Playing without two starters due to injury and down another two players who fouled out, the La Salle-Peru boys basketball team needed someone to step up Friday.

Gavin Stokes did just that.

The freshman drained a step-back 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to help the Cavaliers to an 88-85 overtime victory over Rochelle in an Interstate 8 Conference game in La Salle.

Stokes buried seven 3s and scored 32 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter and eight in overtime.

“That’s huge,” L-P coach John Senica said. “Home crowd, lot of people here, playing a well-coached, really good Rochelle team, Gavin stepped it up. He really did.

“He did a good job, and I’m proud of him.”

The Cavs were without starters Marion Persich and Jameson Hill as well as Mason Morscheiser due to injury, while Braylin Bond and Regan Doerr fouled out.

Persich, L-P’s leading scorer, is out for the rest of the season, while Hill suffered a high ankle sprain in practice and Senica said he’s unsure when he’ll return.

Despite being short-handed, the Cavs built a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter before Rochelle rallied.

“Considering all our injuries and everything, I thought we played really well,” Senica said. “In the fourth quarter I think we started running out of gas a little bit. I felt like our team thought, ‘Hey, we got this game,’ and kind of took their foot off the gas.

“But I thought a lot of kids stepped up tonight, and I was proud of their effort.”

The game was tight in the first half. Rochelle led 14-13 after the first quarter, and L-P held a 29-28 lead at halftime.

But the Cavs caught fire from 3-point range in the third quarter, knocking down five from behind the arc. Doerr finished the quarter with a three-point play to give the Cavs a 50-33 lead going to the fourth.

L-P extended the lead to 64-43 on a bucket by Stokes with 4:36 left in regulation.

“We were playing hard,” Senica said. “We were making sure we were closing out on 3s, making sure we were boxing out, getting the rebound and pushing the ball up the floor.”

The Cavs did not make another field goal the rest of regulation. L-P made 8 of 14 free throws in the final 2:03 of the fourth quarter.

The Hubs, meanwhile, started to pressure and push the ball. Rochelle hit four 3s in the final 3:32 of the fourth, including on back-to-back possessions by Cohen Haedt with less than a minute left.

Rochelle tied it on a putback and a free throw by Brody Bruns with 1.2 seconds remaining.

“We didn’t have any other choice, we had to get after it and press,” Rochelle coach Tim Thompson said. “We started to get some more in transition, and that’s where we play our better basketball. Our kids did a great job of hanging in there and just going as hard as they could and selling out to try to find a way to win this game.

“I’m encouraged by my guys. They could have given up really early, but they just weathered the storm and got this game to overtime and gave themselves a chance to win.”

Rochelle led 79-75 early in the OT period, and Bruns gave the Hubs the lead back with a bucket with 34 seconds left before Stokes’ late 3.

Erick Sotelo hit a pair of free throws with 1.4 seconds left to ice it for L-P.

“I think the guys refocused,” Senica said. “Stokes and Erick Sotelo had a nice period for us. They knocked down free throws and hit some big shots. We got some key rebounds. We picked the pace back up.”

Along with Stokes’ 32 points, Sotelo scored 22 for the Cavs (18-9, 6-3 I-8), while Doerr added 14.

“Doerr had a really good game for us,” Senica said. “I thought he rebounded well and cut to the hole. John Sowers and Kyle Spelich came in and gave us some big minutes in the guard position. Bond rebounded really well, took care of the ball for us and played really good defense. (Wyatt) Kilday did a really good job on defense.”

Bruns led the Hubs (15-13, 3-6) with 27 points, while Kasin Avila had 18. Haedt added 11.