Foster leads Shepard to victory

Updated: March 23, 2011 4:04PM

Jarrett Foster scored seven points of his team-high 13 points in the final two minutes as Shepard rallied for a 51-40 win over host Lincoln-Way North Monday evening in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A Lincoln-Way North Regional.

The Astros (13-14) will play Thornton, the top-seed in the Thornwood Sectional, at North on Tuesday at 7:30. The Phoenix finish the season at 10-18.

"I felt like I needed to be a bigger contributor and the team followed that lead," Foster said. "We only scored 11 points in the first half and coach (Tony Chiuccariello) told us we needed more offense. To get that we had to work on defense and push the ball up."

With Shepard leading 40-38, Foster scored on a driving layup with 1:57 remaining. That ignited an 11-0 burst during which he had an old-fashioned 3-point play and a rebound basket that capped off the run with 22 seconds left. Foster, a senior forward, led the team with 11 rebounds.

"Foster started to attack the glass and that's what we needed," Chiuccariello said. "We weren't shooting the ball well at all in the first half, but our defense kept us in and our offense picked up."

The Astros were 4-of-27 from the field and 1-of-8 from the line in the first half. North was nearly as bad, going 5-of-24 and 2-of-8 from the line, but the Phoenix led 16-11 at halftime.

Trailing 18-11, Shepard went on an 11-4 run to tie the game at 22-22. The Phoenix led 29-26 after three, but the Astros opened the fourth quarter with a 10-3 run and took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Martece Weatherspoon (eight points, seven rebounds) with 6:17 to play. Dontae McCoy came off the bench to add 10 points and 10 boards for Shepard.

North senior guard Jake Harper led all scorers with 18 points and 12 rebounds. He hit four 3-pointers in the game, including one that gave the Phoenix their final lead at 32-31 with 6:52 remaining. He ended his career with on a slam with four seconds to play.

"I just wanted to keep playing basketball," said Harper, a top baseball pitcher who will play at St. Joesph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana next year. "I've been playing since sixth grade and I'll miss it.

"(Shepard) just started crashing the boards in the second half (a 21-to-12 second half rebounding advantage) and they have bigger, stronger kids."

Senior guard Lance Payne and sophomore guard Trey Lewis (seven rebounds) each added six points for the Phoenix.

North finished with 20 turnovers, six in the fourth quarter.

"We've had a problem with turnovers all season," North coach John Terry said. "We averaged 16 or 17 a game, and you can't have that."

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