Boys Basketball: Luther North rallies to defeat Guerin

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Updated: February 22, 2012 12:14PM

Luther North came into River Grove and pulled out a late comeback win over host Guerin 50-46 on Tuesday night in a nonconference tilt.

Freshman Christopher Jenkins hit the game-winning three with 1:37 to go in the game and hit a pair of clinching free throws with 1.6 seconds remaining while leading all scorers with 21.

“I was just playing my game,” said Jenkins. “I just wanted to play hard and get another ‘W.’ We were down by 10 with seven minutes left. We played horribly, but we wanted to end on a good note.”

Luther North (7-14) scored the first five points of the game, but Guerin came back to take the lead at 10-7 when sophomore Anthony Marra hit a putback with 2:25 to go in the first half. They kept going back-and-forth and were tied at 22 at the half.

“This freshman is carrying us right now,” said Luther North head coach Jason Tucker about Jenkins. “He’s going to be something special. I tell you what, Guerin has improved beyond anything since we played them the first time.”

Guerin (3-13) came up big to take a 10-point lead midway through the third and were up 37-28 at the end of the stanza. Tucker got a technical foul at the end of the third quarter, but Guerin couldn’t convert the ensuing free throws, giving the Wildcats a bit of a reprieve. Free throws were tough for both teams as Luther North hit 14-of-26 with Guerin converting 11-of-24. The Gators re-established a 10-point lead with 5:37 when Guerin leading scorer Anthony Marra (19 points) took a feed from senior Terrell Gage (10 points) after some nice ball movement.

Former Gator Jimmy Cunningham scored seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter. Marra hit a pair of free throws with 3:54 remaining in the game to give the Gators a seven-point lead, but they wouldn’t score the rest of the night as the Wildcats put in the final 11 points of the contest.

“When we played them the first time, we beat them pretty good, but they came with intensity tonight,” said Cunningham. “They killed us on the boards and controlled things until the fourth quarter. This was the game I circled on the schedule as soon as I got it, and I wanted this one bad.”