***Evan hasn't been heard from since he broke his ankle 2 days after his spectacular shooting performance in Toledo, OH. It's nice to see that he's still money($$$)***


The championship game of Tuesday's Lee Holiday Tournament came down to an overtime battle between two players.


In the four-minute extra session, Lee's Alex Araujo fought back and forth with St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic's Sean Heenan. The way the two players were scoring, it looked like either one would have the last word.

It turned out neither one of them did. Instead, Lake Michigan Catholic's EVAN BROWN put the exclamation point on a championship, as his 3-pointer in the corner with 2.5 seconds left gave the Lakers a 70-69 win.

It was a stinging defeat for Lee (1-3 overall), which has lost three games in overtime, the previous two against Kelloggsville and Comstock Park. What made it worse for the Rebels was they had come from behind, as a pair of free throws from Araujo gave Lee a 69-67 lead with 15.4 seconds to go.

"There wasn't any quit in my guys," Lee coach Brett Lambert said. "We did a nice job of coming back from four points down, but it came down to the last possession of the game and we didn't see (BROWN) in the corner."

By the time BROWN launched his shot, it was too late to stop it. The ball sailed through the net, putting the Lakers back up by one. Lambert's last play nearly worked, but Lake Michigan Catholic (2-3) batted away the inbounds pass with 0.7 seconds left.

"EVAN hasn't shot many threes this year, but we were hoping for him to come out and get a good look," Lake Michigan Catholic coach Wayne Stefanich said. "For all I know, he's a good shooter, we just haven't had a chance to get him a look."

BROWN'S 3-pointer capped a furious second-half comeback by the Lakers, who rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit.

The Lakers took a 54-53 lead on a pair of Garret Ashbrook free throws with 1:07 remaining. Jacob Bournay then made it 56-53 on a pair of free throws with 50 seconds left.

Araujo then sank a 3-pointer to tie the score at 56-56 with 38 seconds to go. Lake Michigan Catholic got a basket from Zachary Brookes with 12 seconds left, but Chad Brant forced overtime when he alertly grabbed the rebound off a missed basket and sank his own shot with three seconds to play.

"Lake Michigan Catholic took us out of sync," Lambert said. "They won the battle in the third quarter and did a nice job keeping us out of rhythm. That's a physical basketball team we faced. There was a stretch where (Heenan) dominated the game for them, but it came down to that last possession."

Heenan sank eight of his 30 points in overtime, while Araujo had nine of his 14 points in the extra session.

Marcus Lancaster led Lee with 29 points, but the Lakers limited him to eight points in the second half and none in overtime.


Lk Mich Cath 70, Lee 69 (OT)

LAKE MICHIGAN CATHOLIC (2-3)

Jacob Bournay 1 4-4 6, Garret Ashbrook 2 5-7 9, EVAN BROWN 2 1-2 6, Marcus Deja 1 1-2 3, Michael Miller 1 1-2 3, Zachary Brookes 2 3-4 7, Sean Heenan 10 9-13 30, Brian Goff 2 2-2 6. Totals 21 25-36 70.

LEE (1-3)

Jake Johnson 3 0-0 7, Joe Malone 1 0-0 3, Alex Araujo 4 5-7 14, Marcus Lancaster 10 7-9 29, Dominique Taylor 1 0-0 2, Jason Plummer 2 1-2 5, Chad Brant 4 0-0 9. Totals 25 13-18 69.


Lake Michigan Catholic 14 11 19 14 12--70
Lee 22 14 9 13 11--69

3-point goals--Lake Michigan Catholic 2 (EVAN BROWN, Heenan), Lee 6 (Lancaster 2, Johnson, Malone, Araujo, Brant). Fouled out--Deja, Taylor. Total fouls--Lake Michigan Catholic 18, Lee 24. Technical--Lee coach.


? 2003 Grand Rapids Press. Used with permission

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