St. Viator 67, Glenbrook North 65
In a rarity this season, the close game went St. Viator's way.
Despite severe foul trouble in the second half and a scoring drought of nearly 6½ minutes in the fourth quarter, the underdog Lions found a way to finish off their Class 4A regional semifinal at Glenbrook North and keep their season alive.
And even then, it took the equivalent of a fifth quarter.
Mike Landuyt banked in a jumper from behind the foul line with 2.2 seconds remaining in the second overtime to give No. 13 St. Viator a 67-65 victory over the fourth-seeded Spartans. The Lions (11-16) play Friday against the Loyola-Glenbrook South winner for the regional title.
"It was actually a bad shot," Landuyt said of the jumper the kept the game from heading into a third overtime. "It was just lucky."
The Lions weren't feeling very lucky in the fourth quarter, when they saw a 42-33 lead with 7:10 left in the game turn into a 46-42 deficit with 1:05 to play. Jim Platania's (14 points) free throws with 46.1 seconds left ended the dry spell.
Zach Walker (7 points) made 1 of 2 from the line with 25.3 seconds remaining to give the Spartans (19-6) a 47-44 lead, and that's when the fouls they didn't commit earlier came in handy.
They fouled 5 times in the final 19 seconds, each time disrupting Viator's offense.
"When it got to six seconds and we were closer (to the basket), we said if you catch it, shoot it," said Viator coach Joe Majkowski.
That didn't happen. Instead, Majkowski drew up a play during a timeout that gave Eric Huber the ball and he drilled a 3 with 1.3 seconds left to force the first overtime.
"We'd never run it before," Huber (14 points) said. "I was the last option."
Walker duplicated Huber's heroics by draining a 3 with 5.1 seconds left in the first overtime for a tie at 59-59.
Baskets by Brian Peel (22 points) and Jordan Schmidt gave North a 63-59 lead with 1:57 left in the second overtime, but Landuyt (team-high 20 points) and Alan Aboona (15) took over. Landuyt scored 5 points, and Aboona's 3 with 1:25 left tied the game at 63-63.
Landuyt and Peel traded baskets to tie it at 65-65. Viator held for the final shot, and Landuyt answered with the game-winner.
"It was a great play by a great kid," Majkowski said. "In order to win tough games, you've got to make plays, and he made a big play."