All season long, Lyons has made a sneaky habit of mounting impressive comebacks.
Whether via winning streaks – after a string of tough defeats – or putting together an impressive run to close out a victory against a tough foe.
Naturally, in the Lions’ final West Suburban Silver game against Hinsdale Central, they followed the same script.
The Lions erased a three-point halftime deficit to pull out a 54-42 win over the Red Devils to earn a share of the division title. After York defeated Downers Grove North 39-31 on Tuesday, the Lions (21-6, 11-1) and the Dukes (27-4, 11-1) both ended the season by sharing the title.
For the Lions, the conference title marks the first one for the program since the 2014-15 season. The Dukes earned their first division share dating back to 2019-2020.
Junior guard Nate Woods carried the Lions with 21 points, Grant Smith added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists and Owen Carroll tossed in 10 points and five boards. Joseph Lubbe led the Dukes with 13 points and several key defensive plays to seal the division tie.
The Dukes and Lions split their season series, with each team snaring a road victory.
“I’m happy for the kids,” Lyons coach Tom Sloan said. “It’s been a while since we won or shared the conference. We’ve had teams toward the top and close several times, but this is a tough league to win.
“We’ve had some pretty good teams come through a few years in our conference but this is a really big win. To end 11-1 in the league is special. The guys who are currently seniors, when they were sophomores, we finished around .500 that season, so I’m happy for the seniors to be a part of a championship caliber team.”
The Lions are closing the regular season on a hot streak, peaking at the right time with 10 wins in a row heading into Friday’s regular season finale against Downers Grove South.
“We came into the season with an inexperienced group,” Sloan said. “Overall, we have some young kids who have ability, but it takes time to put it all together on the varsity level. We had some early success, but then some ups and downs in the middle of the season, especially playing against some schools that were senior-heavy and physical and tough.
“The kids learned how to play in those kind of games. Since the middle of January, we’ve been playing pretty well and we had a nice second half against Hinsdale Central on Tuesday. It’s been fun to see it all come together.”
After finishing with back-to-back losing seasons, Sloan said he was happy to see his players respond by topping the 20-plus win barrier. Despite their breakout season, the Lions have a tough road in the Class 4A playoffs. As the No. 9 seed, the Lions play No. 8-seed Oak Lawn in a Jones Regional semifinal on Feb. 25.
Sloan admitted he has learned to appreciate winning the conference – or big games – more in recent years. He said the Lions fought through some adversity before building chemistry over the last two months.
“I think we’ve received contributions from a lot of guys,” Sloan said. “Grant Smith and Nate Woods do a lot of the scoring and get the headlines for scoring and rightfully so, but Owen Carroll, Timmy Sloan, Tommy Blyth, Tommy Sloan and Dylan Holcer are the top seven guys. Grayson Lee has come on of late. Those guys do all the dirty work, share the ball and find the open guy.”
Riverside-Brookfield update
Riverside-Brookfield coach Mike Reingruber pointed toward last season’s Class 4A regional semifinal defeat to Oak Lawn. The Bulldogs entered the playoffs with five consecutive wins only to suffer an eight-point defeat to spoil a 20-win season.
Reingruber said the Bulldogs have been motivated to avoid a similar fate this season. The No. 6-seed Bulldogs (23-7, 11-1 Upstate Eight East) open the 4A playoffs against No. 11 Simeon in a Morton Regional semifinal on Feb. 25.
“In my eight years that point last year, it was the first time we lost in first round,” Reingruber said. “It was a new experience. We had been playing for at least a regional championship every year. We were determined to come back and hopefully that (first-round) loss won’t happen again.
“We’re playing our best basketball of the season and have gotten better as the year has gone on. Our team tends to be playing our best basketball in the second half of the year. I feel good where we are at. We are a little better record-wise and seed-wise than last year. We are in a good spot.
The Bulldogs notched their seventh 20-win season in the last eight full seasons. Senior guard Cameron Mercer poured in 33 points and added five boards in Tuesday’s win over South Elgin to help the Bulldogs improve to 15-2 since Christmas. Mercer broke the school record for most 3-pointers in a season with 209, topping the previous mark set by Randy Ramsey in 1999.
“Winning in the state tournament comes down to execution for us,” Reingruber said. “We have to rebound and making finishing plays on the defensive end and also shoot the ball well. We’re a good shooting team. We have shoot it with confidence and stay out of foul trouble. We haven’t played a lot of guys this year in crucial situations. Our starts and top six have logged a lot of minutes.”
Benet clinches ESCC
Benet defeated Marist to win the East Suburban Catholic Conference on Tuesday. The Redwings (29-1, 8-0), the defending 4A state champions, is the top seed in the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional…Glenbard South won its 20th game of the season by knocking off East Aurora on Tuesday.