Johnsburg knocks out Lakes

The 18th point that John Androus scored against Johnsburg on Friday night made him the all-time leading scorer in Lakes history.

But it was what Androus did with some of his subsequent points that almost made him the hero of the game, a title he would much prefer.

Androus drained three 3-pointers over the final minute to give Lakes, down by 9 points with 1:20 left, a chance to get its first regional title in school history.

But a botched pass that led to a turnover on their final possession - not to mention the fact that Johnsburg connected on 17-of-22 free throws over the course of the fourth quarter - ultimately sealed the Eagles' fate.

Johnsburg squeezed out a 60-58 victory on its own floor to earn a Class 3A regional title.

"We just came up one shot short," said Androus, who scored a game-high 25 points on the night and finishes his three-year varsity career at Lakes with 1,297 points to beat the record of 1,289 points set by Sean Hertz in 2007. "This is very hard. (The record) is great. But I would trade every point back to win this game. I really would."

The Skyhawks, who improve to 26-2 on the season, advance to Tuesday's 8 p.m. sectional semifinal at Vernon Hills and will take on Gordon Tech, a 51-36 winner over Chicago Amundsen.

The other two teams facing off in the sectional will be North Chicago and St. Viator. Tip-off for that game is 6 p.m.

Lakes, meanwhile, closes its season at 14-18. The Eagles were playing their last game for head coach Brian Phelan, who started the program five years ago when the school opened but elected to resign at the end of the season so that he could spend more time in the future with his young family.

"This was a great high school basketball game," said Phelan, seemingly choking up a bit. "We did everything we could to give ourselves the best chance. We took it down to the wire. As a coach, all you can ask is the best out of your players and that's what we got."

Of course, Johnsburg got some pretty darn good efforts, too.

With just under two minutes to play, senior guard Tyler Chambers changed the entire complexion of the game, which had been nip-and-tuck all the way through with a tie score (35-35) heading into the fourth quarter.

He knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to extend a 2-point Johnsburg advantage (45-43) to eight points.

It was a crucial lift for the Skyhawks, who had scored just one fourth-quarter field goal up to that point, thanks to some tough Lakes defense. The rest of their points had come on free throws.

"We definitely needed some offense," said Chambers, who tied Mike Dixon for team-high scoring honors with 14 points. Every Johnsburg starter reached double-figures. "I made my first (3-pointer) and I just kind of got in a rhythm, so I was looking for that second one.

"We needed it because (Lakes) played a great game. That was amazing how they came back. They were a lot better than we expected. We learned you can't walk into anything thinking it's guaranteed. It's always a battle."

Ultimately, the Skyhawks won this battle at the free throw line.

Dixon and Mike Dombrowski (11 points) combined to nail 9 free throws over the final minute to seal the deal. Dixon accounted for 7 of them.

"I live for those kinds of moments," said Dixon, who hit 12-of-13 free throws for the game. "I practice really hard for them and I shoot a bunch of free throws every day. You've got to, just for that kind of situation right there.

"But you have to give Lakes a lot of credit for the way they came out tonight. You can tell it's the end of the season, do-or-die. They brought every square inch they had for the whole game. We did, too, but at the very end, we carried it a little more than they did."

C.J. Fiedorowicz and Derek Talbot also scored in double-figures for Johnsburg with 11 and 10 points respectively. Meanwhile, Lakes sophomore Tanner Blain finished with 10 points on two 3-pointers.