McHenry beats Crystal Lake South in 3 OTs

For all the clutch shots Crystal Lake South junior guard Zach Geske buried to keep the Gators alive in their 48-46 triple overtime loss to McHenry Friday, there will be an unbelievable, but questionable, buzzer-beater by the Warriors' Brian O'Toole that will overshadow Geske's effort and be up for debate by many Gator fans for a very, very long time.

After South's Alexander Reich split 2 free throws with 0.8 seconds left on the clock to tie the game at 46, O'Toole's magical heroics occurred when the forward corralled a long baseball pass tipped near the Warriors' foul line, got to the left block and flushed the shot off the glass as time expired for the victory.

Or did he?

“Point-eight. Pretty tough to catch it, dribble it and shoot it with point-eight but it's the way (the referees) saw it and it's tough to end the game on that kind of a controversy,” Gators' coach Matt LePage said. “They'll get the win, we won't and it is what it is. I don't want to get all about blaming the officials but it's tough to do all that in point-eight seconds and everybody knows it.”

It initially appeared as if the game was heading to quadruple overtime since the 6-foot-5 junior's shot looked to go in well after the buzzer. But after a slight pause for the referee's signal in the right corner, the shot was counted to the dismay of the Gators' bench and their fans, who watched McHenry's student section storm the court after a wild Fox Valley Conference Valley Division affair that saw Geske extend the game 3 times, twice on 3-pointers in the final seconds of both overtime and double overtime and a game-tying layup with 43.7 left in regulation.

“It's hard to go that far, make that many shots, help your team that much and then some freak error goes on,” said Geske, who was in a self-proclaimed slump. “It's tough.”

O'Toole finished with 9 points while teammate Nicholas Bellich led McHenry with 18 points, which included three 3-pointers and a perfect 9-for-9 clip at the free throw line.

Geske registered a game-high 27 points on five 3-pointers, including one that gave South (10-5, 1-1) a 45-43 lead in the third OT with 1:48 left. But a costly foul on Bellich's 3-point attempt with 13.5 seconds left gave McHenry a 1-point lead and 12 missed free throws (10-for-22) kept the Warriors (4-11, 1-1) dreaming of Geske's last second 3s.

“You just got to believe you can do it and you'll do it,” O'Toole said of the shot. “We really couldn't draw anything up. No timeouts, we just kind of ran it.”

“They were saying ‘this is fun, this is fun,' ” said McHenry coach Tim Paddock, who paused to the roar of his locker room. “It was just get it down to the other end and see what happens. And they made a play.”

There were plenty of plays to choose from in this one, as CL South, down 32-30 in the fourth, watched Geske drive the lane for a layup and the foul. But Geske's missed free throw signaled OT.

In the first overtime, McHenry held a 36-33 lead until Geske nailed a 3 from the top of the arc with 53.3 seconds left. A half-court prayer by South's Alexander Reich's nearly won it, but it hit the heel of the rim forcing a second OT, where McHenry took a 40-37 lead with 28 seconds left.

But Geske answered again. Kyle Bartusch rebounded a Reich missed 3 in the right wing and found Geske in the left wing for a deep 3 with 2 seconds left that sent the Swamp into bedlam.

“He wouldn't let us lose,” LePage said. “He was the one good thing we had today.”