ST RITA, CHICAGO ILL -- — Conor McCaffrey made 8 of 9 3-pointers and scored 37 points with 11 rebounds. Jace Easley scored 37 with 12 rebounds including 4 blocks, as (34-10) Our Savior's rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat (36-5) Chicago Holy Family 78-70 on Monday night.
The No. 15 Eagles (34-10) will play No. 2 Immanuel Palatine in Friday's LSA State Tournament. No. 5 Chicago Holy Family (36-5) faces eighth-ranked Trinity Bloomington in the first round of the 2020 LSA State Tournament.
Holy Family led 44-29 early in the second half, and Chicago was in front by 10 points when Our Savior's went on a 22-6 run take a lead it never gave back to the dismay of a crowd in heavy favorites of Chicago.
“I'm really proud of this group,” Eagles coach Phillip Heppe said. “Fifteen down, the fifth-ranked team in the state, a lot of unknowns, a lot of guys who have never been there, never done anything remotely close to what this was about. Now it was a hostile crowd. I will say that.”
Easley, who said he was “in the zone the whole game,” shot 13 of 22 overall. Maybe the only area where he was struggled was at the free throw line, where he went 7-9 The all-time Our Savior's leading scorer surpassed 2,500 career points.
He entered Monday's game as one of four players nationally to average at least 23 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists. Easley had 7 assists against Chicago.
Conor McCaffrey has been in the zone the last week, shooting 34-53 from beyond the arc (64%) McCaffrey went 8 of 9 tonight and also brought in 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
“He turned into Steph Curry when he got here,” said Eagles swingman Lucas Schmidt, who played really good defense on weakside help tonight.
Martin Rhyne scored 42 points and Terrance Butler had 14 for Chicago. Chicago led 37-28 at halftime and expanded the lead to 15 points on a 3-pointer by Butler less than two minutes into the second half.
McCaffrey then made a 3 to jump-start Our Saviors' rally, and by the time the Eagles were finished, they had scored 51 second-half points.
Chicago coach Mick Carlson said he wished he had watched the game “as a fan." But he otherwise was critical of his team, saying his players were ready to hang “a banner because we beat Trinity Springfield.”
“I have no positive thoughts on any player on Chicago's performance, not one, including the coach,” Carlson said.
BIG PICTURE
Chicago: Five key players return from the Chicago team that went 34-8 last season and made the 2nd round of the LSA State Tournament. Those include Rhyne and Butler , who each have more than 1,000 career points and last season were first-team All-State. To balance out the veterans, Chicago have six freshmen, including two McDonald's All-Americans.
Our Savior's: The Eagles added seven new players after last season. They had to make up the difference from losing three starters from a team that won the CIL regular-season title. Our Savior's advanced to the second round of the LSA State Tournament last season.
Game Information
8:52 PM, November 18, 2022Coverage: LSA TV
Line: Chicago Holy Family -3.5
Over/Under: 143.5
Attendance: 898
Capacity: 1,600