ELGIN — On a night when everything seemed to be going against the Wolfpack, they found a way to win. It took two overtimes Tuesday night as senior Jarek Erickson sank two free throws with one second left on the clock to send O’Neill home with a 48 to 46 loss.
“We wanted the basketball in his hands,” Wolfpack Coach Matt Euse said about Erickson’s late game heroics.
Coming into the game with a losing record, O’Neill seemed ready to escape with an improbable victory over the Wolfpack. That was until Erickson stepped to the forefront at crunch time.
Tied 38-all at the end of regulation, EPPJ quickly fell behind in the first overtime, twice trailing by two points. Down 42 to 40, the Wolfpack had the ball for one last shot and put it in the hands of Erickson. As he drove the lane he was fouled with 04.2 seconds left. He sank both free throws to tie the score, forcing a second overtime.
Erickson gave EPPJ the lead with a two-pointer, 44 to 42 with 2:38 left. O’Neill tied the score, then saw EPPJ twice make one of two free throw attempts to take a 46 to 44 lead with 1:24 left in the game.
Then, the Eagles tied the score with eight seconds left.That set the stage for Erickson to drive to the basket to take a jump shot when he was fouled with one tick left on the clock.
After the game, Coach Euse made sure the team knew what they had just experienced with the victory. “We’ve been battle-tested,” Euse said. “I didn’t think we played great tonight. They (O’Neill) made us uncomfortable. They put a lot of pressure on us and we didn’t handle that well right away. But I thought as the game went on, we just got a little more comfortable and then we made some big plays.”
…see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
