Boys basketball: Curie outlasts Benet in Pontiac Tournament final marathon

PONTIAC – The Pontiac Holiday Tournament initially was set up to simulate the experience that teams go through at the state tournament.

The state tournament no longer uses that format.

But Pontiac has held to its tradition and that tradition led to Benet enduring a gauntlet like few have seen before. The Redwings fell 69-66 in an epic double overtime contest against Curie in the title game Dec. 30.

Earlier Saturday, Benet needed another two overtimes to get through the semifinal round to dispatch Bloom. Saturday night, the Redwings had opportunities to put Curie away a few times in the championship but the Condors simply didn’t allow it to happen.

Gabe Sularski (25 points) knocked down a pair of free throws with 15.7 seconds to play to give Benet a 58-55 lead in the first overtime. After Benet collected a missed Curie shot, the carom resulted in a tied-up ball but the Redwings had the possession arrow and a window to the win.

On the inbounds play, another tie-up occurred and that gave Curie another gasp. Illinois-Chicago commit Carlos Harris got in position for a game-tying 3 and was fouled on the attempt. Harris stepped to the line with 1.2 seconds to play and promptly knocked down all three free-throw attempts to send the game into a second overtime.

Curie took control in the second overtime, scoring first and only momentarily relinquishing the lead on a Nick Schroeder 3-pointer. The Condors reclaimed the lead on a three-point play from Will Gonzalez at the 1:11 mark and despite some harried moments down the stretch, Curie was able to hang on and end the marathon.

“We made a few mistakes down the stretch that we will learn from,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “It’s always tough when you have opportunities and you are not able to close it out. But we were also appreciative of the fact that we were in this game in the first place after the game this afternoon. With two barnburner games, one went our way and the other one didn’t.”

Benet also appeared to have ample opportunity to put the game away in regulation. Sularski gave the Redwings a six-point lead with just over a minute to play, but Benet was unable to seal the deal from the free-throw line. Benet went 14 of 24 from the line in the game. It opened the door for Harris to complete a three-point play with 8.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

“A couple of games went our way here that were close,” Heidkamp said. “And this one didn’t. Give Curie a lot of credit for being resilient and coming back. We came up short and we’re disappointed in the result. But I am very, very proud of the guys for their effort and their resiliency throughout the first game and obviously tonight.”

Benet 59, Bloom 58 (2 OT)

Benet’s place in the title game was very much in doubt and its hopes seemed to almost completely vanish at the end of the first overtime against Bloom.

Bloom built a three-point lead at 56-53 and had two free throws with just under eight seconds to play.

But the Blazing Trojans missed both free throw attempts and after Sularski corralled the rebound, he got the ball to Jayden Wright, who sprinted the length of the floor and fired up a 22-footer from the elbow that hit its mark and sent the game into an improbable second overtime.

“We got it up the floor and I wanted the shot. I tried getting him up in the air, but he didn’t jump so I took the shot and trusted that I was going to make it,” Wright said.

The second overtime slowed to a crawl with neither team scoring until a Daniel Pauliukonis basket with 1:29 to play.

Bloom countered with an Elijah Lovemore bucket a few seconds later but there was no other scoring until Sularski was fouled with 2.8 seconds left underneath the basket. Sularski missed the first shot, but knocked down the second to provide the margin of victory when Bloom’s desperation heave from half court didn’t hit its mark.