Boys Basketball: Tinley Park clips Eisenhower
By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media December 9, 2011 11:46PM
Updated: January 12, 2012 8:18AM
Tinley Park basketball player Jon Calhoun has a flair for the dramatic.
For the second time this season, Calhoun had a game-winning putback in the final seconds. His basket with four seconds left Friday night lifted the Titans to a 93-92 win over Eisenhower in a South Suburban crossover.
“We always say that if it comes down to the last seconds, we want the ball,” Calhoun said. “Luckily, it fell into my hands. The whole team won this. Our bench gave us a lot of momentum.”
Eisenhower (1-6, 0-3) was furious after Tyrone Terrell (22 points) missed a three-pointer at the buzzer, feeling he was fouled.
Vince Gooden scored 23 points off the bench to lead Tinley Park (5-3, 3-0). Calhoun finished with 22 points and seven rebounds and Ryan Bunn had 15 points.
The Titans rallied after trailing 64-40 midway through the third quarter. They began to exploit Eisenhower’s run-and-gun system, scoring 30 points in a third quarter that resembled a layup drill at times to pull to within 71-64 after three.
Tinley Park used a 12-0 run to take the lead for the first time since it led 4-2, going ahead 82-80 with 3:40 to go. Calhoun and Bunn each had five points during the surge.
Eisenhower fought back and took a 90-89 lead on a trey from Cortez Gross (24 points) with 1:07 left, setting up Calhoun’s heroics.
Tinley Park won despite taking 29 fewer shots from the field. The Titans (37-of-56) shot at a 66 percent clip while Eisenhower (29-of-85) shot just 34 percent.
After going 6-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first quarter, the Cardinals finished 15-of-57.
Isaac Bronaugh had 17 points and Kenny Jackson (7 rebounds) 10 for Eisenhower.
William Marcano (10 points) and Eldridge Anderson (9) contributed for the Titans.
“Our kids fought tooth and nail and played lockdown ‘D’,” Tinley Park coach D.J. Brown said. “They’re starting to give me early-onset heart attacks.”
