Leach hits game winner for TC victory!

The Trojans captured their regular season finale in thrilling fashion on Friday night. Senior Danny Leach sunk a game-winning three-pointer as time expired to beat the Ridgewood Rebels by a score of 48-46. The game was close throughout, as the Trojans led early, but trailed by two at the half and by nine points at the end of three quarters. TC kept closing the gap only to have the Rebels respond. With just over a minute to play, the Trojans trailed by five points. Danny Leach knocked down a 3-pointer to close the game to within two points. On the Rebel’s next offensive possession, they converted two free throws after Timothy had fouled. Trailing by four, TC brought the ball up once again and Leach knocked in another highly contested three-pointer to pull the Trojans within one point with 15 seconds to play. On the ensuing possession the Trojans fouled and Ridgewood failed to make good on the one-and-one. TC captured the rebound, brought it over halfcourt, and used their last timeout with 8.2 seconds to play and trailing by one. The last possession of the game put the ball in the hands of senior Danny Leach and as he came off the screen he was trapped, stepped through, and shot an off-balance three pointer that bounced off the front of the rim and into the basket for the TC victory.

Crucial to the Trojans cause on this night was 8 points and 16 rebounds from Luke Davidson. Connor Vanderbrug had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Vanderbrug also did a nice job of patrolling the lane on the defensive end for the Trojans and had a nice two-handed dunk to start of the second half. Danny Leach was high scorer for the game as he finished with 19 points and 4 rebounds. George Thompson and Wes Ditchfield contributed four and three rebounds respectively.

The Trojans finished the regular season with a record of 12-14(5-7 league) and will now travel to 3A regionals at Chicago Marshall. Their first game is Monday, February 25 at 5:00pm versus Chicago Wells. Should they win that game they will play again the next day versus Chicago Marshall at 5:00pm. What an exciting way to end the regular season! Thanks for coming out as supporting the Trojans! Please come out and support the Trojans as they begin state tournament play!

If you want to see the game winning shot you can check out the game at the following link. The game winning play happens at 1:36:45 on the video.

http://www.highschoolcube.com/event/boys-basketball-ridgewood-rebels-vs-timothy-christ-306265