper during the week.
He made one. Made two. Made three.
“I was talking to one of our assistant coaches during the week in practice and I told him that when I fade off my left foot, when turning around and shooting the ball, I seem to shoot better,” said the righty-shooting Sawvell, who was making those fadeaways look as easy as dunks.
“The entire week of practice I would get there early and I would just keep doing it and keep doing it,” Sawvell. “I noticed it just keeps going in (and thought), ‘I might want to try this in the game.' ”
Good idea.
Sawvell took an inbounds pass from Sean O'Brien and, with 6-5 Kevin Earl draped all over him, hit a fadeaway 16-footer on the left wing at the buzzer to give the Mustangs a 50-48 win in a North Suburban Lake Division thriller.
The win for Mundelein (7-2, 3-1) was its first at Stevenson in coach Dick Knar's seven seasons.
“We've had so many last-second losses here,” Knar said. “We lost last year (64-63) when Ben (Brust) had a last shot to win it. We lost (three) years ago when (Stevenson) got three possessions at the end of the game to tie and then beat us in overtime. It's about time something went in for us.”
When Stevenson junior guard Mike Fleming (team-high 15 points) hit a step-back 12-footer, with Mundelein's Richard Knar in his face, with five seconds left, it looked like the Mustangs were going to be licking their wounds in Lincolnshire again.
Fleming's clutch shot tied the score at 48-48, and Mundelein called timeout with 2.9 seconds on the clock.
“I knew this was a key game and I knew I had to step up for my team,” Fleming said. “My coach gave me the freedom to drive and take a shot. Right when it left my hand, I knew it was in.”
Mundelein inbounded under its own basket. O'Brien, a former baseball pitcher, threw a strike to Sawvell at midcourt, and the Mustangs immediately called time again.
With 1.9 seconds on the clock, O'Brien spied shooter Robert Knar (11 points, two 3-pointers), who was double-teamed. Sawvell had single coverage and O'Brien found him.
Sawvell caught, spun, faded and released.
The Evansville recruit finished with a game-high 17 points and 6 rebounds.
“I just turned around off my left foot,” said Sawvell, who was mobbed by teammates and fans immediately after his heroics. “As soon as I shot it, I knew it was in.”
“That was an athletic, Division I shot,” Dick Knar said.
For Stevenson (3-6, 1-3), it was heartbreak.
“After I hit that shot (with five seconds left), I thought we were definitely going to take them to overtime,” Fleming said. “Credit to Ryan Sawvell. He's a heck of a player and he hit a heck of a shot at the end of the game.”
Mundelein had gotten hot in the third quarter, getting a 19-footer from Leavon Head (9 points), a baseline bucket from Sawvell, a pull-up 3-pointer by Head and a 3 by Robert Knar to go up 38-23 with 3:37 left.
But Stevenson closed the quarter on a 13-0 run, with Johnny Ricchio's putback pulling the Patriots within 38-36 entering the fourth.
“I give Stevenson credit because they took us out of what we were doing a little bit, but we stopped moving offensively,” Dick Knar said. “We weren't getting any easy looks. Everything we did was off the bounce.”
“Dug in a little bit and just played a little better defense,” Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. “And (we) hit some shots. I don't know if it was anything specific we did that was so great.”
Mundelein led by as many as six in the fourth but couldn't shake the pesky Pats, who got 11 points off the bench from Troy Radtke and 7 rebounds from Brian Carlson.
Earlier this month, Sawvell's putback at the buzzer beat Lake Forest.
“We just keep finding ways to win games,” Sawvell said. “I think if we just keep doing this, we'll be fine.”