IC goes on; Driscoll, Timothy ousted
Wednesday's motives at Timothy Christian were advancement ... and revenge.
In these Class 2A regional semifinals in Elmhurst, Immaculate Conception beat Driscoll a third straight time, 53-45.
Walther Lutheran did exact revenge over Timothy Christian's prior win, beating the Trojans 59-52 to gain Friday's regional final against IC.
Reversing the motif, it was the third straight year No. 2 seed Walther Lutheran (19-8) has ended the Trojans' postseason.
"Losing two years in a row in the regionals to them, it was going to be hard because we know they have the mindset for it," said Timothy's Robert White, who scored a team-high 15 points. "But we knew that we had nothing to lose. Us being the (Private School League) champs, they had to come in our house and beat us."
They did. Walther coach Bob Koehne recalled that when No. 3 seed Timothy (19-7) beat the Broncos on Feb. 6, his leader Brandon Smith scored 6 points, no rebounds, no assists.
"Today he had 25 (points), 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals," Koehne said. "He played about maybe three minutes of that game in the second half because of foul trouble. So that was a big difference."
Smith opened the win and closed it, scoring 11 first-quarter points and 10 in the fourth with two three-point plays. Brian Jackson had a huge basket from Danny Vasser's sprawling assist for a 57-52 Walther lead with 19.8 seconds left.
Timothy had rallied within 52-50 with 1:24 to play after trailing 42-29 in the third quarter.
"I was really, really proud of our guys for tightening the straps up and making a game of it," said Trojans coach Jack LeGrand.
No. 1 seed Immaculate Conception (17-10) and No. 4 Driscoll (14-13) always strap it up. This year the Knights had a firm upper hand.
"I haven't beat Driscoll since sophomore year in basketball, so it felt good to beat them three times in one season," said Antonio Taylor, whose 11 points led IC.
It looked like it'd be 2-1 when Driscoll's Matt Kaban scored 8 of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter while IC big man Matt Purdom got hit with 2 fouls and sat the rest of the half.
Supersub Joe Burke spelled Purdom, and although Driscoll's Steven Schwabe hit two 3-pointers, IC stuck within 28-26 at the half.
Out of halftime, Purdom stole two straight passes to Kaban, spurring a 9-0 Knights run. Driscoll never led again.
"That was a huge momentum shift," said Driscoll coach Adam Szyszko. "(Purdom) had two fouls early; we wanted to get him into foul trouble and keep him a spectator."
Driscoll battled within 45-42 with 34.7 seconds left but Taylor, Burke and Michael Randick combined to hit 8 straight free throws to end it.
"We overcame some mental mistakes," IC coach Darren Howard said, "but I'm happy with how we played against a conference opponent that's as tough and as big a foe as we have."
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CLASS 2A TIMOTHY CHRISTIAN SEMIFINAL
Immaculate Conception 53, Driscoll 45
Driscoll - Grana 2 0-0 4, Calabrese 1 1-2 4, Schwabe 2 4-6 10, Baker 2 3-4 8, Kaban 9 1-2 19, Schiller 0 0-0 0, Lazar 0 0-0 0, Hennessy 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 9-14 45.
Immaculate Conception - Randik 3 2-3 8, Muisenga 1 0-1 2, Mobley 4 0-0 8, Taylor 3 4-4 11, Purdom 4 0-0 8, Nutley 2 0-0 6, Burke 3 2-3 8, Verdone 1 0-0 2, McMahon 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 8-11 53.
Driscoll 12 16 4 13 -45
Immaculate Conc 12 14 11 16 -53
3-point baskets: D: Schwabe 2, Calabrese, Baker. IC: Nutley 2. Fouled out: IC: Purdom.
Walther Lutheran 59, Timothy Christian 52
Timothy Christian - Greenwood 2 1-2 7, White 5 4-7 15, Holmes 4 0-0 8, Penczak 1 1-2 3, Stein 3 2-2 8, Pizzello 2 0-0 5, Peeples 1 4-5 6, Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-18 52.
Walther Lutheran - James 2 0-0 6, Davis 1 4-5 6, Stanciel 1 0-0 2, Smith 9 4-4 25, Jackson 4 4-4 12, Swanigan 2 0-0 4, Sims 1 0-0 2, Lamar 1 0-2 2, Vasser 0 0-0 0, Koehne 0 0-0 0, Elliott 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 12-15 59.
Timothy Christian 18 5 12 17 -52
Walther Lutheran 16 16 12 15 -59
3-point baskets: TC: Greenwood 2, White, Pizzello. WL: Smith 3, James 2. Fouled out: None.