Harris leads Montini to overtime triumph

Jermari Harris is known for making a lot of big defensive plays on the football field.

The Montini senior will play cornerback for Iowa next fall.

But on Friday the 6-foot-1 forward showcased his offensive talents on the basketball court.

In his final home athletic contest, Harris tallied 11 of his 27 points in overtime as the Broncos edged St. Francis de Sales 90-86 in a Chicago Catholic League thriller.

Harris scored 7 points in the final 2:30 of a seesaw fourth quarter, then accounted for all but 2 of his team's points in overtime. He also added a team-high 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.

"He's had several (big performances) but at clutch time, it was one of his better games," Montini coach Bob Lozano said. "That's what we want him to do.

"He has the ability to do it and that's what we preached - take the game over."

It was a game the Broncos, who were celebrating Senior Night, figured to take over early and it started out well. Senior Luke Morrill, who had 16 of his 19 points in the first half, scored 8 straight points during an opening 12-4 run and Montini (9-16, 3-8) pushed the lead to 38-20 following his fastbreak layup midway through the second quarter.

But the Pioneers (1-25, 0-13) stunned the Broncos in the second half behind the terrific performance of 6-3 senior forward Bedford Roberts, who poured in 26 of his personal-best 40 points after the break.

Bedford, who made six 3-pointers and also had 12 rebounds and 5 steals, made 15 of 16 free-throw attempts, including the pair that gave de Sales its first lead, 68-66.

That was the first of 4 lead changes in a wild fourth quarter that saw the Pioneers outscore the Broncos 28-18. Roberts made two free throws to tie the game at 76 with 14.5 seconds and another with 8.3 seconds left to even it at 77.

Thanks to Roberts' fifth foul, Montini's Kai Evans, who had 11 of his 15 points in the second half, had a chance to win it but missed two foul shots with 2.6 seconds left. The Broncos got the ball out of bounds but couldn't get a shot off.

"I'd say we came out kind of flat," Harris said. "We took them for granted and they came out firing 3s and making them. It kind of caught us off guard, so we had to adjust."

The Broncos also had to adjust to de Sales' 7-3 senior center, Kenechukwu Nwachukwu, a Nigerian native who was playing his first competitive basketball game. He made his first three shots and had 11 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.

But 6-4 senior Fred Stokes helped hold Nwachukwu without a shot attempt after halftime and the big guy fouled out with 56.5 seconds left. With Nwachukwu and Roberts gone, that gave Harris an opening to do his thing.

Stokes, who had 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 blocks and 3 assists, opened the overtime scoring with a layup off a feed from Evans and then Harris did the rest, sinking four straight shots, including his third 3 of the game, and capping his team's scoring with two free throws with 12 seconds left.

"At the end of the fourth quarter, we had to step it up in overtime, whether it was me or Kai Evans or Fred Stokes," Harris said. "I knew somebody had to step up.

"That's the last time I'm going to be playing any sport at Montini. That was my last home game so that was big, not only for me but the other seniors. We tried to soak it in and we got the win."