St. Viator completes ESCC sweep at Notre Dame
Nothing told the story of St. Viator's 51-45 win at Notre Dame on Wednesday night better than a play by senior guard D.J. Morris.
The win completed St. Viator's sweep of the East Suburban Catholic Conference for the first time in its history. The Lions finished at 8-0 in the league and improved their overall mark to 23-3.
Tied at 39-39 following 2 free throws by Notre Dame's Eddie Serrano with 2:38 left in the game, the Dons came up with a midcourt steal by Greg Leifel.
As Leifel went for the layup, Morris came from behind to block the shot. The ball bounced as if it were headed out of bounds, but before it it did, Patrick Martin was able to grab it. He spotted Ore Arogundade in the right corner of the frontcourt and found him with a pass. Arogundade, playing his first game since spraining his left ankle last week, fired in a 3-pointer for a 42-39 Lions' lead with 2:12 left.
"It was a hustle play," said Morris of the block. "You can't give up on plays, and I didn't give up on it. You have to make plays like that to get it done and win games. I'm just so happy to be playing with my friends and winning this championship."
Arogundade, who scored all 11 points in the second half, had his choice of starting or coming off the bench. He came off the bench.
"I guess I made the right choice," said Arogundade. "I know that I'm a big playmaker on this team and I just wanted to help the team win."
The Dons (19-8, 5-3) still made it close as a dunk from Jon Johnson (6 points, 4 rebounds, 5 blocks) closed the gap to 42-41 with 1:27 left.
St. Viator's Chris Myjak, who may have played his best game this season, converted a 3-point play with 1:07 left to give his team a 45-41 lead.
Arogundade came up with the clincher. Missing the second of 2 free throws, Arogundade rebounded the miss and converted a basket to make it 48-43 with 0:32 left. The Lions extended the lead to 51-43.
Myjak scored 16 points and had 15 rebounds to lead St. Viator.
"Chris played like a monster," said Arogundade. "He may not get a lot of attention but he has done a lot for us."
"Chris was great on offense and defense and he hustled all over the floor," said Morris.
"It was good game," said Notre Dame coach Tom Les. "Both teams played hard, but they played harder and made some great plays. I give them credit they went 8-0 in the league, and we have a good league."