Glenbrook South surprises St. Viator

St. Viator's four-minute drill, according to their coach, was not enough to win on Wednesday afternoon at the Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic.

"We didn't deserve to win. We played good basketball for all of about four minutes," said coach Quin Hayes after his Lions were upset in the tournament's first round Wednesday by Glenbrook South, 63-58 in overtime.

True to Hayes' word, the Lions had no one to blame but themselves for the loss. They trailed virtually all the way against an all-underclass starting lineup.

Hayes was so frustrated at one point that he pulled three starters as shorter, younger Glenbrook South (4-7) sprinted to a 40-30 third-quarter lead from a 22-20 halftime edge.

And then came those four minutes. Jeremiah Hernandez (25 points) started it with a 3. Connor Kochera duplicated that and Hernandez hit another before a Peter Lambesis driving 3-point play and a Treyvon Calvin putback tied the game at 44-44.

Despite the game-long misadventures, the Lions actually pulled ahead 54-48 on 4 free throws from Hernandez and 2 from Matt Doersching. But that was the end of the magic for St. Viator.

The Lions gave up 6 points in the final 9 seconds on 3s by Dom Martinelli (23 points) and Will King (10) as the game went into overtime.

Baskets by Martinelli and Gavin Morse broke the game open, and Martinelli and Mac Hubbard sealed it with free throws as Calvin and Hernandez fouled out.

"It's a young group," Glenbrook South coach Phil Ralston said of his charges. "That last play (King's 3) was a called play."

It was designed, he said, to take advantage of St. Viator's starters being in foul trouble, and the likelihood they didn't want to put South on the line with a free chance to tie it.

Like Hayes, Ralston saw the four-minute rush and thought his team was in trouble.

"They are as good a team as we've seen all season," said the longtime Geneva and Grant coach, now at Glenbrook South for his first season.

Now, that "as good as" team will be in the consolation bracket today at 12:15 p.m. against Deerfield.

"We didn't deserve to win," said Hayes.

Despite their no-quit play, Hayes wants to see his group adjust better.

"We are the hunted," he said. "We can't just roll the ball out and think we're going to win it."

He'll find out Thursday if they took that lesson to heart.