Updated: January 17, 2012 10:32PM

Evanston fell behind early in the fourth quarter, but responded with an 8-0 run

and eventually held on for a 41-39 win over Stevenson in a nonconference

game Tuesday in Evanston.

The contest had plenty of late-game intrigue as Stevenson leading scorer Michael

Fleming had two legitimate chances to put his team ahead in the final 14 seconds

of the game.

Fleming’s last good chance came with Evanston up 40-39 and 1.5 seconds

remaining, and almost certainly would have given the visiting Patriots (10-7)

the victory. But Fleming missed a jumper. Evanston’s Matt Munro secured the

rebound and then hit a free throw.

Fleming did have one desperation three-point heave at the buzzer, but came up

well short of the hoop.

“Earning those stops at the end of the game, we pride ourselves on that phase

of the game and the kids believe it,” Evanston coach Mike Ellis said.

“(The kids) say the same thing I believe: ‘Give us a chance to win a game on

defense and that’s the end we’d rather be at.’”

Guard Josh Irving led the Wildkits with 15 points and also guarded Fleming much

of the night. Munro had one of his biggest games for Evanston, contributing

eight points and 11 rebounds.

Baskets were hard to come by all night. There were 15 blocked shots in the game,

nine of them by Stevenson’s Colby Cashaw.

Fleming led Stevenson with 16 points, but hit just three of 14 shots. Cashaw had

11 points and four rebounds to go with his many blocks.

Evanston led by as many as nine points in the first half, but was only up 17-15

at the break. The home team maintained a narrow advantage through the third

quarter until Stevenson took a 31-30 lead early in the fourth on Fleming’s three

free throws.

That’s when Evanston scored four straight buckets, two by Leonard Garron, one

from Munro and one from Irving, eventually taking a 38-31 lead with 1:40

remaining.

But the visitors got five big points from Matt Morrissey down the stretch, which

put them in position to steal a victory.

It didn’t happen. But Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said he was glad to see

the ball in Fleming’s hands with a chance to win it late.

“Baskets were hard to come by for both teams, good defense by both teams,”

Ambrose said. “I’m not disappointed in our effort or in our defense, (maybe) a

little bit in our execution on offense to get a few more looks. We heated up a

little in the second half. I’ll take those (last two Fleming) shots again. We

just came up short.”

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