Mundelein survives Lake Zurich's upset bid
Mundelein boys basketball coach Dick Knar was in shock as he watched Lake Zurich's Ryan Roach sink a 3-point shot to tie the game with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter Tuesday night.
“I just told the team to relax,” Knar said. “We do situations all the time in practice so I said, ‘Let's get the ball and stay aggressive.' ”
Knar was smiling at the end as his Mustangs defeated the visiting Bears 68-56 in overtime in a North Suburban Lake Divison game.
“I was happy that we scored on our first possession (in overtime),” Knar added. “We got Sean (O'Brien) down on the post and he did a nice move to get the ball to Cliff (Dunigan), who put the ball in the basket. That one was real key to get us up, and we hit some foul shots down the stretch.”
Lake Zurich fell to 11-10 and 2-5 in the NSC Lake with its second tough loss in a row. The Bears dropped a 58-53 decision at Lake Forest on Jan. 13.
“We played super hard and the shots that fell for us to tie in regulation didn't fall for us in overtime,” Bears coach Billy Pitcher said. “We got some opportunities in overtime and (Mundelein) knocked the shots down. They did a great job of getting the ball the other way and they capitalized on it. If we play the way we did tonight the rest of the way, we will win a lot of games.”
Mundelein (18-4, 5-1) travels to Lake Forest on Thursday and then visits Warren for a showdown Saturday night.
With 36 seconds left, Robert Knar converted both ends of a one-on-one to put the Mustangs ahead 58-55. But O'Brien took the inbounds pass and dribbled the ball to the right above the top of the key. He sank the shot to tie the game at 58-58 and send it to OT.
“We had no time left and I thought I had to shoot it and get the offensive rebound, and it ended going in the basket.” Roach said. “In the overtime period, (Knar) kept getting through us and we weren't able to trap him.”
Dunigan (11 points) opened overtime with a layup and the two teams exchanged baskets until Dunigan drove the court for a layup. Knar sank two foul shots to shut the door with a 64-61 lead.
Knar converted 3-of-4 from the foul line in overtime and went 6 of 8 for the game. He and O'Brien led Mundelein with 15 points each.
“It was good to get a quick lead with the opening basket in overtime,” said O'Brien, who also had 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. “I knew we were in foul trouble and we kept fouling. We actually executed our offense better during overtime than we did all game. I thought we did a good job defensively and our shooting was better in overtime than it was in the fourth quarter.”
Mundelein started the game by missing its first five shots and was behind 15-14 at the end of the first quarter but led 28-26 at halftime.
“We weren't communicating all day,” Robert Knar said. “We decided that we had to stick together. It really got us stirred up and then we got the quick score. We just got our tempo back and rebounds to win.”
Quinn Pokora added 10 points and Nate Williams finished with 9 points for Mundelein.
Lake Zurich's Mirko Grcic led all scorers with 17 points, including two 3-pointers. Jeff O'Brien and Doug Murphy added 11 points apiece.
“Lake Zurich is good and they played a great game,” Dick Knar said. “Between the top teams in the conference and the bottom teams, there is a small difference. Grcic is one of the best players in the conference and they have kids who can shoot the ball and are well-coached.”