King, Lions tip Wheeling

Brendan King didn't waste any time after St. Viator forgot to take a timeout with six seconds left Monday afternoon in a tie game with Wheeling.

King raced up the floor and drew a foul near the top of the key with 1.9 seconds left. The junior hit the second of 2 free throws and the Lions (7-3) escaped with a 60-59 victory over the hosts in the first round of the 31st annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic boys basketball tournament at Wheeling.

"Once I started to attack coach (Joe Majkowski) said to let it go and see what happens," King said. "I made something happen. With six seconds left I knew I had to go to the basket."

Viator lost a 51-38 lead with 6:32 to play but moved into today's 7:15 p.m. quarterfinal against East Suburban Catholic Conference rival Notre Dame (6-1), which avoided an upset with a 78-74 win over Streamwood.

Michael Barton scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter to spark a tying 13-point run for Wheeling (2-6), which plays Streamwood at 2 p.m. Consecutive 3-pointers by Barton and Michael Zimmer made it 51-51 with 3:10 left.

"I thought this was our best all-around game of the year," Wheeling coach Lou Wool said after his zone trap forced 4 turnovers in the run.

"I felt we attacked pretty well, but when you get a lead you can get a mindset where you start thinking about protecting the lead instead of just playing basketball," Majkowski said. "We have to get out of that mindset."

Bryce Hensley hit a 3 with 2:33 left to put Viator ahead to stay. After King missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Richard McLoughlin (career-high 25 points) got one of his 8 rebounds to set up 2 free throws by Alan Aboona (17 points, 6 assists) for a 59-55 lead with 43 seconds left.

Barton hit a 3 at 0:34 and after a Viator turnover he missed a 3, but sophomore Riley Harvey (career-high 14 points) was fouled on an offensive rebound and split 2 free throws for a tie with six seconds left. King, an 83 percent free-throw shooter, made his second tiebreaking attempt and Wheeling lost a downcourt pass out of bounds with a tenth of a second left.

"We're so inconsistent," King said. "When we come out to play we can play with a lot of people."