Boys Basketball: Mt. Carmel Throttles Oak Lawn

The Hot Read: The curtain closed on Oak Lawn's season as the Spartans fell to the Mt.Carmel 71-46 in the Class 4A St.Rita Regional on Tuesday night. Mt. Carmel took control from the start, jumping out to a 10-0 lead. The Caravan dominated with defense, stopping the Spartans from reaching the net by stealing the ball eight times in the first half. Mount Carmel built a 41-15 lead at the break. But the Spartans looked like a different team in the second half, scoring 21 points in the third quarter to cut Mt. Carmel's lead to 56-36. But, despite their brief surge, it wasn't enough for the Spartans to pull out the win.

Patch's MVP: Oak Lawn's Leon Reed (11 points, 9 rebounds).  Reed came up with a big block under the basket in the third quarter that seemed to give the Spartans some life.

Key Stats: Oak Lawn gave the Caravan too many chances to rack up points from the free-throw line. Mt. Carmel went 7-of-14 from the line, while the Spartans were just 3-of-7. Mt.Carmel made sure the ball stayed out of the Spartans' hands, as they came up with 13 steals. The Spartans had four steals of their own, but it wasn't enough to match the Caravan output.

Oak Lawn Leaders: Jon Mathews (9 points, 1 rebound), Anthony Johnson (7 points, 7 rebounds), Colin Altenburg ( 7 points, 4 rebounds).

Mt. Carmel Leader: Tracy Abrams (20 points, 1 rebound).

Quotable: Spartans coach Scott Atkins on his teams' last game of the season: "I'm really proud of what this group achieved this year, the way they came together and took ownership of the team in the last month of the season. It would have been a huge victory for us to win, but I'm not going to let that overshadow what this group accomplished this year."

Team Records: Oak Lawn finishes 15-12. The Spartans went 1-1 in postseason play. Mt. Carmel is 20-6.

What's Next: The Caravan move on to play in the Class 4A St. Rita Regional final on Friday night.