Triple-overtime thriller does not go Loyola’s way

Loyola Academy seniors Trey Williams, Daniel Lee, Sam Golden and Broderick Munsey-Johnson played on teams that won a school record 77 games during their three seasons on the varsity.

Battling before a jam-packed, standing-room-only home crowd, the careers of the fabulous foursome came to an end on Wednesday night, March 4, in an IHSA Class 4A Sectional semifinal in Wilmette, where the Ramblers fell to Evanston 77-70 in triple overtime.

“I’m tremendously proud of our whole team and especially our seniors,” an emotionally drained coach Tom Livatino said after his team went down fighting. “I love our seniors. They put everything they had into our team and our program — four guys who had the most wins in school history.

“Before the game we talked about our love for each other. We’ll be connected for the rest of our lives.

“The atmosphere in our gym was electric. This is the way high school basketball should be. We fought through adversity. Tonight, it was just the bounce of the ball.”

The Wildkits scored the first seven points before the Ramblers counterattacked and cut their first quarter deficit to 16-13 on Williams’ basket from halfcourt at the buzzer.

They began the second quarter with Munsey-Johnson’s slam dunk, and at halftime they led 24-23.

Early in the third quarter the Wildkits went on a 10-1 run and went into the fourth quarter holding a 44-38 lead.

Again the Ramblers rallied, scoring the last six points in regulation — on a basket and free throw by Williams, Lee’s basket off a steal, and the second of two free throws by Williams — to send the game into overtime with the score tied at 53.

The first overtime ended with the score 58-58. Williams accounted for three of the Loyola points, and Munsey-Johnson had the other two.

At the end of the second overtime, it was 65-65. After Evanston scored the first four points, Williams instigated the Ramblers’ rally with a basket. But then he fouled out with 2 minutes 38 seconds remaining, and the Wildkits subsequently went back up by four.

The resilient Ramblers refused to surrender. A three-point basket by senior substitute Charles Ellis and Golden’s basket on a drive to the hoop enabled them to send the grueling game into the third overtime.

In the final overtime, Evanston senior guard Timi Ogunsanya asserted himself by making six free throws and scoring on a drive-in shot. This time the Ramblers couldn’t cope.

Ogunsanya was the dominant player in the game and finished with 35 points. Williams led Loyola with 24. Luke Alvarez, the Ramblers lone junior in the starting lineup, had 13, Golden and Munsey-Johnson each had 11, and Lee had four.

“We kept coming back but give credit to Evanston — those guys played their rear ends off,” said Williams, who will continue his basketball career at Cornell next season.

“I don’t think there was a single high point in my Loyola career,” he added. “It was just being with these guys day in and day out. I feel very privileged and very grateful to have spent my career playing with them.”

Munsey-Johnson will play on the Ramblers baseball team this spring before going to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and playing on the baseball team there.

“It has been a great three years playing on the varsity with the three other seniors,” he reminisced. “Double-rostering as a sophomore, playing together during the offseason every summer, every day in practice and in all those games.”

Loyola finished the season with a 27-7 record after having a 24-8 record last year and a 26-6 record in the fabulous foursome’s sophomore season.

Evanston will take a 27-6 record into its sectional championship game with DePaul Prep on Friday night, March 6, at Loyola.

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