During a timeout with four minutes and 49 seconds left in the third quarter, Pat Boyle looked at his Notre Dame boys basketball team and knew.
In a game the Crusaders had yet to ever tie or take a lead, and trailed by as many as 10 points, the veteran coach could sense what was going to happen next.
“I looked in their eyes, and I knew we weren’t losing,” Boyle said. “Something crazy would have had to happen. They had a very determined look in their eyes.”
Over the remaining 12-plus minutes of play, Notre Dame showed that spunk on the court and completed a 19-point swing to beat Saucon Valley 72-63 Saturday night in the Colonial League quarterfinals.
“It just took heart and hard work,” said senior forward Greg Lauray, who poured in 18 of his game-high 26 points in the second half to aid the late surge.
In beating the Panthers for the third time this year, all in nail-biting fashion, the fourth-seeded Crusaders punched their ticket to Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal against two-time defending champ and No. 1 Bangor at Catasauqua High School.
The athleticism on display from Lauray and freshman guard Titus Wilkins proved to be too much for Saucon Valley to keep up with late. The duo combined for 20 of Notre Dame’s 24 fourth-quarter points.
“Greg, he’s something else,” Wilkins grinned. “His hops are crazy. For me and him to be on the same team, we’re both athletic, it really helps the team a lot.”
“It helped a lot because we’re 6-foot-3 and can jump high, so it’s kind of hard to guard that,” added Lauray, who won state gold in the high jump last spring.
Senior forward Matt Anthony chipped in 22 points in the win, 14 of which came in the first half to help keep the Crusaders in the game.
Even after the third-quarter timeout when Boyle had his prophecy, Notre Dame trailed 48-42 late in the third quarter. That’s right around when the takeover began.
Wilkins’ steal and a jumper started the fourth quarter and tied the game for the first time all night at 50. The Panthers responded with a pair of free throws to regain the lead, but the Crusaders took it right back on a Lauray jumper and then a razzle-dazzle spinning drive from Wilkins in transition that gave his team its first lead of the game at 54-52.
“I was thinking, ‘Man, if we use up all this energy and never take the lead, it can take the wind out of our sails,’” Boyle said. “But once we got the lead, our guys really made some great decisions on the break. Obviously Titus was pretty special in the second half.”
Wilkins spent the first half shaking off some rust from the ankle injury and sickness that had forced him to miss three of the last four games before Saturday and only allowed him two practices before the quarterfinal tilt. He had two points in the half before finishing with 17.
“I was getting off the stiffness in the first half,” Wilkins said. “In the second half, it came back to me.”
Boyle thought Wilkins looked hesitant in the first half, but credited his seniors for encouraging the rookie to come out of his shell after the break.
“I saw Mitch Daniel in particular, take him aside at halftime and say, ‘Hey, we want you to make this happen,’” Boyle said. “The fact that the seniors have told him, ‘We believe in you,’ gives him a lot of confidence.”
Lauray’s play was equally inspired.
“Greg’s points are mostly hustle points,” Boyle said. “He’s so active and so athletic. When he’s making that 17-foot jumper, which he’s been doing — we’ve been seeing a lot of zone defense, so he’s had to make that shot, and he’s really shooting it. When he’s making that shot, he’s a tough matchup.”
With last year’s Colonial League quarterfinals — when Saucon Valley handed Notre Dame a 69-54 loss on the same hardwood — still in the back of his mind, Lauray would not be denied this time around.
“It takes a team,” he said. “We came together as a team and we won.”
Up next is Bangor, a team that handed the Crusaders a pair of 20-plus-point losses during the regular season and has won 28 straight games against Colonial League foes.
“Bangor’s an excellent team … obviously it’s going to be a huge task to beat them,” Boyle said. “I know they’re very focused on wining another title, but I’d go to battle with these guys anytime. I’m loving coaching this team.”
Greg Joyce may be reached at gjoyce@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @GJoyce9. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
