Hall overcomes fourth quarter deficit to edge La Salle-Peru by one

SPRING VALLEY - Hall junior Braden Curran launched a shot from beyond the 3-point line.

When it swished through the net with 57 seconds left, he let out a celebratory yell and pumped his arms as he headed back down the court.

Curran’s first made 3-pointer of the season gave the Red Devils a a two-point lead, Greyson Bickett knocked down two free throws with 5.9 seconds left and Hall held off La Salle-Peru in a wild final minute to win 55-54 in a nonconference game Tuesday.

“We’re just super proud of our effort and our grit just to stay in it,” Hall coach Mike Filippini said. “L-P had us on the ropes a couple times.

“L-P has three really good shooters and they’re athletic. We found a way to win together. We were the team that made the two or three plays to win the game.”

Hall senior Jack Jablonski scored on a backdoor cut on a pass from Wyatt West to kick start a 7-0 run by the Red Devils that tied the game at 46 and West drained a 3 off an inbounds play with 3:02 left to give Hall a 50-49 lead, which was the Red Devils’ first advantage since midway through the first quarter.

Hall trailed by as many as 11 points in the third quarter and trailed 46-39 with 6:17 left in the game.

“We played amazing,” West said. “We chased rebounds. We shot well.

“We never gave up. Our coaches always tell us to never give up.”

After Curran’s go-ahead 3, the Cavaliers called timeout with 29.1 seconds left. Out of the timeout, Ertck Sotelo was fouled and made 1 of 2 to pull L-P within 53-52 with 9 seconds left.

The Cavs fouled Hall three times on the ensuing inbounds, leading to Bickett’s pair of free throws with 5.9 seconds left to extend the lead to 55-52.

The Red Devils fouled L-P after the inbounds and Nick Olivero missed the first free throw. He intentionally missed the second and Marion Persich grabbed the rebound and put it back in.

The clock ran out before the Red Devils inbounded the ball.

“We let them do what they wanted to do on offense,” L-P coach John Senica said about how the Red Devils came back. “We just went through the motions (on defense). Kudos to them. They made some big shots.”

Both teams started the game slow offensively.

Hall’s Luke Bryant hit a 3 with 5:20 left in the first quarter for the game’s first field goal. West sank another on the next possession to give the Red Devils a 6-1 lead.

The Cavs scored their first field goal when they pushed a rebound up court and Cordell Wheatley laid it in.

L-P scored on its final six possessions of the first quarter to take a 16-10 lead. The Cavs maintained a lead of at least three points and mostly in the 6-8 range until Hall’s 7-0 run midway through the fourth.

“Our kids weren’t focused tonight,” Senica said. “We didn’t run our offense. We were stagnant. We fired up way too many 3s.

“These kids need to come to the games prepared. We need to focus in practice. We just need to focus on being a team. That’s it, it’s all about focus.”

West sank five 3s and finished with a game-high 18 points for Hall (3-2), while Braden Curran had nine points and Jablonski added eight.

The Red Devils open their Colmone Classic on Saturday against rival St. Bede.

For L-P (2-3), Persich matched West with 18 points, while Olivero scored 11 and Hartman added 10.

The Cavs open Interstate 8 Conference play Friday at home against Morris before playing in the Colmone Classic on Saturday against IVC.