The two best players on the court leaped at the same time with opposite goals.
Westinghouse’s Coreyoun Rushin jumped with the ball, his team down one point. Orr’s Raekwon Drake leaped right with him, defending the basket and his team’s lead.
Drake blocked the shot, grabbed the rebound and passed the ball ahead to Brian Hernandez, whose wide-open layup with 17 seconds left provided the final points in No. 10 Orr’s 58-55 Red West win.
“He got me on a jab, and since he’s a great athlete I knew he was going to try to dunk it,” said Drake, who matched Rushin’s 19 points. “We both got our feet right and jumped at the same time and I was able to get it. It feels pretty good to win the game on a defensive play.”
Westinghouse retired Mark Aguirre’s number 24 at halftime, adding the DePaul legend and three-time NBA All-Star to the rafters with Eddie Johnson’s 32, Hersey Hawkins’ 33 and Kiwane Garris’ 22.
The Warriors (7-7, 1-3) could have used some of Aguirre’s scoring punch late in the game. Orr shut out Westinghouse for the final 3 minutes, 47 seconds after Kramon Johnson’s 3-pointer put the Warriors ahead 55-51.
“They were beating us on cuts and pick and rolls,” Drake said. “We started sagging back a little bit and it worked.”
The Spartans (8-1, 3-1) also worked on the glass, with a 39-23 rebound advantage. Drake and Dannie Smith had 10 apiece, with Smith grabbing six of Orr’s 17 offensive rebounds.
“They have great athletes who can challenge you at the rim and still get it when you miss,” Westinghouse coach Bill Curry said.
Two Smith free throws tied the score 55-55 with 1:45 left, and Drake made 1 of 2 to give Orr the lead with 44 seconds to play. It was the last of 12 lead changes to go with 11 ties.
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“Chicago basketball’s still where it’s at,” Aguirre said. “It was a great honor to get my number retired, but it was even better to see these guys compete. It was a one- or two-point game the whole time, everybody’s screaming and hollering, and the players and coaches are really getting after it. What a night.”
Player of the game: Raekwon Drake, Orr, 19 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocked shots.
Key performers: Orr — Dannie Smith, 13 points, 10 rebounds; Brian Hernandez, 10 points. Westinghouse — Coreyoun Rushin, 19 points, 7 rebounds; Dexter Reed, 9 points, 5 rebounds, 5 blocks, 4 assists.