One to remember
Cleveland scores 20, but Leo loses in OT to DePaul Prep
Fred Cleveland and Leo will use this as a teachable moment.
The senior guard helped the Lions fight back after being down 11 points inthefirstquarterandhit what looked to be the gamewinning shot at the fourth-quarter buzzer Friday night at DePaul Prep.
But Cleveland’s running 3pointer from near half-court was waved off for traveling, sending the Catholic League crossover to overtime.
Leo led twice in overtime, but Tyler Johnson’s 3-pointer with 2:12 left put DePaul Prep ahead to stay and the Ramswon 61-58.
Cleveland scored 20 points for the Lions (9-2, 4-1 Catholic White), while 6-foot-7 senior forward DaChaun Anderson added 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Raheem Anthony and Brown recruit Perry Cowan each scored 19 for DePaul Prep (9-1, 5-0 Catholic Blue).
Cleveland and Leo coach Jamal Thompson sawthe shot at the end of regulation as a good one.
“I sure didn’t see a travel,” Thompson said. “But that’s howit is sometimes. The thing is, how are we going to bounce back after this? This is a perfect test for us right now.”
Cleveland was emphatic: “I didn’t travel at all. … We just have to go to practice and work harder. We have to come together as a team and learn fromthis loss.”
One thing the Lions learned was they can survive an opponent shutting down the speedy Cleveland. He didn’t score till 5:03 remained in the second quarter, but Anderson kept Leo close with a variety of power moves and putbacks.
“That was our plan,” Thompson said. “We knew they had nobody to handle DaChaun down there.”
DePaul Prep coach Tom Klein-
schmidt was willing to concede Anderson’s points as long as the Rams could keep Cleveland from getting hot on the perimeter.
“He’s a beast,” Kleinschmidt said of Anderson. “We wanted to give up contested twos instead of threes, and I think we did a good job on the 3-point line. … If we’re trading twos, we’re all right.”
Leo trailed 16-5 late in the first quarter and spent most of the night playing catch-up. Cleveland’s drive gave the Lions their first lead at 42-41 with 6:03 left in the fourth quarter. He followed with a steal and layup to cap a 7-0 run that made it 44-41 with 5:49 remaining.
It was back-and-forth the rest of the way. Leo’s Kevin Drumgoole hit two free throws with 19.1 seconds left for a 52-51 lead.
Anthony made 1 of 2 free throws with 4.8seconds remaining to tie the score at 52 and set up Cleveland’s last shot.
Leo led 54-52 and 56-54 in OT before Johnson gave DePaul the lead for good.
Cleveland figures this at least will be good experience for the playoffs.
“Games are going to be like this going downstate,” he said. “We’re a city team. We’re going up against other suburban teams, going againstdownstate teams, and the referees aren’t always going to be on our side.”