Boys basketball: St. Viator dunks IC Catholic, wins sixth straight

Threatening to bury Immaculate Conception Catholic Prep midway through the third quarter, St. Viator pushed the floor in transition.

Senior guard Sean Halpin stopped on a dime at the charity stripe and fed the rock to a trailing Dawson Charles, who buried the walk-in long ball.

The ensuing Knights possession, Viator guard Isaiah McKenny swiped one of four Lions steals in the frame.

McKenny raced up the floor, dished to Charles, and erupted with the rest of his teammates as Charles thundered home his second transition jam of the night, this one to push Viator’s lead to 25 late in the third.

The Lions (14-6, 3-1) ‘raised the roof’ in celebration, well on their way to a 66-34 nonconference victory Wednesday night in Elmhurst.

“This group of guys has really come together over the last eight weeks,” said Lions coach Michael O’Keeffe. “Earlier in the year, at times we looked really good and at other times we looked really young, inexperienced and still trying to figure out how to win games. We’re very connected off the court. We’re getting more and more connected on the court and I think it’s starting to show up in the win column, which is great.”

The visitors, who extended their win streak to six, swarmed IC (12-9, 3-2) from the opening tipoff, forcing a pair of tie-ups.

From there, the pressure only increased, as a steal by sophomore Jacob Only followed by a pair from Charles led to six Lions points and an early 15-2 lead.

“We work on it everyday in practice,” Charles said. “Practice translates into the game.”

A junior, Charles paced all scorers with 17 points and added 4 boards. Jack Leonard, Landon Ray and Nathaniel Rouse Jr. each poured in 8 points, while McKenny tallied 7.

Early in the second quarter, the Knights clawed back with a 6-0 run to open the frame. A pair of steals by Alex Simkowski propelled the Knights burst.

That run proved unsustainable, however, as the defensive onslaught from the Lions became too much to handle for coach TJ Tyrrell’s Knights.

“Some of their pressure did keep us off balance and I didn’t think we ever found a rhythm tonight,” Tyrrell said. “So, credit to them for keeping us off balance.”

Gael Mendoza led the way with 9 points for IC. Noah Valadez and Toby Piotrowski finished with 7 points each.

Conference foes await each squad Friday night. For IC, a road test at Leo, who is unbeaten in Chicago Catholic Conference play, and for Viator, a heavyweight clash at Marist.

“Man, we’re all excited,” said Charles of Friday’s battle with the RedHawks. “We feel like we’re all ready. We’re going to use this momentum to go into the next game and see if we can get a dub.”