St. Viator closes deal, handles Hersey

Jack Etchingham wore his football socks with the hope of changing St. Viator's luck in the basketball side of its cross-town rivalry with Hersey.

And just as the senior did in the fall, his fourth-quarter play Saturday night helped the Lions end a four-game skid in the Arlington Heights rivalry with a 58-44 victory before a spirited crowd in Cahill Gymnasium.

"Some of my best friends are on the floor and some of my best friends were screaming at me from the crowd," said Etchingham, whose fourth-quarter interception return for a touchdown sealed a Lions' victory in a football rivalry which won't be renewed. "I wanted to assert myself more than I did last night (55-44 loss at St. Joseph) for sure.

"We know we didn't play our best game (Friday) and any time you play Hersey you don't have to worry about any letdown."

Senior point guard Alan Aboona had a game-high 21 points and 4 assists for Viator (5-1). He was 5-for-6 on 3-pointers in the first 201/2 minutes.

"It was easy to get up for it," Aboona said after the Lions went 8-for-17 behind the arc. "We didn't want to make it five (losses in a row)."

Etchingham (10 points) helped ensure that wouldn't happen after Hersey (3-3) rallied within 43-39 with 6:40 left on a rebound basket by Brian Fabrizius (14 points, 7 rebounds), a 3 by Connor Miklasz and a drive by sophomore Justin Jobski.

Hersey didn't get a shot to get closer after a turnover as Etchingham's midcourt steal led to a free throw. Richard McLoughlin (13 points) grabbed the miss to set up Etchingham's off-balance lane drive in traffic.

"He really came around in the fourth quarter on both ends of the floor," Viator coach Joe Majkowski. "He attacked the basket and was scoring and playing good defense and got some rebounds (6 of his 7) for us."

A pair of McLoughlin jumpers made it 50-39 but Hersey made one last run on Miklasz's 3 and steal to set up Fabrizius' transition layup. Viator finished on an 8-0 run as Aboona and McLoughlin combined to hit 6 free throws and Etchingham hit Chris Myjak (8 points, 7 rebounds) for a layup.

Senior Jordan Mertes added 8 points and 3 assist for Hersey, which shot 33.3 percent from the field (17-for-51) and was 6-for-24 on 3s.

"We're a better team this week than we were last week," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "But we're still 50-50 with our record and our play."