Rising junior Grant Smith controlled the overtime tipoff. Rising senior Timmy Sloan followed seconds later with a driving layup. That proved to be the winner for the Lyons Township boys basketball team in its final game, Sunday, against Plainfield East at the 23rd annual Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout.
“We ran our high-ball screen earlier in the second half. I knew they kind of jumped it,” Sloan said. “I told the guys to kind of clear out the other side so I could just go score.”
The Lions’ 67-65 OT victory completed a 3-1 Shootout performance with Smith, Sloan and rising senior Grayson Lee as the lone returnees with significant varsity experience. Other LTHS players on the Shootout roster were rising seniors BJ Walton, Ty Smith, Jack Utne, Jack Levy, Rowen Kerr and Blake Stuck rising juniors Jett Jacklin, Riley Moore and Gabe Kolovitz and rising sophomores Quinn Carroll and Ryan DeWalt.
LTHS beat Hersey 65-50 earlier Sunday after the game was tied at 47 and on Saturday beat Thornton 69-47 and lost to Mt. Carmel 56-42 in the opener.
“Again just focusing on fundamentals on both ends,” said LTHS coach Tom Sloan. “When we do our practices in June, we don’t really do much defensive work. We do mostly skills and team offense concepts. When we get into game situations, that’s where we really talk about defense. We communicated well, we were in position, we stayed in a defensive stance. The big area we can improve on is our physicality on rebounding.”
Smith was among the Shootout’s top scorers with 104 total points – a 25.1-point average.
LTHS PG Timmy Sloan negotiates his way through traffic on June 13, 2026 at RBHS. (Ian McLeod) 
LTHS Grant Smith battles it out with three Mt. Carmel defenders in game action at RBHS on June 13, 2026. (Ian McLeod) 
LTHS Guard Ty Smith works his way around a Mt. Carmel defender on June 13, 2026 at RBHS. (Ian McLeod) 
LTHS Forward Grayson Lee battles his way up court during game action against Mt. Carmel on June 13, 2026 at RBHS. (Ian McLeod) 
LTHS defenders hold off a rush by Mt. Carmel under the LT basket on June 13, 2026 at RBHS. (Ian McLeod)
Against Plainfield East, the Lions employed their full-court press and scored the last 10 points. Lee’s three tying the game 65-65 with 1:07 left in regulation. Sloan’s basket was the only one in the one-minute overtime after two 20-minute halves with a running clock. Plainfield East missed a three with three seconds left in OT.
“We just started to be more aggressive and started to take the game into our own hands,” Timmy Sloan said. “We definitely need to be more physical and assert ourselves on the defensive end. Teams had a lot of offensive rebounds on us, but the summer’s all about experience and I think we’re getting a lot of good experience, especially in this tournament.”
Smith collected 30 points against Thornton, 28 against Hersey, 24 against Plainfield East and 22 against Mt. Carmel. Lee (16 points) and Sloan (12) also were in double figures against Plainfield East and Lee had 12 points against Hersey.
LTHS trailed Plainfield East 35-31 at halftime and 55-46 during the second half.
“We definitely gained a lot as a group to face a game where we’re down and to be able to win it,” Smith said. “That’s really kind of bringing us together as a group and overall we’re all just getting better and having fun.”
The Lions continue summer league play at Downers North and will attend the Ridgewood Shootout, another NCAA live event.
“It’s been great because a bunch of the younger guys have come in and there hasn’t been a drop off. They continue to pick it up and keep the same energy and intensity,” Smith said. “Really all of the games have been so much fun but we do need to start moving off the ball and being able to crash glass and work on transition and on-ball defense.”