Oak Park & River Forest Edges Lyons Township For 3rd Straight Win

Aided by late, great free-throw shooting, the Oak Park and River Forest boys’ basketball team fended off conference rival Lyons Township on Tuesday evening.

The 65-63 final at OPRF was the Huskies’ third consecutive win at home, following a 58-53 victory over Hinsdale Central on Jan. 25th and an 80-26 rout of non-conference foe Wells (Chicago) High School on Jan. 28th.

The victory also avenged OPRF’s 74-60 loss at Lyons on January 7th. The Huskies lifted their record to 12-9 overall, 5-3 in the West Suburban-Silver Conference standings. Lyons dropped to 18-5, 6-3 in WSC-Silver.

OPRF took a 17-16 lead late in the first quarter, and never surrendered the advantage—though frequently its margin was razor-thin. First, a 12-5 edge in the second quarter made it 29-21, OPRF, at halftime.

A pair of Roscoe Cadwell three-pointers in the first two minutes of the third quarter grew the Huskies’ lead to 35-23. But the Lions kept chipping away. LT point guard Tavari Johnson in particular gave OPRF trouble, mixing drives to the basket with mid-range accuracy.

With seven seconds left in the period, OPRF’s Rai’Mon Yarbrough dropped in a floater off the glass that gave the Huskies a 49-42 lead heading into the fourth.

LT’s pesky persistence was on display all the way to the end, with a three-point bucket by Aidan Sullivan as the buzzer sounded narrowing the margin of victory to two.

By that point, however, the Huskies proved too unflappable from the charity stripe. After a Lyons fouling spree began forcing OPRF shooters to the free-throw line in the final 34 seconds, the Huskies sank 7 of 8 attempts.

Four makes in as many tries by Connor Hoehne were crucial. His first pair boosted OPRF’s lead to six, and his next trip to the line, with five seconds left, came amid more precarious circumstances: the Huskies led 63-60, the difference only a potential game-tying three-pointer.

Just as he had done previously—and as OPRF guard Christian Marshall did with 22 seconds to go—Hoehne swished both tries to seal the contest.

Justin Mullins, OPRF’s leading scorer the past two seasons, was a standout again with 24 points. That tally includes a pair of three-pointers, one minute apart, late in the third quarter that helped quell an LT surge. With 1:52 to go in the game, Mullins’ dunk off a steal and coast-to-coast drive lifted the Huskies to a 58-52 lead.

For Lyons, in addition to Johnson, Graham Smith and Niklas Polonowski provided key offensive firepower.

For the Huskies, Cadwell chipped in 11 points, including three three-pointers and a tip-in underneath. Sam Lewis tallied seven points, including five in the first quarter, while John Vincent, Yarbrough and Hoehne contributed six points apiece.