Some say you can`t learn much by losing, but a defeat last season taught De La Salle what it needed to post a 56-55 victory Friday night over Catholic League South leader Leo.
Marcus Patterson, De La Salle`s sixth man, drove the length of the court and hit a baseline jumper with 3 seconds left to beat 10th-ranked Leo. The play was one coach Tony Rappold picked up last year in a loss to Weber.
”It was a little different result this time,” Rappold said. ”We tried to run a play similar to the one (Weber) ran against us, with Marcus getting the ball and working for his shot. He`s the type of player that can make those kinds of shots.”
Leo (15-4, 7-2) had taken the lead 55-54 on Richard Willock`s layup with 12 seconds left.
De La Salle (9-9, 7-2) got 20 points from Kevin Thompson and 11 from Shadric Thomas 11. Patterson finished with seven.
Roy Burse and Ric Johnson scored 13 each to top Leo.
Neither team led by more than two points in the fourth quarter. With 3:22 left in the third period, Leo took its biggest lead of the game at 37-32.
De La Salle ended the quarter with a 12-5 run to take a 44-42 lead. Brian Pote scored the final eight points in the quarter.
Taft 83, Mather 47-Taft used an 11-2 run in the last four minutes of the first half to break a 24-24 tie at Mather in a Public League Red-North contest. Leading 35-26 at the half, No. 6 Taft (19-1, 9-0) scored the first 17 points of the second half.
Enoch Davis led Taft with 28 points, 18 in the first half. Johnny Blake came off the bench to add 22 and Ken Pratt scored 17.
Davis injured an elbow in the closing seconds of the game.
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Arthur Hamilton led Mather (4-13, 1-8) with 11 points.
Larkin 65, East Aurora 60-No. 8 Larkin (20-2, 10-2) trailed by 10 points late in the third quarter but overtook East Aurora in the last five minutes of the Upstate Eight match.
”It was our press that got the job done down the stretch,” Larkin coach Dom Cannata said.
Larkin, winner of 12 straight, was led by David Binion with 15 points, Matt Schueler with 14 and Sean Palmer for 13.
Warren Brooks with 17 points and Kevin Jones with 13 led East Aurora
(13-6, 8-4).
Marist 66, Benet 61 (OT)-No. 12 Marist got 27 points from Kyle White, including 4 of 4 free throws in overtime, to survive in the East Suburban Catholic.
Benet`s Brian Dougherty hit a layup with 9 seconds to go that sent the game into overtime.
Jerry Naughton added 14 points for Marist (18-3, 9-2). Mike Finnie topped Benet (7-13, 3-8) with 17 points.
Batavia 73, Yorkville 63-Corey Williams fired in 24 points and Alan Lund added 19 for No. 17 Batavia (15-3, 10-2) in its Little Seven win. Jon Blackman led Yorkville (10-10, 4-8) with 24.
Driscoll 51, St. Francis 49-No. 20 Driscoll pushed its record to 20-0, 8-0 in the Suburban Catholic Conference by edging St. Francis (10-9, 3-5).