Daniels, Vernon Hills rally to beat ND in OT
The Notre Dame boys basketball team looked like it had everything going its way, leading by 10-points midway through the fourth quarter.
But Vernon Hills' DaVaris Daniels did his finest "Superman" impression the rest of the quarter - scoring 17 of his game-high 29 points ) - to lead the Cougars past Notre Dame 84-77 in overtime and clinch fifth place in the Wildcat Hardwood Classic at Wheeling on Saturday afternoon.
The Dons were leading 57-47, but the Cougars (10-3, 3-1 in the tournament) kept chipping away with a 20-10 rally.
Down 63-59, the Cougars' Chris Morgan sank a 3-point shot, and Daniels took over with 8 straight points as the Cougars took a 67-64 lead with six seconds left in regulation.
The Dons' Ryan Langlois took the ball up the side and sank a clutch 3-point basket just before the buzzer sounded, tying the score 67-67 and sending the game into overtime.
In the extra session, the teams exchanged baskets until the Cougars shut the door with a 7-2 run to take a 81-73 lead - and they never looked back.
Daniels shot 12 of 17 from the floor and was 5 of 6 from the free-throw line.
"I think it took me awhile to get my legs back from under me because I had just gotten in from Washington today after I spent Christmas with my family," said Daniels, who fouled out after the first play in overtime. "When the fourth quarter came, I realized that we were down points. We needed a spark and I felt that I should be the spark to help my team."
The Cougars' Morgan finished with 18 points, and Stephen Curry added 15 points, including 8 in overtime.
"We were down 10 points at one point and we just had to pick it up defensively," said Cougars coach Matt McCarty. "We went to a trap and it kind of woke everybody up a little bit offensively. We started to attack better in the fourth quarter. We got a couple of baskets and the foul and before DaVaris fouled out, he was playing real well.
"As for overtime, I told the guys that we've been in this position before," McCarty said. "Let's win the tip and go from there. We won the tip and scored and we never looked back.
"I am very happy with our performance. Going into the tournament, we wanted to be on the right side of the brackets. Two-2 would have been nice, but to go 3-1, we beat some real good teams. Niles(North), Notre Dame and Stevenson are real good and we gave Deerfield a good run for their money."
Quinton Chievous led the Dons (10-5, 2-2 in the tournament) with 25 points, while Shawn Wallace, who had 15 points in the first half but sat most of the fourth quarter because of foul trouble, finished with 23 points. He fouled out midway in the final quarter.
Matt Moser, who sank a 3 at the buzzer to give Notre Dame a 32-30 halftime lead, finished with three 3- point shots and 15 points.
"I don't feel that we played well at all," said Dons coach Tom Les. "I felt that (Vernon Hills) were very active In their handoffs and screens and we didn't react very well and they did a good job."