St. Viator can't overcome first-half repeat vs. Lyons

A spirited St. Viator rally fell short against Lyons Township at the 18th annual High School Hoops Showdown in boys basketball action Saturday night at Hinsdale Central.

For the second straight game, St. Viator fell behind its opponent by 16 points at halftime.

Friday it was in a loss to Benet, and Saturday night it was the same story as the Lions watched LT build a 36-20 lead at the break.

"You'd think we would have learned after yesterday," said St. Viator senior guard Patrick McNamara. "We weren't hitting our shots, and were definitely not playing good defense."

The Lions were able to turn things around in the second half, using a 16-3 run to get back in the game, but ultimately ran out of gas as LT won 65-57.

Despite the loss, Viator coach Quin Hayes was pleased with the effort in the final two quarters.

"The guys buckled down and played defense," said Hayes. "They didn't give up and they didn't make excuses. I'm proud of them."

McNamara scored a game high 23 points, while Harrison Niego led LT with 22 points including 10-for-10 at the free throw line.

"Viator is a good team with good players, and McNamara can really shoot the ball," said Niego. "We had to stay focused. We were able to hit our shots and weather the storm, and that's what good teams do."

Senior guard Kevin Monson opened the third quarter with two straight 3s to help Viator fight their way to within 39-36.

The Lions (11-6) actually got within 2 at 48-46 in the fourth, but could never get the big stop when they needed to.

LT closed out the game at the free throw line led by Niego, who hit all 6 of his foul shots in the final stanza.

"It was tough to try to hold Niego down," said Viator guard Ricky Meunch. "But we started to play good 'D', and when you're united on 'D' that leads to runouts - and then we were able to get the ball to the hot hand."

"We knew they had a lot of weapons on that team," said Hayes of LT. "They've got some great scorers in Niego and (Jaquan) Phipps, and we said that we had to try to key on those guys and then see what happens. Unfortunately, they had a lot of role players who hit some big shots. They did a real nice job."

Muench added 12 points for Viator while teammates Danny Walsh, Sal Cannella Kevin Monson each added 6.

Phipps, who poured in 16 for LT, said that the tournament-like atmosphere of the Hoops Showdown didn't affect his team in the least.

"We just wanted to get out of here with a 'W'," said Phipps. "We're happy with the win."