Boys Basketball: Fenwick comeback stuns St Rita in OT

Updated: January 24, 2012 9:30PM

Watching his team lose six of seven games after a 3-3 start, Fenwick coach John Quinn took solace in one thing.

His Friars weren’t pulling out wins, but they were in the games.

Visiting No. 10 St. Rita Tuesday in a make-up game after Friday’s postponement, Quinn finally saw his team finish a game strong, pulling off the upset in a 75-68 overtime road win.

“We’re playing five sophomores, and we’ve lost a lot of the close ones,” Quinn said. “All those things have been a learning experience, and tonight we finally showed the willpower to close out the game.”

Luke Lattner poured in 27 points and Sam Ainsworth added 24 for Fenwick (5-10, 2-4) in the Catholic League South win. Tony Hicks led all scorers with 30 points before fouling out in overtime for St. Rita (9-8, 5-1). Cullen Foulks added 10 points for the Mustangs.

Exploding for 19 points in just five minutes to open the fourth, St. Rita held a 61-51 lead. The late-game struggles were a thing of the past though for the Friars, a 10-point deficit gone in a flash.

“We knew we had a shot, and that we just needed to get stops on defense,” Ainsworth said. “We wanted to stay aggressive and push the ball up the floor.”

Ainsworth took over, scoring three baskets in a little over a minute. Scott Lindsey drilled two free throws with Lattner’s reverse layup tying the game at 61.

St. Rita’s Victor Law missed a three-point from the top of the key at the buzzer.

“They definitely had us there for awhile, but we kept fighting,” Ainsworth said. “They relaxed just a little bit. We got to overtime, and we knew we had the momentum.”

Ainsworth hit two free throws to start the extra session, and that momentum just kept rolling for the Friars. Fenwick outscored St. Rita 14-7 in overtime, Lattner scoring seven and Ainsworth five overall.

“We just threw the ball all over the place,” St. Rita coach Gary DeCesare said. “They picked up their pressure, we threw it away and completely lost our minds.”

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