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McGowen scores 34, spurs Wheaton North comeback

Just when it looked like Metea Valley's Matt Helwig may have hit the biggest shot of the night, Wheaton North's Rowan McGowen answered with a huge 3-pointer in overtime, and the Falcons star still had more magic up his sleeve.

Helwig's 3-pointer gave the host Mustangs a 4-point lead with 1:22 left in overtime, and after a timeout, everyone in the gym expected McGowen to get the ball. Even so, he managed to get open enough to drain his sixth 3 of the night and help spark Wheaton North to a thrilling 74-71 overtime win in Aurora.

Not only did the clutch jumper give his team hope, but when the Mustangs turned the ball over on their next possession, McGowen followed up his own miss under the rim in traffic with an offensive rebound and was fouled.

On a night when McGowen scored a personal-best 34 points and Wheaton North (13-8, 6-5 DuPage Valley Conference) made 21 of 24 free throws after the half, it was a given that the Falcons 6-foot-5 junior would make both foul shots and finally put his team ahead for good.

"They were doing a good job of guarding me all night so I was looking for any space I could get," he said of the play in which he cut the gap to 69-68 with 1:10 left in the overtime. "When I saw I was open I just let it fly and it went in. I think it really changed the momentum. We were down 4 and then to only be down 1 there … I think we believed we were going to win that game the whole time once it got to OT."

The Mustangs, who had opened the second quarter with a 14-2 run to lead 32-20, had leads late in regulation and throughout the extra session but couldn't finish off a Falcons team that got 34 points from McGowen, 21 more from Luke Anthony and went 26 for 30 from the free-throw line.

Even with Malik Hall fouling out with just 5 points after picking up a technical foul in the third quarter, Metea Valley (10-14, 5-7) had several chances to win the game. Four players scored in double figures with Montrell Oliver and Helwig each tallying 15 points and combining on six 3s.

But McGowen proved just too tough to hold back.

"We made plays to win the game. We made multiple plays, but we just had too many mistakes down the stretch," Mustangs coach Bob Vozza said. "I thought Helwig hit a big shot to put us up four with just over a minute to go … we talked about certain things during the timeout that didn't translate to what happened on the court. We had opportunities to win."

Dei'Ron DelaRosa, who kept the Mustangs in the game with 14 points off the bench, was disappointed that McGowen hit so many big shots.

"Overall the whole team did a great job, but it was just little things about guarding the same person on their team," he said. "Just little mistakes that we did and having him open and not calling out picks. We didn't communicate, but they sure made their free throws."

Anthony made all six of his foul shots and Jack Bennett scored all 7 of his points from the line for the visitors.

"It was definitely a fun game," said Anthony, who also had 7 rebounds. "We shared the ball out there, which was good to see, and we played a good game. And hitting all those free throws was good to see because we had been struggling with free throws."

Falcons coach Dave Brackmann will not soon forget this game.

"It was such a resilient effort by our guys," he said. "I told the kids this could be one of my favorite wins of the year. On the road, things were not going well, and we just kind of stuck together and gutted it out."

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