Mundelein tips Lake Forest
In the end, on a night Lake Forest refused to lose on its home court, Mundelein junior Sean O’Brien figured he had nothing to lose.
Never mind that his basketball team was on the verge of losing a North Suburban Lake Division thriller.
O’Brien would either sink a baseline runner, or he and his teammates would be rescued by Chino Ebube and his spring-loaded legs.
The latter happened, ending a late night.
Ebube’s tip-in of O’Brien’s missed shot at the buzzer in overtime lifted Mundelein to a 70-69 win Thursday, setting up a first-place showdown for the Mustangs with Warren in Gurnee on Saturday night, while cooling off one of the hottest teams in Lake County.
“I feel so ecstatic,” said a wide-smiling Ebube, who came off the bench to contribute 8 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks, before being mobbed by his teammates afterward. “I feel so happy.”
Robert Knar scored 34 points, including a career-high-tying eight 3-pointers, for Mundelein (19-4, 6-1), which won in OT for the second straight game.
“The close games are fun, but I’d like to just win a nice little 20-point game,” O’Brien said with a laugh. “Can’t keep doing these close games.”
John Hayes’ 23 points paced upset-minded Lake Forest (10-8, 3-4), which was 5-0 in January.
“They’re so well-coached,” Mustangs coach Dick Knar said of the Scouts. “They execute so well that you can’t rest. You can’t relax.”
Take the fourth quarter.
Mundelein was up 49-38 heading into the quarter after leading by as many as 14 points in the third, but 6-foot-7 freshman Evan Boudreaux (15 points, 12 rebounds) and 6-4 senior Thomas Durrett (13 points) rallied Lake Forest. Each player scored 7 points in the quarter, as the Scouts outscored the Mustangs 20-9 to force overtime.
In the extra session, Hayes’ runner in traffic over O’Brien, who moments earlier had swatted back-to-back shots, put Lake Forest up 69-68 with 13 seconds left.
After Mundelein called timeout with 3.3 seconds on the clock, Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala called timeout as both teams came back out on the court. Mundelein then strategized all over again.
The Mustangs inserted Ebube.
“(Assistant coach) Corey (Knigge) actually made the suggestion,” Dick Knar said. “He said, ‘Do you want to put Chino in for a tip?’ We ran a screen for Robert at the top, and he actually came open. But I wanted Sean to get it on the post and turn, because if they foul, we’re in the bonus.”
O’Brien got the ball off Jordan Wiegold’s inbounds pass and, with Boudreaux draped on him, drove baseline. O’Brien’s short shot missed, but Ebube — as planned — was there to clean up.
“I knew Nate (Brune) was going to set a good back screen for Chino, so I knew Chino was going to be at the rim,” O’Brien said. “He’s the best jumper on the floor. I knew if I put it up there, make or miss, Chino would be there. Either way, we’d have the win.”
“We tried to put a little quicker lineup in to nullify (Knar and O’Brien),” LaScala said. “That actually hurt us at the end.”
The ending was reminiscent of last season at Lake Forest, when Ryan Sawvell’s putback at the buzzer allowed Mundelein to escape with a one-point victory.
Robert Knar scored 14 points (four 3s) in the final 4:12 of the second quarter, with his step-back 30-footer beating the buzzer and giving the Mustangs a 30-22 lead at halftime. The junior guard scored 17 points in each half.
Cliff Dunigan added 11 points for the Mustangs. O’Brien finished with 5 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks.
“They hit some huge shots. We did, too,” LaScala said. “But they hit some really tough ones.”