Mt. Carmel 63, St. Ignatius 54
At St. Ignatius
Records: Mt. Carmel 19-9; St. Ignatius 21-6.
Halftime: St. Ignatius 24-23.
Summary: St. Ignatius pulled within two points with 3:29 left in the game, but Mt. Carmel held on for the upset. The Caravan, whose biggest lead had been four points, went on an 8-0 run for a 59-49 cushion. F Steve Filer, who scored all of his 15 points in the second half, contribruted a three-point play during the spree. Caravan G Tracy Abrams blocked a shot and collected the loose ball to protect the lead with 1:08 left.
Top performers: Mt. Carmel — Filer, 15 points, 11 rebounds; G D.J. Cooper, 14 points; G Allen Clark, 11 points; Abrams, 10 points. St. Ignatius — Zachary Watkins, 18 points.
The bonus: “Coach [Mike Flaherty] said in the locker room (at halftime) that we were in good position, and we were playing bad,” Filer said. “He said ‘Just imagine what our potential could be.’ So we just played hard, believed in each other and believed in ourselves. We went out there and won the game.”
Loyola 57, Glenbrook South 54
At Glenbrook North
Records: Loyola 19-9; Glenbrook South 14-14.
Halftime: Glenbrook South 29-28.
Summary: G Rob Belcore scored a career-high 38 points for the Ramblers, who didn’t have another player score more than six points. Belcore hit 16 of Loyola’s 21 field goals. The game featured eight ties and 17 lead changes. Glenbrook South claimed the game’s largest lead with a seven-point edge in the third quarter, but the Ramblers ended the period with a 9-2 run to tie the game 41-41.
Top performers: Loyola — Belcore, 38 points, 4 rebounds. Glenbrook South — F Trent Monckton, 18 points, 5 rebounds; G Anthony Brown, 14 points.
The bonus: “Every time I want the ball in my hands,” Belcore said. “Even if I didn’t score, I knew I was going to create for somebody. Sometimes you have to be selfish.”
Lincoln Park 45, St. Patrick 38
At St. Patrick
Records: Lincoln Park 18-9; St. Patrick 18-8.
Halftime: St. Patrick 22-21.
Summary: Trailing 38-35 in the fourth quarter, Lincoln Park rallied with the final 10 points of the game. Senior G Jeremy Montgomery scored four of his game-high 20 points in that stretch to help Lincoln Park pull away. St. Patrick missed its last 11 shots and was 1-of-12 from the field in the fourth quarter.
Top performers: Lincoln Park — Montgomery, 20 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists; F Brandon Ross, 8 points, 8 rebounds. St. Patrick — G Dave Campbell, 8 points.
The bonus: “It was frustrating losing all of those close games (during the season),” Montgomery said. “Tonight we had to stay tough through the adversity. Tonight we stayed together and played tough defense.”
Waukegan 64, Lake Forest 61
At Highland Park
Records: Waukegan 13-13; Lake Forest 15-11.
Halftime: Lake Forest 32-29.
Summary: Trailing by 10 in the third quarter, Waukegan outscored Lake Forest 21-11 behind six points each from G Collin Nickerson and F Roman Edingburg for 50-43 lead going into the final period. After Lake Forest G Matt Vogrich hit two free throws to give the Scouts a 59-58 lead, G Naudgee Carpenter’s layup with :56 left gave Waukegan the lead for good.
Top performers: Waukegan — G Rashaan Melvin, 24 points. Lake Forest — Vogrich, 28 points.
The bonus: “Vogrich is as good as we played this year,” Melvin said. “After the half we executed better, anticipated their passes and took advantage of their mistakes.”
Mundelein 75, Warren 67
At Libertyville
Records: Mundelein 18-11; Warren 16-10.
Halftime: Mundelein 37-32.
Summary: Warren outscored Mundelein 8-0 in the first half of the fourth quarter for a 58-57 lead. The Mustangs responded with a 13-2 stress-releasing stampede that ended with just over a minute left. Mundelein converted 12 of 15 free-throws in the fourth quarter. The Mustangs, who had lost six of its last seven games, snapped Warren’s 6-game win streak.
Top performers: Mundelein — F Navjot Singh, 22 points; G Eric Pagsanjan, 16 points; G Andy Rochon, 14 points; F Ben Brust, 12 points. Warren — Illinois-bound junior G Brandon Paul, 36 points.
The bonus: “We stayed pretty calm down the stretch,” Singh said. “We haven’t been the best free-throw shooters, but extra practice this week helped.”
