Marmion's late run sinks ACC

At one point when Aurora Central Catholic was controlling things, a fan yelled, "Rashon, do some coaching."

Marmion coach Rashon Burno evidently heard him.

In their 68th meeting, Marmion closed Saturday's "rivalry game" of the 13th annual High School Hoops Showdown on a 24-4 run.

Scoring 26 points through three quarters, Marmion exploded for 28 in the fourth to beat Aurora Central 54-47 at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, evening the rivalry at 34-34.

"Remember, it's a 32-minute game," said Burno. "We were able to put a run on, make some free throws."

Marmion (11-7) also got ACC point guard Steve Hollon to foul out with 4:08 left in the game. At that point the Chargers (10-8) led 43-30.

"If he doesn't foul out I think we win by double digits," said Chargers coach Nathan Drye, whose club was led by Joey Guth with 17 points and Joey McEachern with 11. "Obviously we panicked after that, but for 28 minutes we did what we wanted to do."

The last four Marmion did what it wanted. Burno called for full-length pressure which forced ACC into 4 turnovers and sent all the momentum Marmion's way.

"Really, I think that was the turning point," Burno said. "When Hollon fouled out, now the guys that normally spot up have to handle the ball."

Marmion forward Mark Peters looked pooped in parts of the first three quarters. Burno shook his head when the 6-foot-6 senior clanked a third-quarter free throw off the front of the rim.

Peters caught on to the Sears Centre's 10 extra feet of court, and scored 11 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter and half his 8 rebounds.

"Those last three minutes, there was a different feeling from the rest of the game," said Peters, who hit a 3 from the left elbow that brought Marmion within 43-38 with 2:45 to play.

Guth hit 2 free throws for ACC's first points in three minutes, but Eddy Grahovec made two 3-pointers from the left baseline that brought Marmion within 46-44 at 2:12. McEachern's free throw had ACC up 47-44 at 2:05.

Peters scored inside then slapped the ball loose, fell on it and called timeout. Marmion's Tyler Hlavac, a 10-point scorer, made 2 free throws for a 48-47 Cadets lead, their first since it was 8-4.

Marmion, bolstered by Mark Berdelle off the bench, held ACC to 0-5 from the field in the last 1:36 to clinch what Burno called his team's best comeback of the season.

"Absolutely," he said. "The biggest stage, also."