Wheeling tournament roundup
Sophomore Chris Myjak put back a missed Julian Sipiora jumper as time expired in overtime, giving St. Viator a 58-56 victory over Stevenson in the quarterfinals of the 32nd annual Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic Tuesday.
The Lions (11-2) will face Deerfield at 8:45 p.m. today in the semifinals, and Stevenson is paired with Vernon Hills in the 5:30 game.
Stevenson rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit and led for the first time at 39-38 when Jeff Levitt scored to open the fourth quarter.
Levitt (game-high 18 points) and Nate Johnson (15) led the Patriot surge by combining for 11 points in the third quarter and 12 more in the fourth.
The Patriots forced the overtime when Johnson scored with 33.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
St. Viator overcame a poor free-throw shooting night, making 15 of 30. The Lions missed 6 straight down the stretch. In overtime, Sipiora hit a pair, and Richard McLoughlin (15 points) was 1 of 2.
McLoughlin's free throw gave St. Viator a 56-54 lead with 30.8 seconds left.
"We shot our free throws well (Monday) night," St. Viator coach Joe Majkowski said. "It's one of those things."
Levitt tied it with 20.6 seconds left, and St. Viator called timeout to set up a play for the last shot.
"We wanted Rich to go 1-on-1, but the play broke down," Majkowski said. "They did a good job."
"It's a tough way to lose," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "We did enough things right.
"Give them credit. We should have boxed out better (on the last shot)."
Sipiora shot from the right wing, and the rebound went right to Myjak, who put the ball in the basket at the buzzer.
"It felt amazing," Myjak said of his game-winner. "We're usually not that bad (at the foul line), but we battled through it."
St. Viator played most of the way without point guard Alan Aboona, who left the game with a broken nose less than four minutes into the contest.
"We're happy for the guys who played," Majkowski said. "It was a nice win. I feel good for the kids. They battled hard."
Prospect 62, Naperville Central 43: Prospect displayed the difference between successful and unsuccessful offensive set plays all on its own Tuesday in Wheeling's 32nd annual Hardwood Classic.
In the first half, everything was running smoothly for the Knights offensively.
Joe LaTulip, Jack Redding and Mike LaTulip each sank three 3-pointers as Prospect jumped out to a 43-28 halftime lead over Naperville Central.
In the second half, the Knights managed just 4 field goals - none from beyond the arc - and relied on great free-throw shooting and lockdown defense to come away with a 62-43 win.
"When you see a shot go in, you have to know that the screen has to be there. The pass has to be there. The timing has to be there," said Prospect coach John Camardella. "Joe, Jack and Mike get a lot of the credit, but it's all the other guys who are freeing them up. And that's why the offense works."
It also helps when you have three players red-hot from the field.
"One of our focal points is to execute and set our screens," said Redding, who scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. "When our feet are set, we don't usually miss."
After 1-3 tournament finishes the last two years, Prospect (9-1) plays in today's 7:15 p.m. semifinal against Libertyville, a 69-64 winner over Notre Dame.
Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said his team was missing two regular starters, and the Redhawks struggled to knock down open looks at the basket when they were available.
"We had to extend our defense and we aren't used to doing that," said Kramer about defending the Knights from 3-point range. "I thought the kids did a better job. I thought they broke us down when they needed to, and they made shots and we didn't."
Naperville Central (7-4), which plays Notre Dame at 3:45 p.m., was able to climb back into the game by holding Prospect to 5 points in the third quarter - which left Joe LaTulip thinking of the Bulls for a moment.
"In the third quarter the shots weren't going down, and we had to slow the game down," said LaTulip, who scored 18 points.
"It was like the Bulls (Monday) night. They had a 35-point lead. It kind of felt that way in the locker room. It was like, 'Hey, we're up 15, we've got to maintain it.' It was just making smart decisions and executing."
Mike LaTulip led the Knights with 19 points, and Nsenzi Salasini added 7 points and 10 rebounds.
Camardella called Naperville Central's Matt Neufeld the best big man the Knights have seen all year.
"He's a load down there," Camardella said.
Neufeld scored a game-high 21 points to go along with 8 rebounds. Bobby Czarnowski added 10 for the Redhawks.
Libertyville 69, Notre Dame 64: Don't count out Libertyville.
The Wildcats have proven to be perhaps the most-resilient team at this year's Wildcat Hardwood Classic at Wheeling after Tuesday's come-from-behind 69-64 win over top-seeded Notre Dame in the second round.
And it wasn't easy. They were behind 10-0 and had missed their first 4 shots before Luke Mathewson got them on the board with a putback, his only basket.
Senior forward Billy Meyer, who rang up a career-high 36 points and reserve frontliner Hobie Herberger took over from there. They combined for 50 points, five of Libertyville's seven 3-pointers and generated virtually all of the Wildcats' momentum.
