Boys basketball: L-P comes up just short against Oak Forest in opener

OTTAWA – After a solid start for the La Salle-Peru boys basketball team, Oak Forest hugged a huge third quarter to take the lead.

The Cavaliers rallied in the fourth and had an opportunity to tie it in the final seconds, but lost their opener 48-46 in the Dean Riley Shootin’ the Rock Tournament.

With Oak Forest leading 32-30 to start the fourth quarter, Owen Ostott drained a 3-pointer to push the lead to 35-30, but a Brendan Boudreau putback for the Cavaliers made it 35-32.

The Bengals extended the lead to 42-36 with a Johnny Wiggins fastbreak layup before Deshawn Nolan got the layup and the foul.

But on the next Cavs’ possession, London Cabrera drained a much needed 3-pointer, and then moments later, Josh Senica drove the lane for a bucket and the foul to get L-P within 46-42.

The Cavs started to put some pressure on the Bengals and forced some turnovers, which led to a layup from Jack Jereb with 20.9 seconds left.

L-P got another steal and Cabrera to cut the deficit to 48-46 with 13.8 left.

Oak Forest’s Amari Brownlee was fouled, but the junior missed the front end of the one-and-one, allowing the Cavs to call a timeout with 9.9 seconds left.

The Cavs pushed the ball up the floor and eventually got the ball to Seth Adams, who appeared to have a couple steps on the Bengals defender.

However, Je’Sean Shannon recovered to make the block to seal the victory for Oak Forest. “Man, I thought Seth had three or four steps on the kid,” L-P coach Jim Cherveny said. “With nine second left we just wanted to push the ball and get the game into overtime, and it sure looked like we had it, but what a recovery and we just came up a little short.”

The start of the game though belonged to the Cavs, who came out sharp.

Cabrera’s stick back and 3-pointer along with an up-and-under from Senica capped off a 7-0 Cavs’ run and gave them a 9-2 edge.

A Deshawn Nolan floater in the lane ended the run and then Brownlee followed with a 3-pointer, but Jereb hit a 3-pointerfor the Cavs before his feed into the lane to Boudreau for a bucket made it 17-7 L-P after the first quarter.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy,” Cherveny said. “We handled their pressure and got some good looks.”

In the second quarter, Nolan Van Duzer set a screen that gave Adams a layup before another strong layup and drive from Senica pushed the lead to 21-11.

Je’Sean Shannon hit a shot from behind the arc for the Bengals, but Adams got a rebound off a missed 3-pointer and the stick back for a 25-16 halftime lead.

“Josh Senica is a big, physical kid who demands a lot of attention,” Cherveny said. “He got a lot of strong boards and was solid in the paint. He’s going to have a big year for us.”

The third quarter, however, belonged to the Bengals, particularly from behind the arc.

Ostott hit back-to-back 3-pointers and then Brownlee followed with a long shot of his own to cut the L-P lead to 28-25.

But a four-point play from Ostott, who was fouled as he hit a 3-pointer, gave the Bengals the lead 29-28.

Before the quarter was over though, Ostott drained yet another 3-point bucket as Oak Forest led 32-30 heading into the fourth quarter where the Bengals held on for the victory.

“I’m proud of the way the guys responded tonight,” Cherveny said. “They didn’t hang their heads. They got back in it and created some turnovers and we had a shot to send it into overtime, but came up a little short. I think they showed what they are capable of and I think the future is bright for this group.” For the game, Senica led with 18 points and 11 rebounds to go along with 10 points from Cabrera and eight from Jereb.

Ostott and Nolan led Oak Forest with 13 points each.