Sycamore responds in second half to beat L-P

With a veteran lineup, the Sycamore boys basketball team was able to handle whatever was thrown its way Saturday in an Interstate 8 Conference game at La Salle-Peru.

The Spartans fell behind by double digits in the first half, made a run to take the lead early in the third, responded to a Cavalier momentum swing in the fourth and navigated a wild final two minutes to win 65-58.

“We just show resiliency,” Sycamore senior Carter York said. “We’re battle tested. It really showed with this group how our game experience contributes to finishing out games like that.”

Sycamore trailed 22-12 early in the second quarter and faced a 34-28 halftime deficit.

After L-P freshman Marion Persich drove to the basket to make it 36-28 to start the third quarter, the Spartans put together a game-changing 11-2 run.

York scored on three straight possessions, hitting a runner, knocking down a 3-pointer and driving for a bucket before Unique Shaw capped the run with a 3 for a 39-38 lead with 4:50 left in the third.

L-P briefly retook the lead on a fastbreak basket by Persich, but York put the Spartans ahead for good with a 3 with 4:10 left in the third.

“We started to find good shots,” York said about the run. “We were just getting to the rim and kicking out for 3s as well. That’s what really separated us in the third quarter.”

Sycamore coach Ethan Franklin said he felt the Spartans’ defense sparked the run.

“I think it was really that we were getting stops,” Franklin said. “We hadn’t gotten any stops in the first half, so the fact that we were able to get stops and make stuff happen was good. It changed the momentum of the game for us.”

The Spartans led 53-47 early in the fourth when Mikey Hartman had a big possession for the Cavs.

After Sycamore was called for a technical foul, Hartman split the free throws then drained a 3 on the ensuing possession to pull L-P within 53-51 with 5:14 left.

However, the Cavs couldn’t get any closer.

After the teams traded scoreless possessions, Sycamore scored on four straight trips down the floor to extend its lead to 60-51.

“This is a very senior-heavy team,” Franklin said. “This is a very experienced team. They have been in situations like this before, so they were able to take that punch. They’ve been there before. They’ve had those situations where it didn’t go our way. We were able to get up on the other side of it this time.”

With 1:24 left, the Cavs and Spartans were whistled for offsetting technical fouls, which led to an extended break as the officials discussed the play and Sycamore called a timeout.

L-P pulled as close as four points in the final minute, but Sycamore hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 44.1 seconds to seal the win.

“I think (the technicals) kind of killed any momentum we had going at that point,” L-P coach John Senica said. “We couldn’t get the momentum to swing back in our favor.”

York scored 18 points to lead Sycamore (11-4, 2-1 I8), while Isaiah Feuerbach and Jake Shipley each added 12 points.

Persich scored a game-high 19 points for the Cavs (8-8, 1-1), while Hartman finished with 17.

“I thought we came out really well in the first half,” Senica said. “The second half I thought we played pretty good defense except we over helped a little too much on certain guys that we weren’t supposed to. Our problem tonight was rebounding, which is not usually a problem for us. We gave up way too many second and third shots.”