Montini notches rare sectional win to reach championship game

CHICAGO – In its three previous runs to the sectional round of the Class 2A bracket, Montini has been sent to the far northwest as well as having played close to their Lombard campus last year at Timothy Christian.

On Wednesday, coach Adam DeMong took his top-seeded Broncos to Christ The King on Chicago’s West Side to face a Chicago Clark team that returned to the round of 32 after a one year-absence.

Christ the King finished tied for seventh in the ultra-competitive Chicago Public Schools Red Shield Conference against the likes of Simeon, Whitney Young, Lane Tech, Curie, Hyde Park, Lincoln Park, last year’s 2A state champion Phillips and conference winner Kenwood.

Thanks to its ability to set a good early pace that allowed Montini to hold off a late Eagles charge, the Broncos earned themselves a return ticket back to the West Side Friday night with a 52-46 win that marks only the second ever sectional victory in program history, joining Tim Lofgren’s 1983 squad.

Montini (21-11) will face the No. 2 seeded sectional host Gladiators (24-9), who beat Chicago Crane (21-9) 64-38, in Tuesday’s semifinal.

It also guarantees that Friday’s winner will earn a rectangular-sized sectional championship plaque for the first time in either program’s respected history.

“With (Clark coach) Terry Head it’s about style of play. They’re going to come at you for 32 minutes. That’s how Clark plays,” DeMong said.

“They want to mess you up and turn you upside down and we gave at times, but we had enough to do it.”

After an opening hoop by Clark’s Jeremiee George, the Broncos went on a 9-0 tear that featured five straight points from junior guard Robert Sansone that put them ahead 13-8 after one.

In the second quarter, it was a 12-5 run that featured a pair of Max Bell 3-pointers that allowed Montini to take a 29-21 lead at the break.

That lead would grow to as many as 13 when a pair of Jack Barrett free throws made it 36-23 with 6:03 left in the third and 41-30 after a pair of free throws by senior guard Drew Bagley just 41 seconds into the fourth.

The Eagles (16-13) then went on an 8-0 run that pulled them within 41-38 on two of George’s team-high 10 points with 5:44 left. That was when Bagley took over for Montini.

He keyed an 8-4 run that featured a hoop down the lane followed by a pair of crucial feeds to Barrett and Angelo DeSensi, before fellow senior Drew Church scored in the paint that kept the Broncos ahead 49-42 with 2:31 to play.

Clark would get no closer than 49-46 on two George free throws with 28 seconds left before a pair of free throws by Bell (game-high 14 points) and another from Barrett (seven points) ended the scoring.

Bagley (12 points, 11 rebounds) credited a solid week of practice for getting ready for the Eagles’ press.

“Coming into this environment we knew they were going to quick, they were going to be fast,” Bagley said.

“They had good guards so we had to handle (their) pressure. Coach DeMong helped us figure out different ways to attack their press and we went from there.”