McNamara finishes on wrong side of back-and-forth battle with Hope

KANKAKEE – As quickly as they appeared out of it, falling behind 9-0 in the first three minutes, the Bishop McNamara boys basketball team appeared on its way to running away with an impressive home win against Hope Academy Tuesday night.

The Fightin' Irish eventually claimed their own nine-point lead at 24-15 after quickly rallying back, setting the stage for a back-and-forth Chicagoland Christian Conference thriller.

But in the end, the Eagles, the No. 7 team in the IHSA Class 1A Poll, rode the hot hand of Tyjuan Hunter and his 36 points to leave McNamara with a 79-75 victory.

Hope Academy improved to 19-6 and 6-1 in the CCC, securing a third-place regular season finish in the conference. McNamara fell to 22-6 and 5-3 in conference, taking fourth in the regular season.

“We’re right there,” McNamara head coach Adrian Provost said. “We’ve just gotta take that next step.”

Following an early 9-0 hole and a timeout, the Irish quickly made it a game again, finishing the quarter on an 18-3 run that was highlighted by Cole Czako’s 3-pointer at the buzzer.

After adjusting to the Eagles' zone defense and calming down with their own up-and-down pace they tried to play with to counter it, the Irish eventually went up double digits at 22-12 on a pair of Karter Krutsinger free throws seconds into the second.

But the Eagles countered, storming back to tie it at 27 on a Hunter 3-pointer midway through the frame, the first of five ties in the last half of the quarter, one the Eagles ended with a 38-36 lead.

The first McNamara lead of the third came on a Czako triple that made it 41-40 two minutes in. Their lead grew to as large as 48-42 in the quarter, but the Eagles kept pushing, tying it at 52 by the end of the third.

Tyrone Hueston splashed a corner 3 to open the fourth, giving the Eagles a 55-52 lead that they never relinquished through a neck-and-neck fourth.

Although they come up short and had “too many empty possessions” on both ends of the floor, Provost also saw a team that can make some noise in the IHSA Class 2A postseason, especially with the balanced scoring they had Tuesday.

Czako led the way with 17 points, followed closely by 14 from Callaghan O’Connor and 13 apiece from Krutsinger and Trey Provost. Willie Felton also just missed out on a double-digit night with nine points.

“We were balanced because of the defense they played,” coach Provost said. “We shared the ball against their zone, had nice spacing and did a good job of finding the open man. After the first few minutes, we did a much better job of finishing at the rim.”

The two teams will meet again in the conference third-place game at Timothy Christian on Feb. 15. The Irish also host Epic Academy Feb. 21 before beginning regional play.