Stevenson connects against Hersey to gain regional title
Mark Swanson made like Kevin Earl, doing his best impression of Stevenson's quarterback by delivering a long pass and putting the ball only where his receiver could catch it.
Earl made like his dad, former Bears tight end Robin Earl, leaping high and catching the ball with two hands while a defender closed.
"The old man tight end came out," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose joked.
Earl drew contact on the play and sank two free throws, and the big plays kept coming for Stevenson down the stretch.
Earl's foul shots with 1:40 left started a 9-0 run, as the fifth-seeded Patriots pulled away to beat stubborn Hersey 48-39 in Friday night's Class 4A Warren regional final in Gurnee.
While Stevenson (21-7) earned a berth in Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. Waukegan sectional semifinal against top-seeded Waukegan (23-4), a 73-52 winner over Buffalo Grove, No. 14 Hersey (16-13) saw its bid for a third win this week denied.
The Huskies had upset fourth-seeded Lake Forest on Tuesday.
"We had a pretty confident mind set coming into this game, coming off the big win over (Lake Forest)," said Kyle Miklasz, who led Hersey with 13 points. "We saw (Stevenson) play on Wednesday and we thought we could take them. But it was a tough game. We didn't play our best."
A defensive battle in the first half saw Hersey up 12-9 before Stevenson ran off eight straight points in the final 1:26 for a 17-12 edge.
The game remained tight, as Hersey held Stevenson without a field goal for the first six minutes of the third quarter. At the end of three, the score was tied 24-24.
Stevenson then got a spark from guard Jeff Levitt to start the fourth, as the point guard stole the ball and fed Nate Johnson for a fastbreak layup and foul. Johnson completed the three-point play. Swanson later stretched the lead to 36-30 with a 3-pointer.
Connor Miklasz's baseline scoop shot pulled the Huskies within 36-34 with 2:38 left. But less than a minute later, off an inbounds pass under Stevenson's basket, Swanson fired his length-of-the-court pass to Earl.
"He threw a perfect pass," Patriots forward Nate Johnson said. "He played baseball so maybe that helped. Kevin made a great catch too."
"He's the quarterback. I tried to take his role today," a smiling Swanson said of Earl. "Sometimes you just need a spark. One little play can turn a team around. We clicked at the end."
After Earl's two free throws, Swanson fed Michael Fleming for a layup and 40-34 lead with 1:12 to go, and all the momentum belonged to Stevenson. Levitt's layup with 35 seconds left capped the Patriots' flurry of points.
"It wasn't our best first half, but it was a great second half for us," said Ambrose, whosePatriots won their first regional title since finishing fourth in Class AA three years ago. "We stuck with it and really clamped down defensively."
Hersey's offensive struggles included the foul line, where the Huskies went just 10 of 21. That, after they had gone 25 of 31 against Lake Forest.
Hersey also committed 17 turnovers.
"But we still had a great chance throughout all of that," said coach Steve Messer, whose Huskies also got 11 points from Tom Sutrinaitis. "We panicked a little bit, didn't trust teammates enough and turned it over a little bit. That's really what it came down to."
Earl led Stevenson with 14 points, while Johnson had 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Levitt (5 assists, 4 steals) scored all 9 of his points in the fourth, which saw Stevenson double its scoring output through three quarters in outscoring Hersey 24-15.
"We've never played them before," said Swanson, who scored 7 points. "Our coach told us it was a 'program' game. It was our program against theirs. They didn't know much about us, and we didn't know much about them. We just found a way to pull it out at the end."