Leach, Timothy edge Addison Trail
In basketball you've got it or you don't, and Danny Leach has it the confidence of a natural scorer.
Shrugging off a scoreless first half, the junior guard scored Timothy Christian's final 6 points in the last 49.9 seconds Wednesday to lift the Trojans past Addison Trail 53-52 at the Glenbard West Holiday Classic.
Completing a 13-2 run, Leach hit a pair of free throws, banked in a short shot after Tyler VanderBrug's steal on the other end and made two more free throws for a 53-50 lead with 11.2 seconds left.
Out of a Blazers timeout 6-foot-6 Ricky Diaz scored inside with 1.9 seconds left, but what Addison Trail (5-7) needed was a 3-pointer.
"When we got the steal I was like, yep, there it is," said Leach, held to zip in the first half by Victor Beltrano before unleashing a game-high 20 points.
"Tyler got the steal and then passed it up to Chris (Ridolphi) and I just knew Chris was going to find me and I knew I was going to put it in," Leach said.
Dealing Addison Trail its second straight 1-point loss, Timothy (7-6) obviously needed all of Leach's 20 points, Ridolphi's 12 and VanderBrug's 6 points to go with 10 rebounds.
It was defense and rebounding, though, that got it done. Addison Trail coach Brendan Lyons noted Timothy's 13 offensive boards, which included rally-starting putbacks by Matt Robinson and VanderBrug and a diving rebound by Luke Davidson.
"We rallied our teammates and gave each other high-fives and really encouraged each other, and we just made it a team effort to be all-in," said Timothy senior Matt Morrison, both knees wrapped in ice.
He and VanderBrug commandeered the lane in the fourth quarter, contributing to 6 Addison Trail turnovers.
"I thought we did a better job defensively in the second half, for sure," said Trojans coach Jack LeGrand.
Diaz's 16 points led Addison Trail and James Pupillo added 15. Tyler Little notched 6 of his 8 points in the fourth quarter, his jumper giving the Blazers a 48-40 lead with 4:17 left.
"I told our guys it came down to really one thing they wanted the game more than us," Lyons said. "They outrebounded us, they out-hustled us, and when push came to shove they wanted to make plays and we didn't."