T.F. South 62, Romeoville 58
At Lincoln-Way East
Records: T.F. South 22-4; Romeoville 15-11.
Halftime: T.F. South 33-32.
Summary: After 10 lead changes, including five in the first 2:57 of the second half, T.F. South went ahead for good with a 15-2 run for a 53-41 lead with 1:07 left in the third quarter. Romeoville pulled within two points twice in the final 2:38. The Rebels, who led 61-58, forced a turnover with :08 left to preserve the win.
Top performers: T.F. South — F Rajsaun Thompson, 20 points, 12 rebounds; C Paris Carter 16 points, 10 rebounds. Romeoville — F Timothy Lilly, 14 points, 6 rebounds; G Harryl Avery, 14 points; G Earl Bell, 13 points, 9 rebounds.
The bonus: “We slacked off a little bit tonight,” Thompson said. “Things weren’t going well. I guess we thought we had the win. At the end, we had to step it up and finish off the game hard.”
Neuqua Valley 63, Willowbrook 53
At Willowbrook
Records: Neuqua Valley 22-7; Willowbrook 16-10.
Halftime: Neuqua Valley 31-27.
Summary: The victorious Wildcats set the tone with a 10-2 run in the opening minutes. Willowbrook halved that gap with a 7-0 run to finish the half. Neuqua F Derek Raridon had eight points, including two three-pointers, in a 15-1 Wildcats run that blew the game open at 46-28 with 3:05 left in the third quarter.
Top performers: Neuqua Valley — Raridon 14 points; C Dan Pawelski, 10 points. Willowbrook — F Milton Colbert, 22 points, 10 rebounds.
The bonus: “Toward the end of the half we had a letdown defensively,” Raridon said. “In the second half we knew we needed to step up our intensity.”
Bartlett 75, East Aurora 62
At Bartlett
Records: Bartlett 20-7, East Aurora 16-11.
Halftime: Bartlett 33-28.
Summary: Trailing 28-21 in the middle of the second quarter, Bartlett went on a 19-0 run. F Cory Hrynyk scored seven points and G Marc Little added six during that stretch. The closest East Aurora got was 57-54 with 2 minutes 31 seconds left in the game.
Top performers: Bartlett — Hrynyk, 21 points; Little 22 points. East Aurora — G Ryan Hayden 23 (7 3-pointers); F William Brown 16 points.
The bonus: “We handled their pressure, made sure we got it over halfcourt safely,” Hrynyk said. “We wanted to be patient. We did not want to settle for bad shots and rush anything. We did a great job handling their pressure.”
Joliet 71, Shepard 63
At Homewood-Flossmoor
Records: Joliet 16-11; Shepard 20-8.
Halftime: Shepard 34-30.
Summary: Trailing 42-40 with 4:21 left in the third quarter, Joliet went on a 14-4 run, capped by a long three-pointer from F Anthony Shoemaker at the buzzer. Shoemaker scored eight points in the third. G Wesley Powell cemented the win with four straight free throws in the final minute after Shepard had pulled within 65-60.
Top performers: Joliet — Shoemaker, 17 points; Powell, 14 points, 9 assists, 2 steals. Shepard — G Derick Pullen, 22 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks; F David Harrison, 17 points, 6 rebounds.
The bonus: “We came out flat in the first half, so we had to come out fired up in the third quarter,” Shoemaker said.
York 62, Oswego East 54
At Waubonsie Valley
Records: York 19-8, Oswego East 17-10.
Halftime: York 33-19.
Summary: Oswego East opened the fourth quarter with a 14-2 run to cut a 15-point deficit to three with 4:06 seconds remaining. York held strong. F Roger Coffin rebounded his missed three-pointer and converted a layup. F Steve Ganser followed with an inside score to give the Dukes breathing room.
Top performers: York — Ganser, 17 points (10 in the 3rd); G Rick Aleman, 14 points; Coffin, 12 points, 14 rebounds; G Tom Judge, 12 points. Oswego East — G Jordan Harris, 18 points (4 three-pointers); G Zach Pearson, 15 points.
The bonus: “We just held it together, hit our free throws, played hard, limited our turnovers, did whatever we could,” Aleman said.
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Compiled by Dave Surico, Jason Kerr and Joseph Phillips. Seth Gruen, Pat Thomas, John Montgomery, Jim Kauss, Bob Davis, Bub Hurst, Ed Schaffer, Mike Gibbs, Bob Skolnik and Tim Musachio contributed.
