Boys Basketball medieval classic third-place game: Mikolajczak’s late show propels L-W Central past L-W East
By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media December 29, 2012 11:52PM
Updated: January 31, 2013 6:49AM
Before Saturday night, Matt Mikolajczak was a great shooter having a bad season. The Lincoln-Way Central senior’s shooting slump had caused Knights coach Bob Curran to play him only sparingly in Friday’s loss to Lincoln-Way North.
Mikolajczak responded in a big way with the game on the line Saturday, scoring 16 points in the final 3:44, including the go-ahead three-pointer, as the Knights rallied for a 49-44 win over host Lincoln-Way East in the Medieval Classic third-place game.
“I’ve been on and off all year,” Mikolajczak said. “It’s been a tough shooting year. Tonight, they just started falling.”
East (6-5) led 44-35 with 2:43 to go before Mikolajczak hit two free throws then buried his second and third treys of the quarter to cut the lead to 44-43.
With the Knights (7-7) struggling to find a shot in the final minute, Mikolajczak got the ball well beyond the arc on the top of the key and drilled another triple to give Central the lead for good.
“I was feeling it,” he said. “I didn’t even know it was so deep. It was just a natural reaction to let it go.”
Brad Bass (5 points, 8 rebounds) had a blocked shot, Joe Newtoff (6 points, 6 rebounds) a steal, and Newtoff and Mikolajczak combined for three free throws to seal the win.
Kevin Mampe added eight points and eight rebounds for Central.
Mike Moss (10 points, 6 rebounds) and Eric Spudic (6 points, 6 rebounds) paced East.
The Griffins scored the final seven points of the third quarter, getting five from Tommy DiNaso, to take a 33-30 lead, and Isaiah Moss scored five points early in the fourth to increase the edge.
“Our subs did a tremendous job,” East coach Rich Kolimas said. “Luke Lizen, Colin O’Connell, Austin Winkler were great. We just made some poor decisions late that cost us.”
In the end, Mikolajczak took over.
“This gives us good momentum,” Central coach Bob Curran said.
“I’m really proud of (Mikolajczak). He didn’t get the playing time (Friday) and he didn’t pout about it. He put himself in position to succeed.”
