The ”third-quarter blahs,” a malady that coach Denny Denman claims has stung his Oak Forest team lately, turned into the blues for Homewood-Flossmoor Wednesday in a semifinal game of the Hinsdale Central Class AA sectional. Oak Forest (26-2) built a 15-point, third-period lead and held off the Vikings 61-55 to advance to Friday`s title game against Bloom (14-14).
Denman, who began the year as the Bengals` assistant coach, is 6-0 since taking over the team in mid-February after the sudden dismissal of Ken Connor. ”We`ve gone through a lot of turmoil,” said Denman after the Bengals halted H-F`s 15-game winning streak and ended its season at 24-4. ”Our slogan is work hard and work together. We`ve felt all year that we don`t get enough credit. We weren`t even rated No. 1 in our own area. Now we feel like we`re the new kid on the block.”
After missing its first shot of the game, Oak Forest hit 9 of its next 10 from the field and outrebounded the Vikings 7-1 to take a 20-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
It wasn`t until the Bengals finally missed two shots in a row for the first time with 3:38 left in the second quarter that the Vikings snapped out of their collective doldrums and pulled to within five points at 30-25 at the half.
Larry Gorman, Oak Forest`s 6-foot-8-inch center, came out ready to dominate after the half. The senior, who will play for Northwestern next season, was 4-for-4 from the field in three minutes to lift the Bengals into a 45-32 lead, and two free throws by Casey Brennan with :09 left in the third quarter gave Oak Forest a seemingly insurmountable 48-33 edge going into the final quarter.
”It was just all intensity and hunger out there,” said Gorman, who tied teammate Jeff Delaney for scoring honors with 17 points.
Delaney said the coaching changeover pulled the Bengals closer together.
”We feel we`re on a mission–a mission for ourselves,” said the 6-3 guard, who made 6 of his 10 field-goal attempts. ”A lot of people said we couldn`t win. They got so much publicity all year, but we knew we could do it.”
H-F made a second comeback late in the game, hitting five straight outside shots in less than two minutes to cut the Bengal lead to 56-50 with 1:52 remaining in the game. But 6-8 Oak Forest forward Troy Agler scored inside 14 seconds later to stop the Vikings` momentum.
Senior Scott Tierney led the Vikings with 14 points in his final game.
”I told my boys I was proud of them,” said H-F coach Don Laketa. ”They just had a good year, and you can`t take it away because of just one game. We played in a tough conference and came out with 24 wins. Oak Forest has a good shot to go Downstate now.”
