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glenviewlantern.com Sports
the glenview lantern | December 29, 2016 | 29
Boys Basketball
Ramblers fall in back-and-forth, overtime tilt
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
When the game was on
the line, the player of the
game—Loyola Academy’s
Ramar Evans—was on the
bench.
Evans scored 8 of his
game-high 26 points in
the final 91 seconds of
regulation when the Ramblers
overcame an 8-point
deficit to send their Friday,
Dec. 23 game at Taft into
overtime, but he fouled out
with 1:47 left in OT.
Exploiting the 6-foot-2
senior’s absence, Taft won
69-67 on Abdullah Ahmad’s
backdoor basket at
the buzzer.
“On the bench you see
everything,” Evans said.
“I saw that backdoor lob
coming the whole way. I’d
rather have been part of
the loss (on the court) than
being on the bench for it.”
As for his scoring spree
in the last 91 seconds of
the fourth quarter that put
Loyola in a position to
win, according to Evans
“it was mostly coach (Tom
Livatino) who set the offense
and spread the floor
so I could go to work.”
Ahmad said this was the
first time in his basketball
career that he made the
game-winning shot.
“Stefan Domic isn’t
known for his passing but
he threw a beautiful pass,”
the 6-foot senior said. “As
soon as I turned my head
the ball was right there and
I put it in.”
Ahmad also was responsible
for sending the game
into overtime with the
score tied at 61 when he
made the first of two free
throws with 12 seconds to
play in regulation.
Loyola had taken a 61-
60 lead seconds earlier
Loyola Academy’s Julian DeGuzman takes a shot during the Ramblers’ loss to Taft
on Friday, Dec. 23, in Chicago. Photo by Carlos Alvarez/22nd Century Media
when 5-foot-9 Kevin Cunningham
slipped beneath
the basket to put back a
missed shot by Evans, who
had attacked from the opposite
side.
Evans began the overtime
by sinking a pull-up
jump shot and fellow senior
Matt Sechman then
sank two free throws to
put the Ramblers on top
65-61.
Responding to the exhortations
of the partisan
crowd in the Eagles Nest,
Taft came back to tie the
score when Ahmad scored
on a cut to the hoop and
Domic made both free
throws after Evans was
whistled for his fifth foul.
A drive-in shot by substitute
Chris Tan finished
the 6-point surge, giving
the home team a 67-65
lead.
With 57 seconds to play,
Matt Lynch missed the
first of two free throws but
made the second to cut the
lead to a single point. The
Ramblers forced a turnover
and senior Julian DeGuzman
was fouled with 12.3
on the clock. Like Lynch,
DeGuzman missed his first
free throw and made the
second, producing the 67-
67 deadlock and setting the
stage for Ahmad’s backdoor
cut and game-winning
last second shot.
“It was lack of communication
on a back screen,”
Livatino said. “Ramar was
the one guy on our team
who was locked in all
game but then he didn’t
play (because he fouled
out). That hurt us for sure
but it was a foul.”
The floor was ultra-slippery
and several times the
officials instantly stopped
play to wipe the floor after
a player slid and either lost
possession of the ball or
hit the deck.
Livatino dismissed the
condition of the floor and
the instantaneous reaction
of the officials as being a
factor.
“It was the same for
both teams,” he said. “The
officials did a great job.
We didn’t learn our lessons.
There are a few prerequisites
for Loyola basketball
to be really, really
good. We have to practice
really, really hard; we have
to play really, really hard
all the time; and we have
to do the intangibles all the
time. Free throws are one
of the intangibles.”
The bottom line for the
Ramblers was 13 misses
on 33 free-throw attempts.
“We deserve to lose and
Taft (which converted 16
of 33 chances from the foul
line) 100 percent deserved
to win the ballgame,” Livatino
said.
Kris Lampley turns toward the basket.
Matt Sechman attacks the basket.