Boys basketball: Deerfield’s half-court buzzer-beater stuns Stevenson; Fremd also advances to Hardwood Classic title game

Deerfield’s Charlie Yellen stole an inbounds pass with 3.3 seconds left and then followed with a shot from just past half court to lift the Warriors to a 52-49 win over Stevenson.

That play helped Deerfield move into the finals of the 46th annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic.

“I have always been good at deflecting inbounds passes,” said Yellen, who just came back onto the court for the final play.

“Once I deflected it, I went and got the ball. I knew I was just over half court, so I let it fly. I knew it was online but I didn’t even see it go in because I fell down.”

The win put the Warriors (11-3) back into the title game for the second year in a row.

Deerfield was playing without 6-foot-9 Dartmouth commit Jake Pollack, who was in walking boot with an injury to his left foot against Prospect on Tuesday.

“You have to give Deerfield a lot of credit,” Stevenson coach Will Benson said. “They are missing their stud and they fought hard to put themselves in a position to win. I thought they played really well.”

Stevenson (9-3) had rallied back from down 49-44 with 2:32 to tie the game on a basket by Rocco Pagliocca with 1:55 to play.

After a Deerfield missed shot with 55 seconds to play, Stevenson held for the last shot. The Patriots ran the clock down to 9 seconds and called timeout. Deerfield then used its last foul, forcing an inbounds pass with 3.3 seconds left before Yellen’s heroics ended it.

“I made some mistakes throughout the game and down the stretch,” Benson said. “And we could have done some things better execution-wise. I think their zone bothered us.”

Stevenson did not lead in the first half as Deerfield got off to a hot start, jumping out to an 11-6 lead.

Stevenson came bouncing back as the Patriots started working the ball inside to Quinton Frakes and Pagliocca. By doing that, the Patriots were able to climb back into the game and tie it at 11-11.

Deerfield again pulled away midway through the second quarter to lead 22-17 on a three-point play by Ethan Weiner. But the Patriots battled back to tie on a three-point play of their own by Aidan Albrecht to tie it again at 22-all.

Deerfield was able to pull ahead slightly at 27-26 at the break.

Stevenson went on an 8-0 run early in the third quarter to take its first lead at 34-31 with 4:29 left in the period. Deerfield then went on a 14-5 run to lead 45-39 with 5:35 to play.

But Stevenson wouldn’t relent. They Patriots fought back to get the opportunity to win or go into overtime with their last possession.

“We did fight to get back in that position,” Benson said. “And you are not even thinking about losing in that position. But hopefully we will learn from this.”

Albrecht led Stevenson with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Frakes had 12 points and 6 rebounds while Pagliocca had 11 points and 5 rebounds.

Evan Nagler led Deerfield with 17 points, Chase Arenberg added 10 points while Yellen had 7 points.

Fremd 47, Glenbrook North 41: Fremd had to recover from some holiday cheer Friday in the semifinals of the Wheeling Hardwood Classic.

Led by Tommy Moffett, the Vikings rallied from a two-point third quarter deficit to knock off Glenbrook North, 47-41.

“Glenbrook North is a tough team,” said Moffett, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

“We knew after beating them last year they would come out with a lot of energy. But we just stayed together through the adversity,”

The victory has the Vikings (10-1) meeting Deerfield for the championship for the second year in a row at 8:45 p.m. Saturday. Last year Fremd beat Deerfield 56-44 to win its second Hardwood Classic championship.

“It is good to get back to the championship game,” Fremd coach Mike Brown said. “It is going to be a difficult game so we have to have a good game plan and be ready to play perfect.”

Glenbrook North (11-4) showed that it had memories of year’s semifinal loss to Fremd. They kept the Vikings away from the basket and attacked on offense to frustrate Fremd.

“Glenbrook North really came to play,” Brown said. “And they are a difficult team to play against. They are always a great defensive team and we did just enough to win tonight,”

Moffett and Ricardo Requena Zambrano were most of Fremd’s offense in the first half. The pair combined for 19 of the Vikings’ 21 points as Fremd led by three at the half.

The Vikings came out of the gate in the second half with a pair of quick baskets to open up a 25-18 lead and the feeling was that Fremd would roll on.

But the Spartans had other ideas.

Glenbrook North went inside for a basket and then followed with a three-point play. The Spartans then drilled a pair of threes as part of an 11-2 run to take a 29-27 lead with 3:25 left in the third quarter.

Fremd then had a spurt of its own. A free throw by Charlie Chlan and then three-pointers by Requena Zambrano and Jordan Williams gave the Vikings a 7-0 run as Fremd took the lead for good at 34-29 with 1:44 left in the third.

Glenbrook North cut the deficit to early in the fourth quarter. But a putback by Moffet, another bucket by Moffet and a basket by Williams gave the Vikings a 40-33 lead.

The Spartans were able to close to within three on two occasions. Fremd then demonstrated that in the final year of no shot clock the ability to hold the ball in long stretches to come away with the win.

“I think all that comes from coach Brown in our practices,” Moffett said. “We practiced all that stuff earlier today. We were strong with the ball at the end of the game.”

Williams finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds for Fremd while Requena Zambrano had 10 points.

Nate Fridman led Glenbrook North with 16 points while Abel Poothurall added 10 points.