Mulligan, Buffalo Grove rally past Conant
Kevin Mulligan wanted no part of another heartbreaking finish. Especially since it would mean the end of his high school basketball career on his home floor Tuesday night.
So, the senior guard and three-sport athlete did what he does best for Buffalo Grove. Whatever it takes to win.
Mulligan scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the final 13:09 and had 8 rebounds and 4 assists as No. 9 BG rallied from an 8-point deficit in its Class 4A regional semifinal to beat No. 8 Conant 56-53.
"His heart and effort was just unbelievable - especially in the second half," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor of his three-year varsity point guard.
"I didn't want to go out with a loss in the first game of the playoffs like last year," Mulligan said of falling in triple overtime to Stevenson. "That left a bitter taste in my mouth."
This was much better since it gives the Bison (17-10) a regional final shot at 7:30 p.m. Friday at top-seed and top-ranked Waukegan (22-4) and Jereme Richmond after they beat No. 17 Rolling Meadows 90-60 in the first semifinal.
Taylor Peterson (13 points) and Christian Sotos (13 points) hit 3-pointers as Conant (15-12) scored the first 10 points of the second half to take a 35-27 lead.
"It was kind of a sense of urgency," said BG junior Dan Recht, who had 10 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. "I had a flashback to last year and how we lost. We had to step up both offensively and defensively and we did that."
Recht ended up switching to Sotos and he missed his last 8 shots to finish 4-for-18. Mulligan shut out Peterson in the fourth quarter, Jeff Zabrin stifled long-range threat Garett Gatz and Nick Prus had 3 key fourth-quarter rebounds.
Conant led 48-44 with 5:37 left but went just 7-for-13 on fourth-quarter free throws and was outrebounded 36-24 overall and 15-5 offensively.
"Give BG a lot of credit for playing tough and doing what they had to do to win the game," said Conant coach Tom McCormack, "but we felt we really left it out there.
"Shots are going to go in and out but those are two things we should have done a better job with and didn't."
Conant took its last lead at 49-48 on London Dokubo's free throw with 4:13 left. Mulligan then powered down the lane for a 3-point play 19 seconds later to put BG ahead to stay at 51-49.
"It was time to pick it up," Mulligan said. "It was no time to get nervous or scared."
Conant would get within a point three times - the last two on a rebound basket by Nate Rummel (10 points, 6 rebounds) and 1 of 2 free throws by Kevin Chua on an offensive rebound with 47 seconds left.
Chua's miss was tipped out to Sotos but his 3 with 35 seconds left rattled in and out. Mulligan hit 2 free throws at 0:15 to set the final score and Sotos' 25-footer with two seconds left was just a touch long as BG survived.