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By Dan McGrath
Leo broke loose for 26 points in the first quarter of its previous game, a 62-50 nonconference dusting of Christ the King at Leo on Saturday, December 15.
The Lions needed three quarters to reach that total against Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights three nights later. That can happen when a team manages just one bucket in the second period and shoots 8-for-36 through three quarters.
That’s 22 percent if you’re keeping track, and it’s how a team finds itself facing a 48-26 deficit through three.
The fourth quarter was like a different game. Karon Shavers nailed two three-pointers and another bucket for eight straight points. Dontae Bell made four free throws. Jamarion Upshaw scored on a putback. All of a sudden it was a 10-point game with just over two minutes remaining and the Spartans were holding on, going to a delay game.
But hold on they did, improving to 8-2 with a 52-42 victory.
“We waited too long to get started,” Coach Jimalle Ridley said after the Lions fell to 3-5. “If we’d played the first three quarters the way we played the fourth, we”d have given ourselves a shot.”
Speaking of shots, the Lions were without their best outside shooter, junior Ethan Jackson, who missed the game with strep throat. Leo actually led 12-9 after one, but Marian opened the second quarter with a 14-2 run and gradually built its lead to 22 points before the Lions came to life in the final period.
Shavers scored eight of his team-high 13 points in the fourth and Bell, despite foul trouble, had nine of his 11 in the second half. Asa Harris gave Leo three double-figures scorers with 10 points.
The Leo student section had some fun with Zack Sharkey, a pale-faced gym rat, but Marian’s senior guard had the last laugh with 21 points, three steals, a block and a solid floor game. Delan Davis scored 11 for the Spartans.
Leo’s frosh-soph let a 12-point second-half lead slip away and dropped a 64-56 decision to Marian in the preliminary game.
Leo will open play in the IC Catholic/Westmont Holiday Tournament against Westmont (3-4) at Westmont at 6 p.m. on Monday, December 23.