LT Sports Roundup: Boys Basketball Season Ends in Regional Semifinals [VIDEO]

Trailing by 18 points in the second quarter Tuesday, the Lyons Township boys basketball team responded the way it had all season.

The Lions battled back.

They closed to within one point in the third quarter and two points twice in the fourth quarter before having their season end with a 60-51 loss to West Suburban Conference Silver Division champion Oak Park-River Forest in the semifinals of the Class 4A LT Regional in La Grange.

“I’m just really proud of the effort the kids made. The end result wasn’t what we wanted, but the effort was there and that’s what is most important,” LT coach Tom Sloan said.

“It would have been really easy in the first half to just cave in and say, ‘It’s not our night,’ but they hung with it. We had guys making big shots and defending and we did our best to get in the paint (lane) and defend.”

Senior Matt Robare (16 points) and junior Chris O’Reilly (14 points) led the Lions (11-16) in scoring with three three-pointers apiece. Chris Antalek (6 points), David Reed (5 points with three-pointer) and Kenneth Smith (2 points), LT’s three other senior starters, also scored as well as junior reserves Matt Aikens (3-pointer) and Jarryd Heath (2 points) and senior reserves Joe Carroll (2 points) and Jake Dilcher, who sank a free throw in the final seconds.
 
The Lions entered the game as underdogs, the No. 13 seed in the Schaumburg Sectional who defeated No. 18 West Chicago 56-44 Monday to reach the regional semifinals.

But LT had beaten No. 2 OPRF (19-6) in their first Silver meeting 65-53 Jan. 13 in La Grange with the Huskies winning the rematch 58-35 Feb. 11 in Oak Park en route to winning the Silver with a 10-2 record. The Lions tied for fourth in the Silver with Glenbard West at 6-6.

The Lions had reached sectionals the past two seasons, but graduated their top seven players from last season’s 26-3 team that also won a second straight Silver title with a perfect 12-0 mark.

“We ended up winning 11 games and six games in our league, and that’s probably significantly more than a lot of people thought they could win,” Sloan said. “We’re just proud of the group and the way that they played hard until the end tonight.”

On Tuesday, O’Reilly scored 10 points in the second half, including the first five points of the fourth quarter to close the Lions’ deficit to 48-46 with 6:02 left.

OPRF used a timeout and scored on the next possession and gradually pulled away as the Lions scored just once on their next 11 possessions, an inside basket by O’Reilly to close to 52-48 with 3:15 left. LT was 1-for-10 shooting with three turnovers during that stretch.

By contrast, LT stormed back from a 33-24 halftime deficit by scoring on five straight possessions to close to 37-36 with 4:06 left in the third quarter on Reed’s three-pointer. OPRF responded with a 7-0 run and led 48-41 entering the fourth quarter.

“We hadn’t played man-to-man defense that much in the last 20 games and we were forced to (in the second half),” Sloan said. “The kids played hard and battled and we mixed in a 1-3-1 trap, and the kids didn’t quit and that’s what we love about this group.”

LT had started out slow, trailing 20-8 after one quarter and falling behind 28-10 with 4:58 left in the second quarter by committing turnovers on 10 of its first 18 possessions.

Threes from O’Reilly and Aikens rejuvenated the offense. The Lions then closed to 33-24 by halftime by scoring the last seven points of the period on two free throws by Carroll, a three from Robare and Heath’s shot from the corner with 15 seconds left.

The Huskies’ strong and balanced outside shooting against the Lions’ 2-3 zone defense helped them gain control early. Alex Nesnidal (14 points with 4 threes) and Alex Gustafson (12 points with 2 threes) showered LT with a combined six three-pointers in the first half with plus-50 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

The Huskies’ last two treys were key ones from Gabe Levin (16 points) in the third quarter to increase their leads to 42-36 and 47-38. Levin, who had 21 points in the teams’ second meeting, added a dunk for a 52-46 OPRF lead with 3:28 left. Senior and Bradley-bound guard Ka’Darryl Bell added four points.

The Huskies will play in Friday’s regional final against No. 10 Morton, a 69-44 winner over No. 7 Leyden Tuesday.

“We could only take away so many things (defensively). We had to defend the lane and the drives, we had to defend Nesnidal and his shooting. The last things on our list is preventing Gabe Levin from shooting three-point shots and he steps up and drills two,” Sloan said.

“It’s a good team in the other locker room. (Coach Matt Maloney) does a great job with them, and they played really hard. They’re really good and deserve to play in a regional final.”

The game typified the Lions’ season. They won their season opener over Argo but then lost seven in a row before surprising Waubonsie Valley in their first round of York’s Jack Tosh Holiday Classic Dec. 27.

Facing a 2-9 record two days later, the Lions won their Tosh Classic finale to ignite a six-game winning streak that helped them toward a 9-7 record over their final 16 games.

“They got experience and confidence and their refusal to give in were probably the three things (that propelled us),” Sloan said. “They games where we shot well, we had chances to win and that’s because they gained confidence and didn’t give up on the defensive end. We were undersized in probably every game that we played and very rarely were we dominated on the boards. We dominated a lot of opponents that were bigger than us, and that’s effort.”

Heath (16 points), Smith (12 points), O’Reilly (10 points), Robare (7 points), Reed (5 points) and Antalek (4 points) led LT against West Chicago.

The Lions’ six three-pointers from Heath and O’Reilly (2 each), Robare and Reed came in the second half. Treys from Heath, O’Reilly, Robare and Reed helped a 20-point third quarter that increased the Lions’ 10-point halftime lead to 41-26.

LT lost its regular-season finale at Leyden 58-50 Feb. 22 with Robare (18 points) and Smith (12 points) each hitting two threes.