St. Viator's Fleming savors 'dream game'

St.Viator's Mike Fleming is a behind-the-scenes type of player.

But on Wednesday night, the 6-foot-3 senior received a chance to start on senior night at Cahill Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

Fleming didn't let the home fans down. He rang up a career-high 15 points, including a 3-point basket, grabbed 6 rebounds and added an assist to help the Lions to a 70-54 thumping of Carmel.

The victory enabled the Lions (15-10, 6-7) to secure a fifth-place tie in the East Suburban Catholic Conference with Benet and Marist.

"I told the players in the locker room before the game that I would start all seniors," said Lions coach Joe Majkowski. "Mike's a great player and he works real hard on the scout team getting the starters ready for the game. He knows his role and is always positive."

St. Viator trailed briefly 5-2 before engineering a 9-0 run during which Fleming had 2 baskets that gave the Lions an 11-5 lead they would not relinquish.

"I was just full of energy tonight," Fleming said. "It was like a dream game and it felt awesome. What was nice about the game was that it was a team effort. Even when they made their runs, the defense stepped up and then we got some nice layups."

Would Fleming like some minutes next week when the Lions take on Glenbrook South at the Elk Grove regional?

"I just want to do what's best for the team," Fleming said. "As long as we're winning, that's fine with me. We would like to go as far as we can."

The Corsairs (6-21, 3-10) never let the Lions off the hook until late, countering with solid efforts from Jon Huisel (13 points) and Patrick Cox with a dozen.

The Lions led 51-46 following a basket by Carmel's Connor Garvey, with 6:51 left in the contest. But over the next 1:30, the Lions' Jack Etchingham scored 6 of his 13 points and Bryce Hensley (12 points, 5 rebounds) drilled a 3-point basket for a 59-46 lead.

Following a basket by Huisel, the Lions put together another 9-0 run, with Etchingham hittng 2 baskets, for a 68-48 lead with 1:33 left in the game.

Brendan King contributed 4 of his 6 assists in the fourth quarter.

"We wanted to use this game to get ready for next week's regional," Majkowski said. "Offensively we went out and made some nice plays, and because of the good passing we received quite a few layups. Joe Dougherty and Keegan Korab did a nice job for us starting tonight also."