The Lyons Township High School boys basketball team is developing a knack for frustrating rival Hinsdale Central. After sweeping last season’s two meetings, the Lions enjoyed another sweet victory, Feb. 18, by prevailing 58-55 in La Grange to snap the Red Devils’ 25-game winning streak dating back to Dec. 6. That included the Red Devils’ 75-47 win over the Lions Dec. 13 in Hinsdale.
Junior Owen Carroll swished a miraculous shot from just beyond half court that beat the buzzer. Hinsdale Central tied the game 55-55 on a three with 26 seconds left and both teams missed threes on their next possessions.
“If you ask the kids, they’d probably say it’s the biggest [victory this season],” LTHS coach Tom Sloan said.
“Number one, I think we just competed and the kids weren’t afraid of the moment. We talked beforehand the longer we stayed in the game, whether we were ahead or tied or close, more pressure is going to be building on Hinsdale. They had a lot riding on that. [For us] just have fun and play as well as we can.”
Sophomore Timmy Sloan, who had a season-best 24 points with five rebounds, and seniors Ian Polonowski (14 points), Josh Gutierrez (5 points, 5 rebounds) and Danny Janiszewski (5 points) paced the victory.
With three straight wins, the Lions (14-15) join Riverside Brookfield (21-9) in riding great momentum entering the Class 4A playoffs.
The Bulldogs, No. 8 in the Hinsdale Central Sectional, won their last five regular-season games and 13 of their last 15. They’re also are home for regionals, facing No. 9 Oak Lawn (23-8) Wednesday with the winner probably getting No. 1-seed Kenwood (27-1) at 6 p.m. on Friday for the title.
No. 10 LTHS gets No. 7 Curie (21-9) in the Curie Regional semifinals Wednesday. That winner should play No. 2 Hinsdale Central (28-3) in the 7 p.m. final Friday.
On Feb. 8, RBHS beat visiting Oak Lawn 68-51 behind a 42-26 first half, but RBHS coach Mike Reingruber noted that the Spartans were minus an injured starter.
“In the state tournament, you can’t look past anybody,” Reingruber said. “We know what we’re up for. We’ve been talking about that since we started prepping. Our guys will be ready. I’m glad it’s at home.”
The Bulldogs have had plenty of practice time. Their 81-58 victory over Bartlett, Feb. 19, was only their second game since Oak Lawn. Seniors Danny Loftus (28 points) and Vince Dockendorf (21 points on 7 threes) and Mantas Sleinys (6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 blocks) and junior Cameron Mercer (19 points with 5 threes) led the Senior Night victory.
“We always say at the beginning of the year we want to be playing our best basketball entering the state tournament and I think we’re doing that,” Reingruber said. “I think offensively our ball movement is way better as the year’s gone on. We’re sharing the ball, seeing both sides of the floor.”
The Lions finished fourth in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division at 5-7. With the Lions’ victory, Hinsdale Central had to share the Silver title at 10-2 with Glenbard West (24-5), which the Lions beat in their first meeting.
Hinsdale Central led the Lions 21-9 early in the second quarter but needed a buzzer-beating three to lead 33-31 at halftime. Sloan’s conventional three-point play tied the game 42-42 entering the fourth quarter, and a Sloan basket and Polonowski three opened a 47-42 advantage with 5:35 left.
After Josh Gutierrez took an offensive charge, Carroll hit two free throws for a 54-40 lead with 53.7 seconds left. Gutierrez added a free throw for a 55-52 lead with 40.8 seconds to go.
The Lions ended the regular season beating Highland Park 45-34 Friday behind Polonowski (20 points, 15 rebounds), Andrew Carlisle (8 points) and Owen Carroll (6 points).
“We’ve had a lot of close games, won some, lost some,” Sloan said. “The next game, you’d look at the season and say Curie is the favorite but I think our kids are going in with a lot of confidence right now.”
LTHS/Nazareth girls basketball
As the No. 1-seeded Lions try for their first downstate trip since 1999 at the LTHS Sectional, they surpassed those Class AA quarterfinalists in one aspect Thursday.
With their 66-44 victory over No. 8 Fenwick to capture the 4A Morton Regional, the Lions (31-2) beat the single-season school record for wins achieved in 1999 (30-5).
“As we approached the playoffs, we kind of created a visual for them, a roadmap to Normal. On there we also mentioned there’s another milestone we can reach along the way (30-plus victories),” LTHS coach Meghan Hutchens said. “I don’t know how many were aware before I said anything.”
Nora Ezike (21 points, 7 points), Emma O’Brien (19 points with 3 threes) and Gwen Smith (17 points, 5 rebounds) led the Lions to their fourth straight regional title, which included the seniors playing together for possibly the last time. Ezike (23 points), O’Brien (22 points), Smith (14) and Harper Carroll (8 points) were leading scorers in the 93-21 regional semifinal victory over No. 17 Curie Feb. 17.
In Tuesday’s sectional semifinals, LTHS played No. 4-seed Whitney Young (24-8) and No. 3 Nazareth Academy (31-2) played No. 2 Kenwood (30-3). The sectional final is at 6 p.m. Feb. 27 with the winner going to the Hinsdale Central Super-Sectional at 7 p.m. March 3 against Marist, Lockport, Lincoln-Way Central or Sandburg.
The Roadrunners won the Nazareth Regional, and their 23rd straight, by beating No. 6 Hinsdale Central 55-20 Thursday after opening with a 64-21 victory over No. 14 Jones Feb. 18.
At last year’s sectional at Mother McAuley, Nazareth beat LTHS 44-40 in the semifinals and Kenwood 50-37 in the sectional final enroute to finishing second in 4A. LTHS has lost in the regional semifinals the past two seasons.