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Block's free throws bring home a Wheaton North win in 2 OTs

When pressure builds on the basketball court, Ethan Block goes home - figuratively, at least.

"A lot of it comes naturally," Wheaton North's senior point guard said of his free-throw shooting prowess. "I don't hear (the crowd); they're just chanting nonsense. It's just like shooting on my hoop at home."

That mindset paid dividends on Friday night as Block hit all eight of his free-throw attempts in overtime to lead the Falcons to a pulsating, come-from-behind 88-83 double-overtime victory in DuPage Valley Conference action at Neuqua Valley.

Block wasn't the only Falcon to find his happy place in crunch time as he, Luke Anthony, Jack Bennett and Matt Brcka - all seniors - combined to hit 20 of 22 free throws in the extra periods, while Wheaton North (12-3, 4-2) made 37 of 43 from the line on the night.

"We have a senior-heavy team that's been through the wars for three years, which plays a huge part," said Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann. "Those guys just stepped up and hit those free throws."

Seasoned seniors also know not to panic, which also played a crucial role as the Wildcats (8-7, 3-4) - whose coach, Todd Sutton, said "looked like the old Neuqua; it was really flowing" - were clicking on offense for most of the night and sprinted to a 39-30 halftime lead.

Blaise Meredith poured in 12 points to lead the charge. Nathan Scott, Jonathan Tan, Christian Oliveras and Dubem Ogbuefi came off the bench to combine for 23 points in the half on 10-for-11 shooting as the Wildcats shot 64 percent through two quarters.

Neuqua built its lead to 61-49 with five minutes to play, but with Rowan McGowen knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and scoring 12 of his team-high 24 points in the final five minutes of regulation, and the Falcons turning up the defensive pressure, they were able to send the game to overtime tied at 66-66 courtesy of Anthony's layup with 16 seconds left.

"We turned the ball over there left and right for about a minute-and-a-half," Sutton said. "We panicked against the pressure, we just threw it away."

When Block hit a pair of free throws with 54 seconds remaining, Wheaton North led 71-66. But Neuqua answered with a Christian Oliveras 3 and Noah Herdman putback to make it 74-71. Then Meredith, who had a game-high six 3-pointers and 25 points, banked in a 32-foot 3 at the buzzer to force a second extra period.

That would be it for climactic moments, however, as Block's "wish I were home" free-throw routine, with assistance at the line from Anthony, who played all 40 minutes, kept the Wildcats at bay.

"Basically, we lost that game for 32 minutes, we really didn't play well for three quarters, but they hung around and bounced back when Meredith hit that 3," Brackmann said. "They hung tough. They're just a great group of kids that keep fighting, that's what's so great about coaching them."

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