Wild finale as Stevenson tips Warren
Crazy only begins to describe Saturday's fourth quarter between Stevenson and Warren.
It was crazy that Stevenson, normally a reliable free throw shooting team, was clanking free throws left and right.
It was crazy that Illinois-bound forward Brandon Paul was doing the same thing for Warren.
It was crazy that Stevenson started out the quarter with a 16-point lead but was in a tenuous position with just seconds remaining.
While Stevenson was clinking and clanking free throws instead of making field goals, Warren was slowly but surely getting back into the game.
Then, when Stevenson's Grant Johnson was called for a technical foul, Warren guard David Duncan calmly nailed both free throws to cut the deficit to 2 points with 11.2 seconds left.
The Blue Devils then got the ball back and looked to run a play, but when that broke down, Paul launched a desperation 3-pointer that was way off.
But alas, he was fouled. With 2.1 seconds left.
Paul got 3 free throws. Normally, not good news for the opposition. Like Stevenson, Paul is also a very reliable free throw shooter.
But, in this game, Paul was already 0-for-7 from the line, thanks to some unusual circumstances.
Paul had missed three days of practice prior to the game because of strep throat. Then, on Saturday morning, while rough-housing with his younger brother Darius, he severely injured the pinkie finger on his right hand.
His pinkie and ring fingers were taped together for the entire game and he had been shooting free throws left-handed - to no avail.
But for the 3 free throws with 2.1 seconds left, Paul tore off the tape and used his right hand.
It didn't matter. Paul missed all three free throws. And when Stevenson got the ball back, Jeff Levitt, who was playing in his first game after his own medical saga that involved an intestinal infection that sent him to the hospital for three days, got fouled.
He sank a insurance free throw to give Stevenson a 59-56 North Suburban Conference Lake Division win.
Whew!
The victory moves Stevenson, which survived 15 misses at the free throw line (11-of-26) in the fourth quarter alone, to 11-7 overall and 4-4 in the Lake Division. After losses to Lake Forest and Zion-Benton within the last week, Warren drops its third straight game to fall to 15-4 overall and 6-3 in the Lake.
"That was unbelievable," summed Stevenson guard Nate Johnson, who scored a team-high 14 points. "And it was unbelievably frustrating shooting like that (at the free throw line). I don't think we've ever shot that poorly as a team, just miss after miss like that.
"But I think it speaks to our toughness that we overcame that. And a win is a win, especially against Warren, and especially on their home court. This is huge."
Stevenson was able to build such a big lead through three quarters by coming up huge inside.
The Patriots got shot after shot in the post and made Warren pay with all the high percentage opportunities. Johnson scored most of his points inside as did Jeff Arenson (12 points), Johnson (10 points) and Henry Wood (9 points).
"We were just horrible in the first half," said Warren forward Jake Anderson, who scored a game-high 15 points. "We weren't really calling out screens and they were getting easy takes to the basket. We just weren't really ready defensively tonight. But in the second half, we still made things interesting. They weren't hitting free throws and then crazy things happened and we almost pulled this one out."
Warren got 13 points from Duncan and 10 points from Paul, who finished 0-for-10 from the line.
"When I came early (before the game) to shoot, my shot wasn't going anywhere near the rim," Paul said. "On that last one (the last three free throws), I should have taken myself out of the game. But I didn't want to put anyone else in that situation."