Lyons trips up Hoffman Estates
By the slimmest of margins, Hoffman Estates' boys basketball season came to an end on Wednesday night at Addison Trail.
The ninth-seeded Hawks fell 71-70 to No. 8 seed Lyons in a Class 4A regional semifinal.
Lyons' Harrison Niego got the winning bucket at the buzzer and scored the Lions' final four points.
Lyons will meet the top seed in the Bartlett sectional, York, in Friday's 7 p.m. championship game.
Other Class 4A regional title matchups in the area include, all with 7 p.m. tip-offs:
• St. Viator vs. Zion-Benton at Rolling Meadows.
• Lake Zurich vs. Fremd at Hersey.
• Loyola vs. Maine West at Maine West.
• Morton vs. Conant at Morton.
• Proviso East vs. Riverside-Brookfield at Elk Grove.
• Lake Park vs. Glenbard North at Leyden
• Lake Forest vs. Highland Park at Libertyville
• Stevenson vs. Warren at McHenry
In Class 3A, host Grayslake Central meets North Chicago and Carmel faces Vernon Hills at Ridgewood.
In Class 3A action Wednesday, Wheaton Academy's only lead against Burlington Central was at 45-44. Fortunately for the Warriors, that was the final score.
Christian Smith made a floater with 17 seconds left and Gordon Behr blocked Duncan Ozburn's last-ditch attempt as the Warriors gutted out a victory in the semifinals of the Class 3A Genoa-Kingston regional.
The Warriors (20-8) face Sycamore for the title on Friday.
Smith's coach and father, Pete Froedden, has been trying to discourage him from shooting the floater, but instinct took over.
"I've been trying to break a habit of it," said Smith. "But it was a tough situation. I just wanted to get a shot off and give us our best chance, and if I missed to get a rebound for someone else."