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Stevenson falls to Homewood-Flossmoor

Stevenson's boys basketball team played from behind in its first two games in the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic.

Unlike in those games, however, the Patriots couldn't overcome their deficit against Homewood-Flossmoor on Friday night, losing the semifinal game 48-38.

Stevenson (11-2, 2-1 tournament) will play for third place against Marian Catholic (10-3, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday. Homewood-Flossmoor (10-1, 3-0) meets DePaul College Prep (12-1, 3-0) in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. DePaul got by Marian Catholic 39-35 in the other semifinal.

"It ended poorly and not the way we wanted it to end," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "Credit Homewood-Flossmoor for sticking it to us and showing us some things we need to work on. There are things we have to get better at in a hurry if we want to compete against teams like Homewood-Flossmoor, one of the top 10 teams in the state."

Stevenson had a good start, jumping out with a 12-5 lead through the first quarter. But the Vikings took advantage of foul trouble on the Patriots, outscoring them 15-2 to lead 20-14 at the break.

"We were slugging with them for a while, but we couldn't buy some shots in the first half," Ambrose said. "Then we got in foul trouble, and we didn't have guys play tough or smart enough. We haven't shot well (in the three games). We just have to get some confidence."

Stevenson closed within five a couple of times in the third, as Matthew Ambrose (team-high 11 points) led the charge. The Patriots trailed 36-30 heading into the final quarter but fell behind by as many as 12.

"They're a really good team with really good players," Homewood-Flossmoor coach Marc Condotti said of the Patriots. "They make a lot of shots and run their stuff. They know who they are and they stick to it."

Josiah Palmer and RJ Ogam led Homewood-Flossmoor with 12 points apiece.

RJ Holmes and Matt Kaznikov added 8 points each for Stevenson.

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