Willowbrook prevails in fourth overtime
The District 88 rivalry may never see another boys basketball game like Friday night's.
Not that anyone could handle another one of these.
In a memorable marathon, Willowbrook outlasted Addison Trail 85-82 in four overtimes in their West Suburban Gold matchup in Villa Park.
The Blazers (11-11, 2-5) led in the final 10 seconds of regulation and at the start of the first three overtimes. Each time Willowbrook (9-12, 3-5) answered, finally for good when Billy Degnan knocked down a 3-pointer with a minute left in the fourth overtime to put the Warriors ahead 83-82.
An Addison Trail miss led to a Freddie Clay free throw and an 84-82 Willowbrook advantage with 21 seconds left. The Blazers' 19th turnover of the night then proved the costliest, ending with Degnan's split free throws with 5 seconds left.
The Blazers worked down the court for a game-tying 3-point attempt, but the last-second shot fell short after being tipped.
Willowbrook, which failed to hold a 13-point second-half lead, survived.
"That's the craziest game I've ever played in my life," said Degnan, who hit a pair of 3s and scored 7 of his 10 points in the fourth overtime. "I'm proud of my brothers. We stuck through it to the end and we came out on top."
Addison Trail used a 14-4 fourth-quarter run to take a 56-54 lead with 9.6 seconds left in regulation. Jack Kalbas, who poured in a game-high 27 points, scored to give the Blazers a 55-54 lead. Eric Grygo, who had 23 points and 18 rebounds, added a free throw for a 56-54 lead.
Willowbrook sophomore Ethan Schuemer, who had 16 points and 14 rebounds despite playing the game's final 21 minutes with four fouls, scored under the basket as time expired to send the game to overtime.
"I'm proud of the comeback and the way we battled but we can't afford to get down like we did," said Blazers coach Brendan Lyons. "We had our opportunities, no doubt about it. They took advantage of theirs."
Kalbas sent the game to double overtime by scoring with about 25 seconds left, then Clay's three-point play sent it to triple overtime. Sikander Zafar, who had 16 points and 15 rebounds, scored in the final minute of the third extra period to push the action to quadruple overtime.
Michael Williams added 12 points for Addison Trail while Clay, Matt Myers and Kevin Miller scored 12 apiece for Willowbrook.
"The kids wanted it real bad," said Willowbrook coach Chris Perkins. "They were going to battle to the end. You've got to give credit to both teams. It was a great atmosphere and it lived up to all the expectations tonight."
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