Boys Basketball: Crane battles back to top North Lawndale in OT

Updated: December 14, 2011 10:02PM

Even after an impressive victory over Homewood Flossmoor last Sunday, it is still a work in progress for No. 11 Crane as it had to rally to pull out a thrilling 65-64 overtime win over North Lawndale as both teams opened the Red-West Wednesday. 

Crane (3-2, 1-0) only had leads twice the entire game – early in the first quarter and with 42 seconds remaining on the winning basket by Markee Williams, who split two defenders and drove the lane. 

The Cougars trailed by eight points with 3:31 remaining in regulation but Williams tied the game on a free throw with 3.2 seconds remaining in overtime. The Phoenix led by 11 points in separate instances in each half.

Willie Conner led all scorers with 20 points, Williams had 12, and Timothy Triplett had 12 for the Cougars. 

Crane struggled at the free-throw line, making only 21 of 42 free throws. 

“This win was as important as the H-F win, because as bad as we played we never quit,” said coach Chris Head. “The best thing that happened for us is Willie came to life after playing a subpar game down the stretch.”

“I’m the leader and I wasn’t playing a very good game,” said Conner. “Down the stretch I got a couple of blocks, grabbed a couple of rebounds and just did anything to help us get the win.”

Kelvin Grayson led three Phoenix (4-1, 0-1) players in double figures with 16 points while Alonzo Singletary had 12 and Davonte Johnson had 11.

Lewis Thorpe said his team allowed itself to get caught up in a very physical game. 

“We should have done a better job of controlling our emotions in a very physically played game like this. They shot 42 free throws and we shot 24. That’s a lot of free throws,” said Thorpe. “I can’t ever remember being in one like this.” 

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.