Tigers miss shot at third

First came one good look for the Wheaton Warrenville South Tigers, then two, then three.

The Wheaton Warrenville South boys basketball team had three decent looks at a game-tying 3-point basket Saturday night yet failed to connect on any in their 47-44 loss to Lyons Twp. at the 34th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic in Elmhurst third-place game.

That the Tigers (8-5) were even in position to tie the game speaks to their comeback ability. When Lyons Twp. senior C.J. Esposito buried a pair of free throws with 1:26 remaining, the Tigers were looking at an 8-point deficit.

However, a pair of 3s by Byron Given and Sam Carlson in a 16-second span pulled Wheaton Warrenville South to 41-39, but the Tigers could slice the deficit to no fewer than 2 points.

"It was well-executed by both teams. They didn't miss any free throws, and that made us make plays," Wheaton Warrenville South coach Mike Healy said. "I thought both teams did everything they needed to do in the last 90 seconds to give themselves a chance to win the game. We just kind of ran out of time."

The Lions (13-1) were buoyed by 6-foot-8 senior center Jeff Adams, whose 8 fourth-quarter points helped build Lyons Twp.'s 41-33 lead.

"He executed and we didn't kind of execute what we normally do against post kids," Healy said. "He made us pay. He's a tough matchup."

The Lyons Twp. coaching staff told Adams to incorporate a pump fake with his low-post moves in the fourth quarter, leading to increased success.

"I thought when he (pump faked) he created a little more space for himself, and he kind of gathered himself a little bit by doing that," Lions coach Conte Stamas said. "When he took his time in there and really pump faked and was patient, I think that's when he was more successful."

Given and sophomore Derek Babb combined for all 15 of Wheaton Warrenville South's points in the first quarter before both fell into a shooting slump the rest of the game. Lyons Twp.'s 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones held Babb scoreless the final three quarters and yielded just 5 more points to Given.

"You know what you're going to get with LT," Healy said. "You're going to get zone, and to beat a zone you have to knock down some shots. We kind of went through a stretch where we missed a bunch of 3s.

"I thought we played all right; LT's going to win a ton of basketball games this year."