Boys Basketball: Duante Stephens beats buzzer, lifts Notre Dame past Lake Park

Updated: December 29, 2011 12:24AM

Actually there were two buzzer-beating shots in this thriller at the 34th annual Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic on Wednesday.

Lake Park guard Dave Prentis hit an off-balance three-pointer to close out the third quarter with his Lancers up 44-35. Notre Dame sophomore Duante Stephens did the exact same thing to end the fourth quarter. He had a better look at the basket and his three-pointer won the game at the buzzer. Notre Dame (11-2) erased a 16-point halftime deficit to stun Lake Park 53-50.

Of course Stephens wouldn’t have his moment in the spotlight if it wasn’t for the second half stardom of 5-foot-8 junior guard Donte Stephenson. Held scoreless at halftime, Stephenson scored nine points in a row in the frantic fourth quarter.

“In the locker room, my coach was telling us to get back to playing defense,’’ Stephenson said. “And that I had to go to the basket.”

Notre Dame looked in control of this game at the start. On a steal and bucket from Eddie Serrano (eight points), the Dons lead grew quickly up to 9-3.

And then a Lake Park timeout slowed the Notre Dame run. It was an official 28-7 run that gave Lake Park an improbable 32-16 halftime lead.

“These are two very deep teams,’’ said Notre Dame coach Tom Les. “Normally we wear teams out. We were fortunate to come out on top.”

Les was glad to see Stephenson step up in the fourth quarter.

“When he goes to the basket, he’s pretty tough to stop,’’ he said.

For a five-minute spurt of the second quarter, Lake Park couldn’t miss a shot. Dom Spencer (14 points) led the way with 10 points in the second quarter. The Lancers hit 6 of 7 shots during a run in which they outscored the Dons 15-0 leading into the halftime break.

Before Stephenson’s fourth-quarter heroics, the Dons chipped away at the double digit Lake Park lead. That advantage was still 11 points following a Scott Karlis’ put back to open the fourth quarter scoring. It was still a comfortable 50-42 with less than four minutes to play following two free throws by Zach Wagner (nine points).

And the Lancers never scored again.

“Give our defense credit,’’ Les said. “And I think they got a little tentative.”

Two free throws by Stephenson (13 points) knotted this game up at 50-50 with a minute to play. Lake Park had a shot at the lead with 10 seconds but Joe Ferrici collared the rebound for the Dons. And 5.7 seconds later, the sophomore Stephens knocked down the winning shot.

Prentis helped the Lancers offense with 10 points. Stephens’ game-winning three-pointer gave him seven points for the night. Greg Leifel added five points for the winners.

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