St. Viator falls just short vs. Glenbrook South
With two of the Chicago area's top scorers in St. Viator's Connor Kochera and Glenbrook South's Dom Martinelli facing off, many fans expected an offensive jamboree. Instead they got a defensive clinic as both teams clamped down tightly on the top scorers.
Kochera did score 10 points, but his 3-pointer from the corner with two seconds to play bounced off the rim as Glenbrook South outlasted the Lions 36-35 in the quarterfinals of the 42nd annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic Thursday.
St. Viator (8-4) will play Fremd in the consolation bracket Friday at 5:30 p.m.
"We got Kochera the shot we wanted," St. Viator coach Quin Hayes said. We just couldn't get it to fall."
Viator put on a defensive clinic all night that frustrated unbeaten Glenbrook South (12-0). The Lions drew 6 charging calls, including a pair on Martinelli, who would finish with just 8 points.
Kochera drew the assignment of guarding Martinelli and the Titan senior only took 8 shots. Kochera's defense drew high praise from his coach.
"He did a great job on him," Hayes said. "Connor did have an off night shooting. But his defensive play shows how versatile he is."
With its defense playing at a high level, St. Viator was able to build a 20-12 lead at the break.
Glenbrook South was able to close the gap to 28-24 after the third quarter thanks to some key shooting by Cooper Noard. The sophomore, who would finish with 14 points, drilled a pair of 3s to keep the Titans close.
A basket by Kochera early in the final quarter put the Lions up 30-24 with 7 minutes to play. It was then Glenbrook South's turn to play some solid defense, holding the Lions scoreless for nearly four minutes.
Glenbrook South capitalized on the drought, scoring 10 unanswered points to lead 34-30 with 3:28 to play.
The Lions regained the lead thanks to a 3-pointer by Michael Campagna and then a drive by Kochera with 1:30 to play to put Viator up 35-34.
Martinelli scored on a drive to the hoop himself with a minute to play to give the Titans the lead for good.
It wasn't pretty," Glenbrook South coach Phil Ralston said. "We made an awful lot of mistakes this game. But I thought defensively we did a lot better job. I am a big believer that if you play good defense when you are not shooting very well, it will keep you in games."
Hayes agreed that defense was the big winner in this game.
"We did everything we wanted to do," Hayes said. "We had some key turnovers that cost us down the stretch. Our kids played really well."
Aidan Harrington came off the bench to score 7 points for St. Viator. Campagna finished with 5 points while Owen Hickey had 4 assists and 4 steals.