Nazareth 40, Benet 35
When Benet's Jono Davern soared in for a breakaway layup as the third-quarter buzzer sounded, the Redwings had their biggest lead at 3 points and seemingly all of the momentum in their East Suburban Catholic Conference battle with visiting Nazareth Academy on Wednesday night.
Then, just like that, the Roadrunners stole that momentum -- literally.
Recording steals on Benet's first four fourth-quarter possessions, Nazareth got back into the game and -- after the lead had changed hands four times in less than 90 seconds at one point -- used a delay offense and solid free-throw shooting down the stretch to escape with a 40-35 victory.
"Obviously, we had the momentum going to the fourth quarter and we didn't take advantage of it," said Benet coach Marty Gaughan. "Give credit to Nazareth. They did a lot of things that gave us trouble and we didn't take care of the ball tonight."
"We had a solid night defensively with our traps and we made some big plays in the fourth quarter when it could've slipped away from us," said Nazareth coach John Bonk.
The Roadrunners (14-11, 6-7) had control for most of the first half, leading by as many as 7 points behind the shooting of Dominic Rocco and Patrick Reardon. But, just like they would do in the third quarter, the Redwings (13-11, 7-6) struck late with Davern and Joe Morris combing for 6 points in the final 51 seconds of the half to second the teams to the break tied at 18.
Nazareth led 25-23 before Ryan Haggerty, who had been bottled up for most of the night by Nazareth's 2-3 zone defense, and Emmett Carrier combined with Davern to give Benet its 28-25 lead.
Nazareth responded with the first 5 points of the fourth quarter and went ahead on Reardon's bucket before Brian Gaughan drained a 3-pointer to put Benet back ahead, Rocco answered for Nazareth and Alex Gasick responded with his own 3-pointer to give the Redwings their final lead of the night at 34-32. Mike Garabedian's free throws with 1 minute, 42 seconds to play put Nazareth ahead for good.
Now Benet, whose play Gaughan termed "lethargic all night," has to bounce back when it opens postseason play at the Class 4A Bartlett regional on Monday night as the 16th seed in the East Aurora sectional against No. 18 Lake Park. The winner earns a crack at top-seeded Batavia on Tuesday.
"The one thing about this team that we've seen all year long is they've bounced back from adversity and this is the most important time of the year to do that," Gaughan said. "There are no more second chances."
Nazareth opens the postseason in Class 3A next Wednesday as the 10th seed in the Riverside-Brookfield sectional by hosting its own regional against No. 6 Riverside-Brookfield.