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Lodewyk's clutch shot lifts Timothy Christian past St. Edward

Win or lose, the ball was going through Timothy Christian senior Ben Lodewyk's hands with the season on the line.

The seventh-seeded Trojans trailed No. 6 St. Edward by a point with 5.7 seconds left in overtime in Monday's Class 2A Aurora Christian regional opener when coach Jack LeGrand put it all in Lodewyk's capable hands.

And why not? The 6-foot-3 senior tends to shine under postseason pressure. Last fall he scored the first goal for the school's soccer team in its 4-1 win over Anna-Jonesboro in the Class 1A state title match.

Lodewyk caught the inbounds pass at midcourt and drove toward the lane, where he had been instructed to either dish to an open man, take a good shot if one presented itself or kick out to a 3-point shooter.

The big guard dribbled to the left of the circle against St. Edward senior Andrew O'Neill (6-0) before changing directions with a behind-the-back dribble. He took a sharp jab step toward the free throw line to gain space, then launched a step-back jumper that rattled in at the buzzer to lift Timothy Christian to a 46-45 overtime victory.

No. 7 Timothy Christian (11-16) advances to a regional semifinal against host and top seed Aurora Christian (22-5) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

"Our coach called me up top and then four low," said Lodewyk, who finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. "I just tried to do the best I could. Good defense by that kid, but I just made the shot."

"I closed down some space on him so I was right up next to him," said O'Neill, who scored 11 points of his own. "It was just a really great shot. I've got to give the kid credit. He hit the shot in a clutch moment and it cost us the game."

The ball nearly slipped out of Lodewyk's hands as he rose for the shot, but he recovered in air and shot accurately.

"I think he caught it and just made a really good play because as he was going up they defended him pretty well," LeGrand said. "And he got off a pretty good shot. That was a big-time basket for us."

It was a basket Timothy Christian should not have attempted had the St. Edward players followed instructions, Green Wave coach P.J. White said.

St. Edward (14-15) still had 2 fouls to give when Timothy Christian was set to inbound the ball initially with 9.6 seconds left. White said he told his players during the previous timeout to foul twice after the ball had been inbounded. The idea was to run a few seconds of clock each time and keep the Trojans from shooting.

However, the Green Wave committed their fifth foul before the Trojans could trigger the ball inbounds, so no time ran off the clock. They then committed their sixth foul with 5.7 seconds left and were, therefore, unable to foul again to prevent Lodewyk's final attempt without sending him to the line.

"I think it was a communication problem," said St. Edward junior guard Kelvin Cortez-Harvey.

White said it shouldn't have come down to a final shot. The Green Wave had a chance to make it a 3-point game prior to Lodewyk's heroics, but they missed a bonus free throw with 25.4 seconds left.

"The game is over if we make our free throws," White said. "We didn't make our free throws, so that gave them an opportunity to get back in the game. Story of our whole season."

Cortez-Harvey led all scorers with 19 points and Sean Phelan added 12 for St. Edward. Joey Davidson led the Trojans with 16 points.

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