The Glenbrook North boys basketball team called a timeout immediately after Maine East’s Jordan Irving banked in an improbable 3-pointer from the top of the key on Friday, Jan. 8.
The Maine East fieldhouse was rocking during the timeout. Irving’s shot put the Blue Demons ahead for the first time in the Central Suburban North game. They led by two with 8.5 seconds remaining.
The Spartans, who went on to earn a 48-47 victory, got the ball to James Karis, coming out of the timeout. The quick, athletic junior point guard’s first thought was to try to drive toward the baseline and pass the ball to sophomore Kellen Witherell in the opposite corner, he said after the game.
The Blue Demons cut off the baseline, however, and Karis had to retreat. He did a reverse dribble, then looked at the clock on the other side of the fieldhouse. It showed there were 3.2 seconds left in regulation, Karis recalled after the game.
He had just one option remaining.
“I saw that, and I knew I had to throw it up myself,” Karis said.
Karis, who’s listed at 5-foot-10, used his athleticism to raise up over Maine East’s swarming defense. He was slightly off balance, but he got a clean look at the basket from about 25 feet.
Karis released his shot from the wing, in front of Glenbrook North’s bench. The game hung in the balance as the ball sailed toward the basket.
“I really thought it was in,” Karis said. “It felt good. It looked on target.”
It was. Karis’ shot rattled in.
Glenbrook North (9-4, 3-1) mobbed Karis. The sizable Maine East crowd was stunned and quiet, apart from the Spartans and their elated fans.
“We pressured the hell out of the kid,” Maine East coach Dave Genis said of the final possession. “If they’re going to beat us [there], they’ve got to beat us on a wild 3. And they did.”
With the win, Glenbrook North moved into a three-way tie atop the Central Suburban North with Niles North and Deerfield. Maine East (9-3, 2-2) is now in fourth. The Vikings beat the Warriors by 27 points on Friday, Jan. 8.
Following the celebration, Karis said that his buzzer-beater was particularly satisfying because he missed the front end of a one-and-one on the possession prior to Irving’s go-ahead 3-pointer. He added that even though the specific shot he made — the off-balance attempt from well behind the 3-point line — seems like something he wouldn’t be accustomed to shooting, he was.
“Believe it or not … I do practice those shots,” said Karis, who finished with seven points.
Karis even hit a similar game-winner in a key conference game against Deerfield when he was a freshman. He was on the lower levels at the time. Karis said the shot was from the same spot and the same range as the one he made against the Blue Demons. Somehow he got that one to fall, too, he added.
There also was Glenbrook North’s playoff game against Mather a year ago in the Class 4A Evanston Regional quarterfinals, when Karis made an and-one lay-up with three seconds remaining to beat the Rangers.
“That was another awesome one,” Karis said. “And then this one might have been the best.”
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Game notes
* Senior guard Michael Stachnik led the Spartans in scoring with 14 points.
* Irving, a junior, led Maine East with 16 points. Senior forward Calvin Jean Louis finished with 11 points for the Blue Demons. Senior Milan Grover added nine.
Eric Van Dril is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter: @VanDrilSports