Robinson's big finish a highlight for W. Chicago

For the rest of his life Jeff Robinson will have a great story to tell about his playing days at West Chicago.

In last Friday's DuPage Valley Conference game against Wheaton North, the host Wildcats trailed 46-44 with three seconds left. After the Falcons missed the back end of a pair of free throws, Kevin Peterson grabbed the rebound and quickly made an outlet pass to Robinson along the sideline.

The senior guard, right in front of Wheaton North's bench, threw a one-handed three-quarter-court shot and banked it in at the buzzer to give West Chicago a 47-46 victory.

The shock of the moment sent the home crowd into a frenzy as the fans stormed the court.

"I think I've watched the replay about 50 times," said Wildcats coach Kevin Baldus.

The final 30 seconds are worth another look.

West Chicago trailed 45-40 when Chad Driscoll split a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left. After a Wheaton North turnover, the Wildcats narrowed the gap to 45-42 with a Charles Jacques basket. Another Wheaton North turnover led to Peterson's putback to make it 45-44 with five seconds left.

That led to the final Wheaton North free throws and Robinson's miracle basket. The fantastic finish was a nice change of pace for West Chicago (3-18, 1-8), which has seen its share of struggles this season.

"In a rough season like we've had, this really helps," Baldus said. "At the same time, though, I don't want it to end here. It's an awesome highlight, but I don't want it to be the only highlight."

Road sweet road: Neuqua Valley improved to 51-3 over the last two seasons with last Friday's 61-54 win over South Elgin. The Wildcats improved to 20-1 this season, earning 20 wins for a sixth straight season and the ninth time in 10 years.

What's wild is Neuqua has achieved its gaudy two-year record while hosting only 12 games.

Neuqua has played eight games apiece at the York and Elgin holiday tournaments the last two years and eight more at Rockton Hononegah. The Wildcats were on the road in all five playoff games last season and recently beat West Aurora at Sears Centre Arena.

In plain, old, regular-season games last season, Neuqua hosted six and traveled to 10. The table is starting to turn - this year Neuqua has hosted six of eight non-tourney or shootout games, and starting Saturday against Elgin, the Wildcats host four of their last seven regular-season games.

The few, the proud: Timothy Christian on Friday became only the second team this season to defeat Riverside-Brookfield.

Jack LeGrand's Trojans topped former Montini coach Tom McCloskey's squad 70-65, dealing the 15-3 Bulldogs their first loss in the Metro Suburban. R-B has lost twice this season to undefeated Lyons Township.

Timothy forward Rob Stein led the 15-6 Trojans with 23 points and point guard Reggie Greenwood scored 12, but that's not way out of the ordinary.

What lifted Timothy - consider it lost 77-39 at RB on Dec. 11 - was 59 percent shooting, and junior guard Mark Penczak's 20 points.

"I don't know if he even scored last time," said LeGrand, who got three 3-pointers from Penczak and 6 of Matt Morrison's 7 points as Timothy took control in the second quarter.

"We needed somebody to step up, and I had a good feeling it would be Mark, because he's really had a good couple weeks of practice," LeGrand said.

That's been the case overall for Timothy, which has won eight of its last 10 games.

"That's a good win," LeGrand said of the R-B game, "we just don't want it to be our only one."

Getting it done: Coming off two wins in a rare three-game weekend, 11-9 Lake Park is now two games above .500 for the third time this season. Coach Josh Virostko isn't too impressed with himself.

"(Former coach) Dan Batka was 27 games over .500," Virostko quipped.

Yes, the Lancers were 29-2 in 2006-07, but last Saturday Virostko's squad did something even Batka's teams struggled with - winning at Conant, 47-45 in overtime.

"I don't think that's happened in 10 years," Virostko said.

Lake Park followed with its best defensive effort of the season, a 44-28 win over Glenbrook South in Sunday's Conference Challenge Classic at Loyola.

Virostko has several most valuable players.

Offensively, primarily there's sophomore forward Dominique "Dom" Spencer and three-year starting guard Matt Drufke. Senior forward Kyle Phelan kicks in some points.

Defensively, Lake Park has several players, one reason why the Lancers shut out Glenbrook South in the second quarter.

Virostko said senior center Antonio Pietanza has "embraced being a defender." Sophomores Kevin Spejcher and Nick Zanghi are doing it with blocked shots and taking charges, junior Zack Cooper leads Lake Park in blocks, and senior Greg Whetsel comes off the bench to play "D."

Of the 6-foot-4 Pietanza, Virostko said, "I don't think he scored all weekend, but he's really been a wall inside."

Duke watch: Keep an eye on York's Will Sullivan this weekend. The talented junior is only 14 points shy of 1,000 heading into tonight's West Suburban Silver game at Proviso West. A varsity player since his freshman year, the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 5.9 points his first season and 14.9 points as a sophomore. With four 30-point performances so far this season, Sullivan's averaging 21.6 points per game.

Basketball heaven: Hinsdale South coach Vince Doran never had seen a pregame ritual quite like this.

In the festivities leading up to the Hornets' Jan. 23 game at Quincy, the lights went out and a devil mascot - carrying a lit torch - walked right in front of his team's bench.

It's just par for the course for teams with the courage to play in one of the toughest, most-historic gyms in the state.

"Their pregame stuff would rival what's done before Bulls games," Doran said. "You know it's going to be a tough environment, but that's part of why you go down there."

The Hornets lost 81-62 to the Blue Devils, who have won 12 state trophies, including two titles. Their unbeaten 1981 team is regarded by some as the best team in state history.

Despite the loss the Hornets took another tough road trip last Saturday. Hinsdale South endured a seven-hour round-trip bus ride to Pleasant Plains and, despite facing a similar hostile environment, the Hornets pulled out a 38-31 win.