Wheaton Academy 47, Westminster Christian 43

Wheaton Academy guard Ben Euler had a bitter view of the first 28 minutes of the Private School League boys basketball game against Westminster Christian.

"We were expecting to make a run and we kept trying to make a run," Euler said. "And they'd come back and hit a 3, so that was frustrating for us."

Not as painful as the host's eventual breakthrough was to Westminster, in a 47-43 Wheaton Academy win on Friday in West Chicago.

Wheaton Academy rallied from a 41-35 deficit with 3:44 left in the game. It finally made that run, a 10-0 streak.

Jason Roy hit a pull-up jumper to start it off, then led the fastbreak and assisted on Jared Cochrum's lay-in.

Euler went 6 of 6 from the foul line -- in the fourth quarter he was 10 of 10, and he scored a game-high 23 points -- as Wheaton Academy 14-5, 5-3) led 45-41 with 19.9 seconds left.

"We didn't shoot the ball well (14 of 46), but I thought we showed a lot of toughness at the end of the game," said Wheaton Academy coach Paul Ferguson.

"I thought we had a great last 3½ minutes, and we got our fastbreak going and then we knocked down our free throws. We did the things we needed to do to win the game."

Roy, who scored 8 points, said, "It's a big game for us because now we're third in the PSL, and if we had lost we would have been fifth."

Center Paul Werkema had 7 points and 8 rebounds despite sitting out the second quarter with foul trouble.

Westminster Christian (15-6, 5-3) had a chance to tie at 43 with 23.2 seconds left but went 0 of 2 from the line.

The Warriors pulled within 45-43 on Tyler Beaculer's layup with 14.5 seconds left. Their last possession ended in a turnover and technical foul, allowing Euler to swish 2 clinching free throws.

"Wheaton executed on their foul shots and we didn't finish ours and missed layups. You know, they hurt," said Beaculer, who with Cory Hodge and Ted Grossman hit those 3s that had frustrated Wheaton Academy.

Beaculer scored 20 points, joining 10-point scorer Joel Benson in double figures.

"It was only a four-point game at the end," Beaculer said. "We make two layups and four more free throws, we win."

That was Westminster coach Bruce Firchau's point.

"We missed eight layups and I don't know how many free throws," he said. "That cost us the game. That's all I have to say."

Well, almost.

"We're coming in at 7 o'clock every morning the rest of the season," he added.