St. Viator bounces back
St. Viator had to bounce right back with an East Suburban Catholic Conference road trip to Nazareth just 24 hours after its worst loss of the season.
And the Lions (16-5, 5-4) did in the fourth quarter as they pulled away to a 42-35 boys basketball victory over the Roadrunners (8-11, 2-7) on Saturday night in LaGrange Park.
"I thought our kids hung in there and didn't get down and kept scrapping," said Viator coach Joe Majkowski after his team rebounded from a 58-39 loss at unbeaten ESCC co-leader Benet on Friday.
Brendan King scored 9 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter and his second 3-pointer gave the Lions a 4-point lead with about three minutes left. Alan Aboona (12 points) followed with a steal of a pass into the post and the Lions pulled away to a 10-point lead in the final seconds.
"Those two plays were huge for us down the stretch," Majkowski said. "It was nice to see Brendan come through with some scoring."
Sophomore Chris Myjak scored 4 points after missing the previous three games because of illness. Viator will host St. Joseph, the other ESCC co-leader, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Lake Park 47, Conant 45 (ot): Lake Park's Matt Drufke was the key player in Saturday night's nonconference win at Conant.
Drufke, a 6-foot senior guard, came up big in the Lancers' 47-45 overtime win over the Cougars (12-7).
"Drufke really picked us up in the fourth quarter and the overtime period," said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko. "I challenge him a lot in practice because I have known him for years. Tonight his hard work paid off."
"I love playing this game," said Drufke. "When the game gets tight I like to be competitive. My competition level rises."
Conant looked like it was going to pull away after building a 36-25 lead with 3:17 left in the third quarter.
But Lake Park's Dominique Spencer (11 points, 8 rebounds) hit a pair of free throws, Zachary Cooper made 1 free throw and Drufke put back his own missed shot as the period came to an end with the Lancers trailing 36-30.
Drufke scored 6 of his team-high 16 points in the final quarter, including a basket with 1:01 left to tie the game at 43-43 before overtime.
Conant had two chances to win the game in regulation but missed on both attempts.
Drufke's basket in the overtime gave the Lancers (10-9) a 45-43 lead but Conant's Garett Gatz (20 points, 5 rebounds) countered to tie the score with 2:23 left in overtime.
With 2:15 left, Drufke found Zachary Cooper with a pinpoint pass under the basket for the score and a 47-45 lead.
Christian Sotos' shot to tie bounced off the rim with Cooper snaring the miss as time expired.
"I thought we executed pretty well," said Conant coach Tom McCormack. "But puting the ball in the basket eluded us. We thought we had the game in hand but we let it slip away."
Conant shot 37 percent from the field (16-of-43) but just 3 of 15 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Taylor Peterson scored 10 points, had 5 rebounds and 2 blocks for the Cougars.
- Greg Swiderski
Deerfield 58, Hersey 52: Wisconsin recruit Duje Dukan scored 33 points as Central Suburban North leader Deerfield (18-1) held on for the nonconference win over visiting Hersey (11-8).
Zion-Benton 65, BG 59: Buffalo Grove (11-9) hung tough into the final seconds but host Zion-Benton (16-9) had too much Lenzelle Smith as the Ohio State recruit had 28 points and 15 rebounds.
Kevin Mulligan scored 16 to lead the Bison, who led 30-29 at halftime. Nick Prus added 13 points and three 3-pointers as they will play their third game of the weekend at 6:15 p.m. today against Lindblom at Loyola University's Gentile Center in the Conference Challenge Classic.
Correction: Schaumburg junior starter Kurt Kempema missed Friday's game with Conant because of an injury and not a team rules violation as reported in Saturday's Daily Herald.