Hinsdale South edges Addison Trail
After dropping its first conference game of the season a night earlier, Hinsdale South was in danger of falling out of the top spot in the West Suburban Gold on Saturday.
But the long-range shooting of Karol Lipiszko made sure that didn't happen.
Hitting five 3-pointers in the second half, including a pair in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the senior guard led the Hornets to a 61-57 defeat of Addison Trail in Darien.
Lipiszko also hit a pair of free throws with 40.6 seconds on the clock and finished with 18 points.
"My coaches always tell me that when I have an open look, shoot," Lipiszko said, "and that is what I did today. I was slumping before, but then I hit one and after that, I started feeling it."
Hinsdale South had lost on Friday to Proviso East to fall into a first-place tie with Willowbrook. The Hornets beat the Warriors the first time around.
"This was a big team win," Lipiszko added. "It was a team effort, everyone stepped up. That's been us all year, resilient. We battle back from everything that happens. We've been doing that all year."
The visiting Blazers trailed 47-37 heading into the final period before going on a 12-0 run, with a jumper by Breydon Hargrove giving Addison Trail a 49-47 lead with 3:36 left.
But a steal and bucket by Nick Perry tied the score with 2:45 remaining and a 3 by Lipiszko 30 seconds later gave the home team the lead for good.
"I told our guys, the effort has been pretty consistent over the last month," Addison Trail coach Brendan Lyons said. "We've been in a ton of tight games. It's a matter of when you are physically tired, still trying to stick to what you want to do.
"The frustrating part is we played really well to start the game and to start the fourth. Two of our last three losses we've had the ball and the lead with two minutes left. It's been critical turnovers for us."
Michael Williams led the Blazers (11-8, 1-5) with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Hargrove finished with 16 and Colton Noel had 12, including eight straight to start the fourth.
Hinsdale South's Zion Griffin led all scorers with 22 points, 6 of which came during a 12-0 spurt to start the second quarter as the Hornets overcame a 16-9 early deficit. The home team also began the second half with an 8-0 run.
Robert Barnes added 10 points for Hinsdale South (12-8, 5-1).
"We knew this weekend would be very tough," Hinsdale South coach Brett Moore said. "Everyone in this conference is good enough to beat anybody. It's a wild year in the conference. Everyone is dangerous."