Driscoll 71, Northridge Prep 55
Driscoll had unfinished business Wednesday night in Niles.
The Highlanders scored the last 4 points of the first half at the Class 2A Northridge Prep boys basketball regional semifinals to take the lead for good against Ida Crown.
Jake Lindfors did not miss any of his 5 shot attempts in the third quarter, and his Driscoll teammates were nearly as flawless.
Driscoll erupted for 30 third-quarter points to ease to the championship game Friday night with a 71-55 victory.
Driscoll (21-7), the No. 1 seed of the Luther North sectional, faces No. 4 seed Northridge Prep, a 68-53 winner over St. Benedict. No. 7 seed Ida Crown closed out its season with a record of 18-3.
Lindfors led three Highlanders in double figures with 17 of his 26 points after halftime.
The Albany recruit scored 10 points in a 3:18 span of the third quarter to spearhead an 18-4 Driscoll run.
"I don't know if we came out and thought that we were better than what we are," Lindfors said. "I knew in the second half that if my teammates got me the ball I would finish it."
Lindfors finished with 12 points in the decisive third quarter, but he had able company as well.
Matt Kaban added 6 points and half of his game-high 10 rebounds in the quarter, and the Highlanders' offensive fluidity reached its apex when Justin Hejza, Joe Calabrese and Don Sullivan drained 3-pointers in the closing stages of the quarter.
"Both offensively and defensively we didn't have the sense of playing together (in the first half)," said Driscoll coach Nick Latorre. "When we make a concerted effort to play together we're much better."
When Sullivan beat the third-quarter buzzer with his 3-pointer, the Highlanders had seized command heading into the fourth with a 62-40 cushion.
Ida Crown made another run to start the fourth quarter, but Lindfors' back-to-back inside scores, the final with 2:53 to play, extinguished the thought of a complete Aces comeback.
"The big difference was the big guy, (Lindfors)," said Ida Crown coach Howard Braun. "They came out (after halftime) with a lot of energy. We couldn't match it."
Kaban finished with 16 points and 4 blocks and David Schwabe added 12 points for Driscoll.
Shlomo Weissberg led the Aces with 16 points.