Houlihan and the Trevians find rhythm to erase deficit, claim regional

A revved-up St. Patrick, backed by its patented raucous student section, had it working much of the first half of an IHSA Class 4A Regional championship Friday in Winnetka.

The Shamrocks jumped out to a 16-5 lead in the first five minutes, absorbed a New Trier run, and had a 12-point advantage, 27-15, as the game approached halftime.

Then, the hosts woke up.

From that point, the Trevians (24-7; No. 5 in the sectional) outscored St. Patrick (26-5; No. 4) by 25 points (39-14), electrifying a jam-packed Winnetka arena in their 54-41 regional-championship win.

Senior Danny Houlihan was the steadiest hand for New Trier all night on Friday, finishing with a game-high 25 points that included multiple clutch three-pointers.

New Trier advances to the sectional round and will play DePaul Prep, the sectional’s top seed, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, at Loyola in Wilmette. The Rams have won three consecutive IHSA championships — two in Class 3A and the other in 2A.

New Trier entered the third quarter down 29-20 but scored the first 10 points of the first half, a burst finished off with a corner three from Elton Jaegerskog that gave the Trevians their first lead of the night.

The Trevians allowed just three Shamrocks points in the third, taking a 37-32 advantage to the final quarter.

Back-to-back threes from Houlihan and Christopher Kirkpatrick (6 points), respectively, extended the Trevians’ lead to double-digits, 43-32.

Houlihan made two more threes in the quarter, both staving off St. Patrick comeback attempts. His next one made it 46-36 with five minutes to play, and his final trey was his biggest, giving his team a 49-41 lead with just over two minutes left.

Trevians freshman Denym Wallace added 11 points and Jaegerskog finished with 10.

The victory marked New Trier’s fourth regional championship in five seasons as it improved to 25-7 — the program’s fifth consecutive 20-win campaign.

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