St. Joseph’s Rodney Horton made Oak Park the first big-name casualty of the boys’ Class AA state basketball tournament.
Horton, who finished the game with 25 points, hit a three-pointer from the left corner with three seconds remaining Friday to top No. 10 Oak Park 51-49 for the regional title. St. Joseph plays Proviso East next Wednesday in the York sectional semifinals.
St. Joseph led 42-33 early in the fourth quarter, then host Oak Park (23-4) scored nine straight points to tie it with 4:07 to play. The Huskies took the lead at 47-45 before Horton tied it with 1:43 to play.
It stayed that way until Jabari Hearn hit a free throw with :04 left to give Oak Park its last lead. St. Joseph got the rebound on the missed second free throw and called a timeout. On the in-bounds play, a pass was knocked out of bounds by Oak Park. On its second try, St. Joseph got the ball to Horton for the winning shot.
Derek Archer led Oak Park with 16 points. John Lefevour added 13, Hearn 10 and Mike Amrhein seven, with 12 rebounds.
Also in the York sectional, No. 11 Proviso West (22-5) claimed its first regional title since 1989 by beating Morton 68-59. Anthony Knox led Proviso with 21 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots.
Fenton sectional-No. 13 Maine West (25-2) took charge in the third quarter to beat New Trier 48-43 in its regional final. Maine West, a 20-19 leader at halftime despite 6-of-23 shooting, pulled away in the third quarter. John Vana hit two three-pointers to give his team a six-point edge.
New Trier (16-11) got as close as three points in the last quarter, but Maine’s Brian Johnson, who finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, hit six straight free throws down the stretch.
Bill Donlon scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half as No. 6 Glenbrook North rolled past Maine East 51-41. Glenbrook (25-2) opened a 29-11 halftime lead as Donlon nailed three three-pointers in the half. Glenbrook closed the half with a 13-2 run.
“We played defense with great intensity in the first half,” Glenbrook North coach Brian James said.
Marty Banaszak scored 15 Glenbrook South 59-50. Glenpoints and Eddie Santiago added brook South (11-16), led by Mike 10 as Gordon Tech (18-8) capVodicka’s 18 points, scored just tured a regional final by beating 15 points in the second and third quarters.
Mark Heidersbach poured in 25 points as Notre Dame clipped St. Viator 45-43. Sean Anderson added 12 for Notre Dame (16-11). Ryan Hayes led St. Viator with 16.
