Fueled by its electric fans and its stingy defense, host and No. 17 Brother Rice had no problem disposing of No. 15 Sandburg 65-49 in a charged non-conference game Tuesday night.
Much to the delight–and help–of its raucous student body, Brother Rice (12-3) was never seriously challenged by the Eagles (11-4) in the second half as it opened up a double-digit lead early in the third quarter and never got it under 10.
“That was a great win,” said Brother Rice coach Pat Richardson, whose team held Sandburg scoreless for the first 5 minutes 30 seconds of the fourth quarter. “Our crowd knows when it’s a big game. We asked for help from the crowd tonight and we got it.”
Brother Rice opened the game on a 10-1 run and finished the first half on an 8-2 spurt to take a 31-23 advantage into halftime. Steve Woerheide scored a game-high 24 points and converted 8-of-11 free throws in the fourth quarter to make sure the Eagles didn’t get close.
Bob Frasor added 12 points and four steals for Brother Rice, and Quinton Spencer contributed 10 rebounds and nine points.
Chris Rega, coming off pneumonia, led Sandburg with 16 points off the bench.
Sean Duncan.
Hales Franciscan 67, Manteno 54: Blake Craft paced No. 7 Hales (15-2) with 17 points.
Marist 74, St. Patrick 58: Tom Sullivan scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half as the Redhawks surprised No. 11 St. Patrick in the East Suburban Catholic. John Griffin added 17 points for Marist (7-7, 4-2), which broke open a game that was tied 25-25 at halftime. Marc Hartman scored 11 points for the Shamrocks (11-3, 5-1).
Buffalo Grove 49, Conant 47 (OT): The Bison (9-5) upended No. 14 Conant behind Adam Stuart’s 19 points. Gary Wiggins scored 19 points on five three-pointers for Conant (12-3), which forced overtime after Will Meister’s free throw tied the game 43-43 with 28 seconds left in regulation.
Curie 97, Gage Park 45: Eric Borg’s 14 points and Cliff Manning’s 13 led No. 20 Curie (13-5, 4-0) in the Public Red Central.
Fremd 68, Hersey 62: Matthew Monaghan scored 24 points as Fremd (8-6) eclipsed a five-point deficit late in the fourth quarter. Alex Wereminsky, who finished with 14 points, followed a steal with a layup and free throw to put Fremd up for good at 61-58 with 1:18 left.
Hancock 61, Kennedy 56: Hancock (1-10, 1-2) snapped a 38-game losing streak behind Ryan Taylor’s 24 points. Taylor sank five free throws in the last 1:30 to seal the Public Blue Central win for the Eagles, whose last victory was Feb. 5, 2001.
Homewood-Flossmoor, 58, Rich South 50: Excell Hardy’s 19 points led the Vikings (10-6).
Hubbard 68, Robeson 51: Othyus Jeffers had 27 points and nine rebounds for Hubbard (10-5, 3-1) in the Public Red Central.
Kenwood 49, DuSable 47: Amin Ali sank the game-winning three-pointer with 15 seconds left for Kenwood (11-4, 2-2) in the Public Red East.
Lane Tech 80, Mather 79: Douglas Johnson put in 23 points while Nate Hudson added 13, including two free throws with 6.4 seconds left to give Lane (13-3, 3-0) the Public Red North win.
Mather trailed by 18 points heading into the final quarter before Michael Shamon scored 20 of his 30 points to rally the Rangers (13-3, 3-1).
Rich Central 50, Richards 38: Jimmie Miles had 20 points, 12 rebounds, seven steals and six assists for Rich Central (10-3).
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Schaumburg 71, Prospect 66: Craig Reichel had 18 points to go with Zach Pancratz’s 16 for Schaumburg (9-6). Craig Anderson had 25 for Prospect (5-8).