Victory so sweet for O'Brien, Mundelein
To the victor, go the - sweets.
Mundelein forward Sean O'Brien inhaled a delicious treat after a boys basketball game Friday night.
"I love cupcakes," the smiling 6-foot-4 sophomore said between chomps in the Mustangs' locker room.
He had also savored a couple of clutch offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter of Mundelein's 60-58 escape of visiting Lake Zurich in a North Suburban Lake Division opener. O'Brien (10 points, 4 rebounds) popped up to put back a missed layup by a teammate and a scant two seconds later struck again for a bucket after grabbing his missed free throw.
The 4-point outburst gave Mundelein a 58-54 lead at 0:55 left in the contest.
"He's been playing for us because of his good size and skills," said coach Richard Knar, whose Mustangs (5-1, 1-0) amassed 30 points in the fourth quarter after scoring a combined 30 in the first three periods. "Plus, Sean is a very smart basketball player, with good timing and good anticipation."
The Bears (1-4, 0-1) were good very good at sticking to their game plan for most of the contest. Patient possessions, along with sound shot selection, helped the Bears build a 30-23 advantage at the half. Senior guard Colin Rathe netted 10 of his 12 points before the break, including a pair of 3-pointers, and junior forward Mirko Grcic (16 points, 15 boards) was well on his way to Dwight Howard-ish stats.
"We'd stressed high-percentage shots all week," Bears first-year coach Billy Pitcher said. "We did such a good job of that all night. But Mundelein is the type of team that scores in flurries. A 10-point lead against them is nothing."
Mundelein's zero that's Mustangs senior Ryan Sawvell's jersey number poured in 19 points and came down with 13 rebounds. The Evansville-bound force went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter; 4 of the freebies preceded O'Brien's back-to-back putbacks. The 6-8 forward grabbed the final rebound of the night, tucked the ball like a running back would after a handoff and galloped giddily toward his team's bench.
"Lake Zurich absolutely dominated us for most of the game," a relieved Knar said. "Their kids ran their stuff well and killed us on the boards. We were tight. But we finally relaxed in the fourth quarter, especially after a couple of shots fell for us."
Mustangs sophomore guard Robert Knar (13 points) found his rhythm before it was too late, tallying 10 points in the fourth quarter. He connected for 5 points (3-pointer, field goal) in 17 seconds to trim LZ's lead to 48-46. Senior guard Leavon Head (9 points) also came up big at the end, nailing a trey at 3:25 and sinking a free throw for the Mutangs' final point with 11.4 seconds left.
Senior center Drake Orser contributed 11 points and 6 rebounds for LZ.