Gary Meyer couldn`t relax, no matter what the scoreboard said. His Bloom Trail team was ahead of Joliet Catholic 57-44 with 1:02 left in Tuesday`s game, but Meyer kept rocking nervously.
”I kept saying: `It ain`t over. It ain`t over,` ” said Meyer, whose team was a 58-56 winner in the Class AA East Aurora supersectional. ”I kept telling the kids to defend the three-pointer. They had to look for it.”
Joliet Catholic, which won the Romeoville sectional championship Friday thanks to a goaltending call against Lockport on an 84-foot shot, looked for the three-pointer and found it. The Hilltoppers were seemingly out of the game no less than three times, but each time fought back.
Two three-pointers by Chris Michalak, one by Mike Kosky (20 points) and a final three-pointer by Alan Capista with four seconds left trimmed the deficit to just two points before time ran out.
”We just fell short by one miracle,” said Hilltopper coach Dan McCarthy, whose team finished with a 15-15 record. ”The sad thing is if we had one more timeout left, we had a chance to win the ballgame.”
Joliet Catholic didn`t make a three-pointer in the first half and made just 5 of 14 for the game.
The Hilltoppers scored the first eight points of the second half, drawing within 34-32 on a Kosky basket with 5:16 left in the third period. The Blazers opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run and appeared to be coasting to Champaign.
Meyer`s team takes a 21-9 record against Rock Island in Friday`s quarterfinals, and has salvaged what at one time had the makings of a disappointing season. The Blazers finished fifth in the SICA East Division with a 5-7 record.
”We weren`t cocky, but we thought we`d do well in the conference,” said Abdul Muhammad, who led the Blazers Tuesday with 18 points. ”But we had a lot of things happen on and off the court, so we just tried to take the regional. We were playing every game like it was our last.”
Muhammad, who led Bloom Trail with 18 points, helped the Blazers to their 34-24 halftime lead and a 55-44 advantage with less than two minutes left in the game. Muhammad, helped considerably by Mike Richardson`s 9 assists, made 8 of 11 field goals and both of his free throws.
Muhammad started the game on a bad note. He missed a dunk after a Joliet Catholic turnover with just 16 seconds gone in the game. That spurred an early 4-0 Joliet Catholic lead, but Muhammad wasn`t discouraged.
”That was just a lack of concentration,” he said. ”The pass was right there but I didn`t concentrate. I didn`t want Coach to get down on me so I kept working hard and I just kept saying to myself: `Don`t quit. Don`t quit.` ”
When you are playing Joliet Catholic, you can`t afford to quit.
