Wheaton North 40, Wheaton Warrenville South 39
Just another Friday night in Wheaton.
In the latest of so many cross-town boys basketball thrillers, Wheaton North narrowly escaped the upset by rallying for a 40-39 DuPage Valley Conference victory over host WW South.
No one walked away surprised by the pitched competitiveness, and no fans emerged from the packed gym disappointed by the effort showed by either team.
John Bagge scored the go-ahead basket with 1:13 left. Then, after the Tigers turned the ball over and the Falcons missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 4.8 seconds left, WW South's Sam Carlson grabbed the loose ball and sprinted down the court.
Carlson drove in for a layup, but Bagge knocked the ball away before Carlson could get the shot off to preserve Wheaton North's win.
"It was a crazy game," said Bagge, who scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. "Whenever we come here we just have to throw out all the records and the hype, and just play. This is a tough place to play. It was just nuts the last minute."
WW South (6-1, 1-1) led 37-30 after a Byron Given bucket with 3:43 left, but Wheaton North (6-1, 2-0) surged back behind Bagge's three-point play and Steve Pierotti's 3-pointer.
When Bagge scored to give the Falcons a 38-37 advantage with 2:25 left, it was their first lead since 6-5 at the start of the second quarter.
Kendrick Perry, who had 11 points off the bench, scored to give the Tigers a 39-38 lead, but it didn't last long. Six-foot-seven Bagge capped his 8-point quarter with the winning shot down low.
Bagge and Pierotti, who scored 7 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, accounted for all of Wheaton North's 15 points in the final frame.
"Everyone knew it was going to be a dogfight, and they deserved it," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "They made one more play than us in a great high school basketball game. Wheaton North made some plays at the end that really kind of hurt us."
Given scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half as WW South opened its biggest lead of 9 points late in the second quarter. With Wheaton North making only 5 of 22 shots, the Tigers led 21-14 at the half.
"I don't think it was so much of offensively being slow, I thought both teams were just kind of going at it defensively," said Falcons coach Jim Nazos. "It's just a great win against a great team on their floor."