Lisle falls in OT to Westmont
Lisle knows there is never a sure thing at the Interstate Eight Conference boys basketball tournament.
Tuesday against Westmont, Lions senior guard Marcus Wilson hit 4 straight free throws to give the Lions a 4-point lead with 1:26 left in overtime.
Westmont guard Jake Lechelt responded with 5 unanswered points to give the Sentinels a 51-50 victory at tourney host Reed-Custer in Braidwood.
Just three days ago eighth-seeded Lisle (10-13) dealt 18-1 Dwight its first loss, the fourth time in as many years the tourney's top seed won't win the title.
"We would have liked to get this one, too, and go to the championship. It's kind of a letdown," said Lisle senior guard Ryan Liss, whose 3-point shot from the left wing rimmed off as time expired in overtime.
Out of a timeout with 18.3 seconds left in overtime, Lisle coach Mark LaScala sought "to get something going to the basket," he said. Tough defense by fifth-seeded Westmont (13-7) forced Lisle's hand.
"That was the last thing that we said, if anything breaks down we're in the double bonus, let's go to the basket and get something inside," LaScala said. "It wasn't great execution on our part, but it was good work by them by disguising the defense."
Westmont coach Craig Etheridge, whose team rallied from a 36-29 deficit after three quarters, runs a base 3-2 zone defense but shuffled it a little.
"That last particular play we stayed in our zone, but we just extended it and tried to make sure we were out on the shooters," he said.
Speaking of shooters, Lechelt's 26 points launched his club into Friday's 8 p.m. title game against No. 2 Herscher for a shot at Westmont's third straight IEC title. Lisle plays Sandwich for third place at 6:30 p.m.
Lechelt made six 3-pointers each from a minimum of 23 feet. He sank one above the key to get Westmont within 50-49 with 1:19 left in overtime. Lechelt hit 2 free throws with 27 seconds left for the 51-50 lead.
"He showed long-range shots, nothing you can do about that. We were sticking the 'D' on him, he was just hitting them," said Lions senior guard Wilson, who scored a team-high 18 points.
Chris Wray scored 16 points for Lisle, laying the ball in with eight seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Liss added 7 points.
"We tried our hardest to play as a team. We just came up short at the end," Wilson said.