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Downers Grove North's final shot drops Willowbrook

Bryan Jakobsze knew the shot was long but stopped short of calling "bank."

In the heat of Tuesday's postgame celebration, it didn't really matter.

Called or not, the senior forward's banked-in 3-pointer just before the buzzer still gave Downers Grove North a 60-57 West Suburban Conference crossover victory over visiting Willowbrook.

"It looked good, but I knew it was a little bit long," said Jakobsze, who scored a game-high 23 points. "My teammates did a good job of getting me going. Toward the end of the game, I knew I was going to shoot the last shot. I'm glad my teammates had the confidence in me to shoot it."

Downers North (19-7) faced its largest deficit of 49-34 midway through the third quarter and trailed 57-50 with four minutes left in the game on a dunk by Ethan Schuemer.

The Warriors (24-4) didn't score again.

Downers North closed on a 10-0 run, including Trey Boston's game-tying layup with 49 seconds left. Willowbrook, which committed 14 of its 21 turnovers in the second half, was whistled for over-and-back on the ensuing possession, giving the ball to the Trojans with 29 seconds left.

After draining nearly a half-minute, Jakobsze whipped around a screen and lofted the game-winner from the left wing.

"We did it to ourselves," said Willowbrook coach Chris Perkins. "We knew they were going to make a run, and we were supposed to combat that and just be solid. Silly turnovers came back to haunt us and it cost us the game."

The Warriors led the bulk of the game after Ryan King's 3-pointer put them ahead 20-18 early in the second quarter. Schuemer scored 17 points for Willowbrook, while Neil Paxton Jr. added 10 points and Matas Masys scored 9 points.

"We do a lot of end of game situations, just like everybody else does," said Trojans coach Jim Thomas. "You just try to get the ball into your best player's hands and give them an opportunity to get a shot up."

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