Loyola 67, St. Viator 63 (OT)
St. Viator had turned a few heads with its play in the first two games at the Class 4A Glenbrook North boys basketball regional.
And the Lions had Loyola's heads spinning in Friday's regional final with its 3-point shooting.
But with the score tied at 59-59 and time winding down in regulation Jim Platania's potential game winning 3-pointer had its own spin and spun right out of the basket to send the game into overtime.
Fifth-seed Loyola outscored the Lions 8-4 in the extra period to secure a hard-fought 67-63 victory in Northbrook.
"It was right there," said Loyola coach Bryan Tucker of Platania's shot that rimmed out with one second left in regulation. "Sometime you have to be lucky."
"It felt good," said Platania of the shot, "but sometimes the ball doesn't always bounce your way."
Loyola (20-9) secured its fourth consecutive regional title and advances to Tuesday night's Evanston sectional semifinal game at 7:30 p.m. against the top-seeded hosts.
No. 13 St. Viator (11-17) shot 14-of 32 on 3-pointers and led 51-41 with 5:30 left, but Loyola inside game proved to be a little too much as it ended the game with a 38-11 rebounding advantage.
"We just could come up with the last one," said Viator coach Joe Majkowski. "The kids' confidence has been building since the second half of the season and they didn't back down to anyone."
Including Loyola, which sprinted out to a 10-3 advantage, but sophomore Alan Aboona scored 12 of his 18 points in the first half, including three of his five 3s.
Senior Eric Huber (17 points) hit three of his four 3s in the second quarter to help Viator take a 34-24 halftime advantage.
Loyola narrowed the deficit to 34-30, but once again Viator came storming back on 3s by Michael Landuyt (7 points) and Platania (16 points) to enter the fourth with a 44-34 advantage.
"The first two games gave us a lot of confidence in our shots," said Landuyt of the regional wins over Leyden and Glenbrook North.
But 6-foot-5 sophomore Chance Carter (game-high 19 points, 10 rebounds) and 6-5 junior Matt Sullivan (14 points, 8 rebounds) started to flex their muscle in the final quarter. And the Ramblers were efficient at the free throw line going 23-for-33.
"We finally got into a flow on offense," said Carter of the Rambler late charge.
Landuyt's 3 with 33.6 seconds left gave the Lions their last lead at 59-57, but Sullivan answered for Loyola and Platania's miss sent the game into extra period.
Peter Badovinac's 3 with 2:21 remaining gave Loyola a 64-61 lead it would never relinquish.
"We had a lot of close games like this all year," said Majkowski, "And it's a credit to our kids that they kept coming back after tough losses.
"That's what got us here, unfortunately it didn't get us to the next step."