Ben Ojala’s five free throws in the last 1 minute, 40 seconds were just enough for the 9th ranked basketball team in the state of Illinois to win Tuesday night at Beardsley Gymnasium.
But don’t ask Evanston head coach Mike Ellis to vote in that poll.
Ojala’s late heroics, in a game that the Wildkits never led by more than five points, allowed Evanston to escape with a 51-48 non-conference victory over a mediocre Lake Park team.
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It marked the ninth straight win this season for ETHS and kept the Kits unbeaten in the January portion of the schedule. Evanston improved to 19-3 despite the fact that it was probably the least impressive win on the resume to date.
The victors shot just 35 percent (15-of-43 from the field) on their home court and were bullied inside by a pair of 6-foot-4 players, Lake Park’s Freddy Battaglia and Brennan Shannon, who probably aren’t getting many phone calls from Division I college recruiters.
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The pair combined for 28 points and 12 rebounds as the Lancers (10-11) were the first team to take advantage of Evanston in the paint since 6-6 Vito Rocca was sidelined with an injury.
Tate Schroeder’s 18 points and 15 from Ojala fended off the upset bid but didn’t leave their head coach in a good frame of mind in the aftermath.
“We’re not a ranked team. If other people think so, then we’ve got some people fooled,” Ellis said. “It’s just so frustrating when we come out and we don’t play with any intensity. We didn’t have any purpose tonight. We just showed up because the game was on the schedule.
“If Ben doesn’t make those free throws at the end, then we probably lose this game. That was a good job by him of stepping up. But our defense was very poor tonight --- Lake Park had their way with us --- and we never got into a flow on offense.
“We have no excuses. The game is supposed to be a game of enjoyment, and instead we acted like it was a punishment to have to play tonight.”
In front of a restless group of 100 youngsters who are part of the Evanston feeder basketball program, the hosts never led in the first half and were fortunate to be tied at 22-22 after shooting 30 percent from the field. A pair of free throws by Timi Ogunsanya and two more by Schroeder were the only points scored by either team in the last two and one-half minutes of the half.
Those were Schroeder’s only points of the first half. The junior sharpshooter was on fire in the second half, at least on the offensive end of the floor. He knocked down a 3-point shot with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter to push ETHS to its biggest lead at 31-26, before the Lancers regrouped and closed to within 35-33 entering the fourth period.
The lead changed hands six times in the fourth quarter, when the Kits finally scored on back-to-back possessions. Schroeder drained a 3-pointer and Ojala then worked some magic underneath, with a deft pivot to freeze a defender and drop in a layup. That made it 46-42 with 3:40 left in regulation.
Lake Park scored just three field goals the rest of the way, and Ojala converted 5-of-6 tries at the charity stripe to nail down the win.
Evanston travels to Glenbrook South Friday as Central Suburban League South division play resumes. On Saturday, ETHS will host the annual War On The Shore shootout event to raise funds for epilepsy research. The game schedule matches New Trier against Glenbard North at 2:30 p.m., Loyola Academy against Homewood-Flossmoor at 4 p.m., and Evanston against Bolingbrook at 5:30 p.m.