Meyer's uncanny shooting, including field goals on his last 5 attempts, and Herberger's three triples and 3-of-4 shooting from the floor in the second half fueled that.
Accordingly, the Wildcats had drawn within 33-29 at the half and 50-47 after three. Only Shawn Wallace's unstoppable tenacity (24 points) kept Notre Dame (9-4) ahead.
"We just kept chipping away," said Wildcats coach Scott Bogumil. "We just tried to keep chipping away, keep playing good defense."
As to Meyer, "He just willed us along." And Herberger, "He hit two big 3s. We told him he had to knock them down," so Meyer would have room to operate closer to the basket.
In the fourth quarter, Meyer continued his unconscious shooting and Herberger scored 8 of his 14 for the game.
With help from John Colao (9 points, two triples) and solid defense from everyone else, the Wildcats held on as a Meyer floater and free throws by Meyer, Herberger and Ryan Barth sealed the win.
"I was feeling it a little bit in warm-ups," Meyer said.
More importantly, he and sophomore Mathewson "talk in practice and said we have to rebound," which they did, to help offset Notre Dame's height advantage and frontcourt depth.
At the timeout after falling behind 10-0, "We said, we just have to come out strong," said Herberger, adding he was gratified to hit the 3-pointers he did after misfiring lately from long range.
"Any big win like this is helpful," to the team's confidence, he added. "This team sticks together."
"We've got another tough test (Wednesday)," said Bogumil, against another top seed, Prospect, in the semifinals at 7:15 p.m.
Deerfield 60, Vernon Hills 54: A spell of cold shooting in the fourth quarter cost Vernon Hills dearly against Deerfield at the Wheeling Hardwood Classic on Tuesday.
The Cougars led for most of the contest, but a monster night from 6-foot-8 senior forward Duje Dukan led the Warriors to a 60-54 victory.
Dukan scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Deerfield rallied from an early deficit.
DaVaris Daniels scored 26 points and hit five 3-pointers for Vernon Hills, but the Cougars were held scoreless for the first 51/2 minutes of the final period.
"I think he (Dukan) decided in the fourth quarter that he just wasn't going to lose," said Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty.
"He's a nice player, and he was able to take the ball and just drive right to the basket."
Vernon Hills (8-3) had everything going their way in the first half. The Cougars nailed four of their first five 3-point attempts, and when Brian Berzanski (4 points) canned a layup midway through the second quarter, their lead was 32-23.
It was more of the same in the third quarter. A steal and layup from Stephen Curry gave Vernon Hills a 44-37 advantage, and the Cougars still led 48-43 after three.
But the fourth quarter was all Deerfield.
Led by forward Oren Schwartz (6 of his 17 points in the final eight minutes), the Warriors went on a 12-0 run to take a 7 point lead.
"They stepped up," said Vernon Hills senior Chris Morgan (10 points). "They hit some shots, and we made some turnovers that led to easy baskets for them."
"They had that little stretch," added McCarty, "and I called timeout, because I could tell from our guys' body language that they were acting like they were down by 15 instead of down by 5. We can live with 6-point or 8-point runs, but not 12-point runs."
Vernon Hills missed 8 straight 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter, but Daniels and Morgan each nailed late clutch 3's to bring the Cougars within 2 points with a minute left.
But crucial free throws by Deerfield's Adam Rhum helped close out the game.
Daniels added 8 rebounds for the Cougars, Stephen Curry scored 5 points while Brandon Curry added 4.
"We lost tonight to a very good team," Morgan said. "Their No. 13 (Dukan) is an amazing player."
Streamwood 45, Maine West 42: Marcus Lewis scored a game-high 17 points and Derrick King had 15 points and 11 rebounds as Streamwood (4-7) rallied from a 26-23 halftime deficit for the consolation bracket win. Odera Eneogwe had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Conor Hart added 11 points for Maine West (3-8).
Lake Park 45, Wheeling 34: Matt Drufke scored a game-high 10 points as Lake Park pulled away to the consolation-bracket win with a 17-9 fourth quarter. Kevin Kortum scored 9 points and James Barrera and Riley Harvey added 8 points apiece for Wheeling (2-8).
Loyola 51, Kenwood 21: Rob Wennington had 15 points and 5 rebounds as Loyola led 16-2 at halftime in the consolation-bracket romp.
Niles North 68, Carmel 50: Abdul Nader had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Marlon Senior had 19 points and 9 rebounds for Niles North in the consolation bracket. Douglas Meyer scored 13 points and Jonathan Huisel added 10 for Carmel.
John Juettner, Howard Schlossberg, Bill Esbrook, Larry Weindruch and Marty Maciaszek contributed to this report