Crystal Lake Central nips Wheeling in OT
Crystal Lake Central's Caleb Noennig hopes his finals go as well as his final shot.
Noennig converted a rebound of a missed shot just before the horn sounded in overtime, lifting the Tigers past Wheeling 65-64 Tuesday in a nonconference boys basketball game in Crystal Lake.
"We had a play designed and it kind of didn't go the way it was supposed to," said Noennig, who along with the rest of Crystal Lake Central, has final exams on Wednesday.
"We got it to the corner and when he shot it up and I knew was going to be short. I just tried to get to the ball and I knew the buzzer was going to go off. I just threw it up and I see it go in and I said 'Please let that count.' "
The officials briefly looked at each other and then signaled a good basket as the small, but loud Central crowd as well as the Tiger bench engulfed Noennig, who would finish with 14 points.
"It is always next play for us," Crystal Lake Central coach Joe Capalbo said, "Things haven't been going our way lately and this is a great win for us."
Trailing by one, Central was looking to get the ball inside to Connor Bartesch. But with Wheeling sagging on him, Ryan Mendoza passed to Cameron Keilman in the corner, who attempted a 3-pointer. The shot missed and Noennig, who is a senior, put the rebound off the glass for the game winner.
Crystal Lake Central (4-5) trailed by as many as 10 in the first half and by 6 points in overtime. The Tigers forced a pair of turnovers in overtime and got a basket and 3-pointer by Mendoza, before winning it at the horn.
"These guys were resilient tonight" Capalbo said. "They didn't pout when things didn't go their way and kept supporting each other."
With the sizzling outside shouting by Mendoza, who had six 3-pointers leading the way, Central scored 9 unanswered points to lead 12-5 midway through the first quarter.
"My teammates were just setting me up to get a good spot," said Mendoza, who finished with 24 points. "The coaches have confidence in me to take those shots."
Wheeling's speed and long reach began to force the Tigers to turn the ball over. Taking advantage of the turnovers, the Wildcats began to get their feet underneath them.
Trailing 18-12 late in the first quarter, Wheeling made its move. The Wildcats were able to string together 15 consecutive points to surge ahead 27-18 on a 3-pointer by Javen Reid.
Wheeling still looked to be in control when the Wildcats led 48-40 with 1:42 left in the third quarter. Central, which would pound the offensive glass for 21 rebounds, was able to rally behind Mendoza and Bartesch (12 points, 12 rebounds) and sent it into overtime tied at 58 on a basket by Blake Pokora with 1:44 left in regulation.
Wheeling came out in fire in overtime. The Wildcats scored the first 6 points on a 3-point play by Joe Jordan (12 points), a free throw by Jordan and 2 free throws by Reid (22 points). But turnovers and failure to box out cost Wheeling.
"We did a nice job of defending on the last play of the game," Wheeling coach Michael O'Keeffe said. "Obviously boxing out is a big area of weakness for us right now. We have really zero people on our team that buy into boxing out."
O'Keeffe said his team needs to learn how to finish.
"We are young and we want to win games for these seniors," O'Keeffe said. "We do not know how to make winning plays when games get close."