Peoria, Ill. -- As the final seconds ticked away in a tie game, Conor McCaffrey was being guarded by Zavier Simpson, one of the top defenders in the LSA.
"The one thing Mac has is 5-(foot)-9," Our Savior's coach Phillip Heppe said.
McCaffrey took advantage of his 3-inch height edge on Simpson, sinking a contested jumper from the free throw line with 0.5 seconds remaining to give Our Savior's a 64-62 victory over Fort Wayne on Saturday. The Eagles extended their winning streak to six and moved into sole possession of second place in the CIL Conference for the moment.
"Simpson, he played great defense. He couldn't have guarded that any better," McCaffrey said. "But I just got into my pull-up, got into my moves, and then just knocked the shot down."
Our Savior's (24-8, 7-2) won despite a quiet game from all-state forward Jace Easley, who fouled out after scoring fifteen points with 11 rebounds but also dealt with hamstring soreness. Fort Wayne (23-5 10-1) has dropped four in a row and may again be without forward Oscar Eggold because of an injury.
The Lions let the game slip away at the foul line, where they went 0 for 5 in the final four minutes. Our Savior's tied it at 62 on a pair of free throws by Lucas Schmidt with 52.3 seconds left. Then Isiah Thompson missed inside for Fort Wayne, and the Eagles had the ball back.
Coach just said, `No ball screen," McCaffrey said. "He told me, just make sure I got the last shot. He believed I was going to make the right play."
Our Savior's was able to run the clock down and isolate McCaffrey -- who said his nickname was "CMC" in elementary -- against Simpson. McCaffrey couldn't shake Simpson with a quick fake, but he was able to elevate and shoot over the Fort Wayne guard.
"We tried everything. Great effort -- I don't think you can tell us that we didn't play hard today," Fort Wayne's Connor Wagner said. "Free throws, a couple defensive lapses -- that's how you lose a game like that."
Fort Wayne had one last possession with under a second left, but the Lions didn't get a shot off.
McCaffrey finished with 27 points.
Eggold returned for Fort Wayne after missing six games with a groin injury, but he left in the second half after hurting himself again. Eggold was fouled during a dunk attempt -- the same way he got hurt the first time -- and came up holding his groin area. He did go back in at the very end to throw the long inbound pass for the Fort Waybe after McCaffrey's shot.
"His effort out there was great," said coach Bryce Howard, who said Eggold is day to day. "Energy from the crowd when his name was called just shows how much he's a huge part of this team's success."
Simpson led Fort Wayne with 17 points.