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Boys Basketball: Oak Forest finds a way vs TF South
Updated: December 28, 2011 9:46PM
With leading scorer Tim Loeding out with a stomach flu Wednesday night, Oak Forest needed — and got — others to step up big.
Early, it was Tom Zale (eight rebounds), who averages just 4.3 points per game, scoring all 12 of his points in the first half.
Late, it was Kyle Funkhouser, who scored the Bengals’ final five points and came up with a key steal in a 45-44 win over T.F. South in pool play of the Medieval Classic at Lincoln-Way North.
The win sends Oak Forest (7-4, 2-1 in pool play) to Thursday’s third-place game against Oak Lawn.
“We knew that even with (Loeding), we’d have to play great to beat T.F. South,” Oak Forest coach Matt Manzke said. “Without him, we had a bunch of guys doing what they don’t usually do. Zale was outstanding and Kyle does everything for us, too.”
Funkhouser’s three-pointer gave the Bengals a 43-40 lead with 2:50 to go. After the Rebels (7-5, 1-2 in pool play) fought back to go up 44-43, Funkhouser (11 points) scored inside with 1:20 left.
After the teams exchanged turnovers, Funkhouser came up with a huge steal with 17 seconds left. T.F. South still had one more chance, but could only get off a desperation heave from Carsie Barnes that missed.
“On the steal, I rotated up to help and I came over on top,” Funkhouser said. “That’s a steal I’ve been making for years. It was great to win today without Loeding.”
It was a close affair throughout, with T.F. South leading 26-25 at the half and 35-32 after three.
T.J. Mayer added 10 points for the Bengals.
Robert Ryan (nine points), David Stinson (nine points), Paul Pierce (seven points) and Ira Crawford (six points, six rebounds) led T.F. South.
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