Guerin 72, Lakes 64

Lakes' boys basketball team wanted to win its first-ever regional championship on Friday night.

But the Eagles were facing a player who drew from both Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson: Guerin's Jordan Johnson.

And Johnson played at a much higher level than Lakes could handle, scoring 27 of his game-high 29 points in the second half.

"Coaches told me to come out with the killer instinct," Johnson said. "I came out knowing this is my senior season and I didn't want it to end this early. I saw the look in my teammates' eyes, and they believe in me. When I see that look it was like a fire lit underneath me and I kept going the whole second half."

Thus, the sixth-seeded host Gators pulled off a 72-64 upset of the No. 3 Eagles to win the Guerin regional in River Grove.

Guerin (16-13) next faces No. 2 Grayslake Central on Wednesday in the Antioch sectional semifinal. The Rams got by Fenton 57-42 on Friday night.

Lakes (20-8) couldn't find the answer against, Johnson who made shot after shot and dropped in a total of five 3-pointers.

"(Johnson) made some tough shots and we were in his face," Lakes coach Phelan said. "Johnson made the shots, and he made them from long range.

"We just couldn't defend the deep 3 ball."

Lakes held its own for the first half and led 27-24 going into the second half.

Johnson hit back-to-back 3s opening the third quarter to give the Gators their first lead of the game at 30-27.

"Johnson, our leading scorer, didn't have a good first half and scored just 2 points," Guerin coach Tim Carlson said. "We wanted to have him step up. He's been our guy all season long. He hit the first two shots out of the half and it gave us a lot of momentum."

Johnson poured in 17 in the third quarter. Lakes' Trey Williams (team-high 22 points) and Kevin Rice (11) both hit a pair of 3-pointers in the period.

But Guerin outscored Lakes 25-14 and led 49-41 heading into the final quarter.

The Gators extended the lead to 61-49 with 3:46 remaining and appeared to be in firm control, but Lakes made a late charge.

"I'm glad we didn't stop and didn't let up," Williams said. "We left everything out there.

"The clock was ticking and maybe we cracked at times when we should've kept our composure. At the end it was tough for us and maybe we were pressing and losing our focus."

The Eagles clawed back to within 68-64 with 28 seconds left when Kevin Guirand (17 points, 9 rebounds) made a layup.

Guerin closed off the comeback by sinking 4 straight free throws in the final 17 seconds.

"Give Guerin credit -- they stuck it to us," said Phelan. "We still had a 20-win season."