HINSDALE CENTRAL HOLIDAY CLASSIC

HC SQUARED:  Building a New Tradition of Basketball at Its Best
 

2019 GAME 24: DEPAUL PREP 39, MARIAN CATHOLIC 35 (Semi #2)

Box Score

HINSDALE, Ill. – DePaul Prep secured its first-ever trip to the championship game of the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic by toppling Marian Catholic 39-35.

The opening quarter was a back-and-forth affair as the lead changed hands four times with Marian Catholic (10-3) building a 10-8 lead after the first eight minutes of action. The Spartans extended their lead to five points early in the second following an Ahron Ulis three-pointer, but DePaul (12-1) countered with a 14-2 run over the next five minutes to move in front 22-15. Lance Mosley and DJ Shower fueled the run for the Rams as Mosley knocked down three three-pointers, and Shower scored five points in the Rams’ run. DePaul Prep carried a 22-17 lead into the locker room at the half.

Leading by three in the third quarter, DePaul Prep ripped off an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 11 points (30-19). The Rams led by eight (31-23) after three quarters. Trailing by seven with 3:43 left in the contest, Marian Catholic mounted a rally, the Spartans rattled off eight straight points to take a 35-34 lead following a Joe Green layup.  A pair of free throws from Tyler Johnson put the Rams back up by a point (36-35) with just over a minute remaining. A jump ball with 7.2 seconds left on the clock gave the ball back to DePaul Prep. The Rams’ Brian Matthews hit the front end of a one-and-one to extend DePaul’s lead to two at 38-35. Matthews missed the second, but Rasheed Bello collected the offensive rebound and was fouled. Bello hit two free throws in the final seconds to secure the 39-35 win for the Rams.

DePaul shot 31.7 percent from the floor (13-of-41) but the Rams hit 6-of-15 attempts (40 percent) from beyond the arc. Tyler Johnson led the way for DePaul with 11 points and seven rebounds. Moseley and Matthews totaled nine points apiece. Matthews narrowly missed a double-double, collecting 10 rebounds in the win.

Marian Catholic hit 28.6 percent (12-of-42) of its shots and knocked down just 4-of-19 attempts (21.1 percent) from downtown. Joe Green and Elijah Jones paced the Spartans in the loss with 12 points apiece. Jones and Ahron Ulis secured seven rebounds apiece.

DePaul Prep will take on Homewood-Flossmoor in tomorrow’s championship contest at 8:30 p.m. Marian Catholic will face Stevenson in the third-place game at 7:00 p.m.