Hoffman Estates has Kyo to victory

A year ago it was crush time when Kyo Azumaya saw late-game action for the Hoffman Estates boys basketball team.

On Friday night, Azumaya was on the court in crunch time and came through twice for Hoffman in the third annual Coaches Vs. Cancer Thanksgiving Tournament at Crystal Lake Central.

The 6-foot senior guard's 3-pointer capped a rally from a 9-point deficit in the final 1:08 of regulation and his free throw with five seconds left in overtime gave Hoffman (2-0) a 59-58 victory over McHenry.

"Coach (Bill) Wandro gave me a chance and I had to prove it," Azumaya said.

"I'm really happy for him because he's been very close," said Hawks coach Bill Wandro. "He got his chance tonight and he was very, very consistent throughout the game."

Azumaya aggressively drove the baseline and drew a foul with the score tied at 58-58. He missed 2 first-quarter free throws and then missed his first attempt amid the noise from a large group of McHenry (0-2) students and fans.

But senior guard Kevin Tiongson offered some quick encouragement and Azumaya hit his second attempt.

"That helped me - I just relaxed," Azumaya said.

"I said, 'Don'tH listen to them (fans) and just clear everything out,'" said Tiongson, who has made all 13 of his free throws the first two games after shooting 87 percent last year. "I told him, 'This is your time now a and just knock it down.'"

Hoffman was running out of time when McHenry took a 49-40 lead with 1:38 left. But a 3 at 1:08 by Tiongson, who scored all 14 of his points in the final 131/2 minutes, started the stunning comeback.

McHenry split 4 free throws to finish 14-for-25 and Jon Bialek (10 points) had a layup and Tiongson had a driving 3-point play and forced a turnover in the backcourt to set up Azumaya's right-wing 3 with six seconds left.

"I had no idea if it was going in or out but I was praying," Tiongson said.

Lance Vesper (18 points, 8 rebounds) hit a jump hook 1:19 into overtime to give Hoffman its first lead since 17-16. Ben Cho also hit a tiebreaking 3 at 1:44 and Azumaya drew a charge to set up Tiongson's 2 free throws for a 58-55 lead with 28.6 seconds left.

Brett Palmer's 3 tied it with 17 seconds left for the Warriors. But they missed two buzzer-beaters when Josh McNaughton's pressured runner rimmed off in regulation and Palmer's shot from the left corner was short in overtime.

"We have a group of guys who persevere," Wandro said.

Personified by Kyo Azumaya on Friday night.