Barrington takes 3rd in MSL on Peipert’s last-second layup
Barrington’s Nick Peipert is usually better throwing passes than catching one.
Peipert caught a pass and turned it into a winning layup with three seconds left as Barrington knocked off Prospect 63-61 Tuesday in Barrington.
Peipert, who plays quarterback for the Broncos, found himself wide open after a screen from Oliver Gray. Gabe Gueyikian, who was inbounding the ball, threw a perfect inbounds pass from behind the Prospect basket. Peipert then made a contested layup to give Barrington (19-5) the lead.
“Gabe (Gueyikian) is a good passer,” said Peipert, who would finish with 16 points. “He always finds the open cutter and Oliver (Gray) set a great screen.”
Prospect (22-8) had an opportunity to tie or win the game. But the Knights’ final shot was far off the mark.
“I just told them, someone get open,” said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker with a huge smile.
Both teams were looking to turn things around after each team lost Friday and ended any hopes they had to play in the MSL title game. But a tuneup against the East runner-up Prospect was perfect according to Tucker.
“This is a good barometer,” said Tucker, whose team is seeded first in the Elgin sectional and could meet fifth-seeded Prospect there.
“We know how challenging our sectional is going to be. We learned what we needed to work on.”
Both teams came out running to begin tie game. The Broncos jumped to an early 11-6 lead thanks to the strong play by Gray, who would finish with 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting.
“Things were going my way,” Gray said. “I was hitting my shots. I am supposed to be screening more, so I can get myself open. I did get open.”
But the Knights would not be denied. Prospect slowly chipped away behind the play of Drew Terpins and trailed 19-16 after the first quarter.
Prospect, which had been banging the boards hard, went on an 8-0 run. Jerry Drucker hit a short jumper and Ryan Lifton drained a pair of threes and suddenly the Knights led 24-19.
The Knights led 31-28 when they used a 6-0 spurt behind baskets by Frankie Poshnjari and Lifton along with a pair of free throws by Aidan Walter to open up a 37-28 advantage just before the end of the half.
Prospect led 39-30 early in the third quarter when Barrington made its move. The Broncos scored seven unanswered points on their way to a 13-3 run to take a 43-42 lead on a three-point play by Gray with 3:52 left in the third quarter.
There were three ties and three lead changes from there until Prospect regained the lead at 56-54 with 4:43 to play on a three-pointer by Terpins.
Gray came right back just eight seconds later with a three-pointer of his own to make it 57-56. He added another basket as the Broncos led 59-56.
But Prospect battled back. Trailing 61-58, Lifton shook free thanks to a screen on his offensive end. The junior then buried a three to tie the game at 61-61 with 19 seconds to play.
Barrington then ran the clock down, calling timeout before Gueyikian’s pass to Peipert for the two-point conversion.
Adam Baird had 10 points for Barrington while Alec Schmidts had five points.
Terpins led Prospect with 18 points while Lifton and Poshnjari each had 13 points.
“This was a little bit better vibe for us,” Prospect coach Brad Rathe said. “It was a little more high scoring. As long as we can learn something from that. We weren't so good offensively last Friday when we lost to Buffalo Grove and our defense just wasn't there tonight.”