Marian survives Carmel's best shot
By the time Carmel Catholic made a miraculous shot of its own, it was too late.
Evan Myers even drew a foul on his baseball-like flip from the right corner with 12.6 seconds left in Friday night's East Suburban Catholic Conference game in Mundelein.
"I was just trying to draw the foul," said Myers, who hit nothing but net to get the Corsairs within three. "I didn't even really care about the shot."
Even with Myers missing the free throw, the Corsairs had a chance to tie after a couple of missed free throws by Marian Catholic. But Kimahri Wilson's long, contested 3-pointer from the top of the key hit the front of the rim and bounced away, and Malik Tidwell's free throw with 0.1 seconds on the clock sealed a 54-50 for the visiting Spartans.
It was another tough loss against a quality opponent for Carmel (15-8, 3-3), which lost at home to Marist by four points and to Evanston by two in Centralia. The Corsairs had their share of frustrating defeats last season, too.
"It's a lot different from last year," said starting guard Zion Kilpatrick, who was honored before the game on Senior Night along with teammates Matt Brolley, Trey Resetich and Brandon Evans. "Last year we talked about moral victories because we were young. But now we're a lot more mature and we need to just win those games."
Carmel got double-doubles from Johnny Roeser (team highs of 15 points and 14 rebounds) and DaMone Williams-Gray (12 points, 10 rebounds), but Marian Catholic (15-4, 3-3) received a game-high 24 points from Tidwell. Chris White added 7 points and 11 rebounds for the Spartans.
It was Tidwell, a junior guard, whose shot shifted the game's momentum.
Carmel ran a set play in the closing seconds of the third quarter, and it looked like it would be executed perfectly when Wilson (11 points) fed a bounce pass to Williams-Gray cutting to the basket. But the layup didn't fall. Marian Catholic secured the rebound, and Tidwell launched a three-quarters-court shot that banked in at the buzzer.
Instead of being up 39-36 entering the fourth, Carmel trailed 39-37.
"It was obviously disappointing seeing that go in," Myers said. "It was a big momentum change going into the fourth quarter. But there's nothing you can do."
Marian Catholic had the lead for keeps, opening the fourth with a 9-2 run. Tidwell (10-of-18 shooting, three 3-pointers, 8 rebounds) capped it with a right-wing 3 to make it 48-39 with 5:04 left.
"I thought we would respond a little better (after Tidwell's buzzer-beater)," coach Zack Ryan said after his Corsairs saw their four-game winning streak snapped. "It's tough when something like that happens. We played hard. We missed some easy shots throughout the game, and when you're playing good teams like this, you can't do that. ... We missed a lot of layups. I don't know how many. I don't want to know how many."
Down 51-43 in the final half minute of the game, Carmel got a pair of steals that led to baskets by Myers (8 points) and Roeser. Myers' 3, while being fouled, cut the Corsairs' deficit to 53-50.
Kilpatrick thought it was a game he and his teammates should have won.
"We just have to focus up and do the little things to win," said Kilpatrick, who scored 4 points. "A couple of missed box-outs, a couple of missed layups, a couple of missed free throws. We know good teams and great teams don't beat themselves."