Enright's clutch 3 lifts Mundelein past Zion-Benton
Kevin Enright would have called it. And made it.
His son Conor, Mundelein's star junior point guard? Well ...
"My dad's got the backboard shot down," Conor Enright said. "That's all he shoots."
Tuesday night, with his Mustangs trailing visiting Zion-Benton by one point in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter of a North Suburban Conference showdown, Enright shot the bank shot.
And made it.
"He would say he taught me," Enright said with a laugh of his dad.
Enright's banked it 3-pointer with 6 seconds left rallied Mundelein down the stretch, as the Mustangs won 69-65. Enright finished with a team-high 23 points, and Trey Baker added 22. The two guards made a combined nine 3-pointers.
The wild victory hiked Mundelein's record to 22-3 and 9-1 in the NSC, setting up Friday night's first-place showdown with Stevenson (9-1 NSC), which beat the Mustangs in Lincolnshire last month.
"The atmosphere was great," Baker said. "We knew it was a key game in the conference and we came out with the right mentality and we were composed at the end. I'm just proud of how we competed. That was a great game for our ballclub."
It was the second straight Mundelein needed fourth-quarter heroics to win, as the Mustangs outlasted host Lake Forest in overtime on Saturday night.
"We've been a team the last couple of years that's been able to come from behind," Mundelein coach Matt Badgley said. "At this point in the season, playing the teams that we've played so far - the O'Fallons, the Stevensons, the Collinsvilles, the Lincolns, the teams within our league - it gets you ready for these games. We've seen just about anything somebody can throw at us."
Zion-Benton (15-10, 5-5) trailed most of the night, including by as many as 13 points in the first quarter and 53-48 after three. But led by Damontae Taylor, who scored 6 points, including a 3-pointer in the fourth, and Amar Augillard (game-high 27 points, 9 rebounds), the Zee-Bees took a 65-59 lead with 2:47 to go.
Mundelein finished the game with a 10-0 run. Trey Baker, who scored 22 points, had a steal in the final minute, leading to Enright's big 3 for the lead.
Baker also had the assist on Enright's bucket, after a timeout with 22 seconds to go. The athletic Taylor was on Enright.
"I was looking to drive," Enright said. "I did a jab step and he backed up a little. Damontae's a long kid. He didn't block my shot, though. I got it off.
"Sadly, I did not call backboard," Enright added with a smile. "But it went in."
"Conor and I talked directly [during the timeout]," Badgley said. "We ran something, and if it broke, we wanted to still keep going. Conor asked me, 'What do you want to do?' and I said, 'You just go and let me decide if I don't like it or not, and let me call the timeout.' He just went. I wasn't thinking 'bank,' but we'll take what we got."
Up until Enright's heroics at the end, Taylor held Enright to just 1 field goal in the second half. The 6-foot-6 Taylor finished with 16 points, including a pair of dunks, and 5 rebounds.
"I really like him," Badgley said. "I think he's one of the betters players, if not the best player, in the league just because of what he naturally has. He's so long, he's so athletic. Have they ever had a game where he didn't have a dunk?"
Scottie Ebube added 16 points and 6 rebounds for Mundelein. Syam Atade contributed 8 points, and Jack Bikus snagged 7 rebounds.