Saints suffer heartbreaker
Many of the eyes at Friday's final game of the 49th annual St. Charles East Thanksgiving tournament -- including those of Illinois coach Bruce Weber -- might have wanted to catch a glimpse of St. Joseph stars DeAndre McCamey and Diamond Taylor.
A determined bunch of Saints nearly stole the spotlight.
St. Charles East battled the storied St. Joseph program all night, leading at halftime and frustrating the Chargers with their zone defense and balanced offense that saw all five starters reach double figures.
But a late fourth-quarter lead for the Saints disappeared when McCamey rebounded his own miss to score the tying basket with 7 seconds left in regulation, then St. Joseph took control in overtime to win 66-58.
The Chargers (3-0) advance to tonight's championship game against Wheaton North (3-0), while St. Charles East (1-2) will play Upstate Eight Conference rivals East Aurora (1-2) in the fifth place game at 4 p.m. today.
McCamey, a sophomore, and Taylor, a junior, didn't disappoint. McCamey led all scorers with 20 points and Taylor added 19 -- just enough to shake the hard-luck Saints, who lost their second straight game that they led late in the fourth quarter.
"They don't know enough yet," St. Joe coach Gene Pingatore said. "I mean, they don't know anything. The stuff we were doing we spent one day on. We just don't have the experience. They did OK. They hung in there.
"You've got to give them (St. Charles East) credit. They are a good team. They are going to beat some people."
In a back-and-forth game with 9 ties and 8 lead changes, the Saints took their final lead at 53-52 on Kevin Senechalle's putback basket with three minutes left in overtime.
St. Joe came right back to regain the lead on consecutive baskets from sophomore reserve Mantas Dubauskas, then pulled away in the final minute.
St. Charles East handled St. Joe's pressure well all night with only 12 turnovers, but four of them came in overtime.
The Saints also led Prospect in the final two minutes Wednesday night before watching that game slip away.
"Definitely disappointment, definitely a game we should have won," St. Charles East senior Collin Pryor said. "A lot of what-ifs and should-a, could-a, would-a type of deal. We're kind of feeling down. We know we should have won and there's not much you can do about it."
A lot of those what-ifs came in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter. The Saints had a golden opportunity to win the game in regulation.
St. Charles East made just 3 of 8 free throws in the final eight minutes, including just 2 of 6 in the final 3:10 after Brian Lankton put the Saints ahead 48-47 on a drive.
The Saints led 49-48 in the final minute and made two big defensive stops -- one on Senechalle drawing a charge and the next on a Pryor blocked shot -- but the Saints could not put the game away at the free-throw line, giving St. Joe one last chance.
McCamey took advantage, driving to the basket, missing a short shot and then getting his own rebound and scoring to send the game to overtime tied at 50.
"It came down to one possession," said St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi, who thought McCamey traveled on the play. "We needed one box-out. We keep talking about, you've got to finish, you've got to finish games. In the big games you've got to perform and make that last play."
All five St. Charles East starters scored in double figures. Zach Scott led with 13 points followed by Lankton and Pryor with 11 and Ryan Suits and Senechalle with 10.
"We feel like we had the game but we just lost in the last couple minutes," said Scott, who hit three 3-pointers.
The Saints made just 10 of 20 free throws, a far cry from their 17 of 19 in their previous game against Prospect. St. Joe also struggled going 11 for 21.
"We have to learn how to shoot them under pressure," Clodi said. "That hurts.
"We got a good game out of everybody, we executed," Clodi continued. "We are teaching these guys the toughest kids win. We're learning. The win column doesn't say it, but this team is going in the right direction. There's no doubt about it."
Mary Beth Nolan/mnolan@dailyherald.com
St. Charles East's Brian Lankton is defended by St. Joseph sophomore DeAndre McCamey.