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ICCP, Timothy win

Beating Guerin 83-61 Tuesday in its own Class 2A regional semifinal, IC Catholic Prep gave Timothy Christian much to prepare for.

The No. 2-seeded Knights shot 55 percent from the floor against No. 7 Guerin, 65 percent through the first three quarters to go up 72-40.

Led by Kevin Cheng with 17 points, Amari Reed with 14 and Matt Sutton with 10, 12 of the 13 Knights coach T.J. Tyrrell employed scored. IC Catholic (20-7) advanced to Friday's regional final against No. 3 Timothy Christian, a 39-33 winner over tenacious No. 5 seed Westmont.

"I thought we came aggressive right from the start, finding Amari underneath," said Tyrrell, whose club reached 20 wins for the first time since 2014. "I thought he did a great job sealing and getting good position and had nice touch around the rim. And that set the tone for the game."

Against first a 2-3 zone defense, then the Crusaders' undersized man-to-man, IC Catholic feasted in the paint. The Knights scored on their first four shots of the game, Reed scoring on assists from Cheng and Alex Meurer, Tony Gaudio inside from Reed and Cheng on a drive.

"We just ran our offense and we noticed we had a big size advantage so we gave the ball to Amari and Tony early and they finished pretty well," said guard Luke Ricobene, 3 for 3 from the field and 2 for 2 from the foul line for 8 points.

Coached by Driscoll Catholic's last coach, Adam Szyszko - also Glenbard South's boys soccer coach - Guerin (7-21) scored 40 second-half points, but by then it was too late. John Szczygiel led the Crusaders with 21 points.

After IC ended the first half making 19 of 28 field goals and leading 49-21, the Knights made their first 6 shots of the third quarter headed by Cheng with 11 points, including a 3 and a pair of three-point conversions.

"It's the first game of the playoffs so we just want to get a good win under our belt so we get some momentum going into the next game," Ricobene said.

Timothy Christian 39, Westmont 33:

It seemed beating Westmont a third time might be too much for Timothy Christian. Then the Trojans went to their bread and butter to win 39-33 Tuesday in a Class 2A IC Catholic Prep regional semifinal.

"Not pretty, but survive and advance at this time and you get to play again, so that's good," said Timothy Christian coach Jack LeGrand.

No. 5 seed Westmont (10-18) played about as well as it could in the first half, holding No. 3 Timothy scoreless almost five minutes of the first quarter to post a 9-8 lead.

Committing but 3 first-half turnovers, the Sentinels repeatedly probed the baseline. Josh Thime scored twice down low and Michael Thompson as well, and guard Tyreke Winston floated a runner over 6-foot-6 Trojans center Brandon Orange. Sam Asa's 3 gave Westmont a 20-15 first-half lead.

"Westmont did a great job," LeGrand said. "(Coach) Craig (Etheridge) got them coached up."

Sixteen seconds into the third quarter Ty Merrick's lob to Orange, resulting in two free throws, indicated Timothy Christian (17-10) wasn't going away on either side of the court. The Trojans' 2-3 defense gained intensity.

"Yeah, I just thought we got out on shooters a little bit quicker and tried to take that away, so that was a good production for us in the second half," LeGrand said.

After Caden Anderson converted a steal for a 22-17 Westmont lead, Timothy assembled a 12-2 run on Orange inside baskets and a pair of 3s from Joey Davidson, whose 12 points gave him 1,022 at Timothy, good for ninth in program history.

Steals by Jimmy Allen, Jonny Strube and Orange were among Westmont's 6 third-quarter turnovers. Allen ended the third quarter grabbing an offensive rebound and hitting a fadeaway jumper for a 31-27 Trojans lead after three quarters.

"They switched up their defense a little bit and rather than being patient we got away from working, working and finding a mistake and a seam to attack," Etheridge said.

The Sentinels pulled within 33-30 with 2:39 to play, but Timothy clinched it on free throws by Allen, Davidson, Orange and Strube.

Orange scored 14 to lead the Trojans. Thompson scored 15 for Westmont, which will return six of the eight Sentinels who played Tuesday.

"We know we compete, we don't give up, we play hard," Etheridge said. "The problem is we have to play smart, too, and hopefully with experience we'll be a little bit more consistent."

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