St. Viator's fast start leads to regional title

They say getting off to an early start can reap tremendous benefits.

Friday evening, it reaped a regional championship for St. Viator.

As a result of a 20-0 start over the game's first 5:14, the No. 3-seeded Lions cruised to a 70-34 victory over host Payton College Prep in the Class 3A regional final in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.

The victory gave St. Viator an eighth regional crown in school history and sixth in the last eight seasons.

It also sends the Lions (12-15) into Wednesday's Antioch sectional semifinal against another Chicago Public League school, Foreman (10-17).

The No. 11-seeded Hornets pulled off a 42-29 upset over No. 2 seeded Ridgewood in Norridge on Friday night.

"It was definitely a group effort," said smiling St. Viator coach Quin Hayes. "Our identity is communicating with our team that strength comes from good defense, and as a result of it we were able to get off to a great start tonight."

That start began with the first of two 3-pointers from 6-foot-3 senior forward Daniel Morton (9 points) just 51 seconds into the contest.

That was followed by Peter Lambesis' pullup jumper a half a minute later that pushed the Viator lead to 5-0.

Then the sophomore duo of Jeremiah Hernandez and J.R. Cison took over, combining for the Lions' next 15 points. A steal and stuff from Hernandez was followed by a 12-footer from Cison making it 9-0 two minutes into the game.

Hernandez added back-to-back hoops for a 13-0 advantage with 4:35 left. Cison topped off the decisive scoring surge with 7 of his 14 points, capped by a 10-footer to make it 20-0 with 2:46 to play in the first period.

"We came out executing our game plan," Cison said. "We played hard. We really wanted this one tonight."

The No. 10 Grizzlies (12-15) were able to finally get on the scoreboard when 6-foot Ryan Trotter (11 points) connected on the first of his three 3s at the 2:06 mark.

Payton, which entered the game having won eight of its last 12, was led by 6-1 sophomore Ronan Prugh's 12 points. His second 3-pointer early in the second quarter got Payton within 22-6. But Viator's lead grew to 43-17 at the half and 58-25 at the end of the three.

Beau Kellner's rebound putback made it 68-32 with 1:45 to go in the game.

Hernandez, an all-area selection, put a spotlight on a Lions defense that held Payton to just 25 percent shooting (13-for-52) and forced 23 turnovers.

"Our coaches have been emphasizing helping out one another on defense," said Hernandez who tossed in a game-high 15 points. "We came up huge tonight."

Hayes, who won his second regional crown in his three years as the Lions' coach, quickly shifted the focus to Wednesday's opponent.

"They're tough," Hayes said of Foreman. "They're well-coached. We're aware of the challenge that they will be."