ST. LOUIS • It's a whole new ballgame in the ABC League.
John Burroughs took its first lead on a halftime buzzer-beater and never looked back in a 44-28 victory over MICDS in an ABC League game Saturday night at the Washington University Fieldhouse.
The result leaves both teams tied atop the conference with matching 6-1 marks with three games to play.
"It was a great win for us in tying the conference lead up," said Burroughs coach Steve Wilcutt, whose team improved to 14-3 overall. "It gives us a chance. Both teams have to go to Lutheran North (two league losses), so they will have a lot to say about it, and we've got a couple other ones against Lutheran South and Priory. But, if they would have won tonight, it would have pretty much given it to them."
With its fourth loss in five games, MICDS falls to 12-8.
"We really struggled with the adversity of getting in foul trouble," Rams coach Matt Hixenbaugh said. "We let it impact us and never regained our rhythm. That is a challenge to our guys to not let those types of things impact their game."
Junior guard Foye Oluokun led the way for the Bombers with game-highs in both points (16) and rebounds (11).
"The first quarter I started out slow, but then as we started hitting shots, more things started opening up for me later in the game," said Oluokun, who scored 12 of his points in the second half. "The third and fourth quarters, the lanes opened up and I was able to get to the rim."
Thomas Militello scored 11 points to pace an otherwise cold-shooting Rams team that made just four field goals in the final three quarters, including none in a one-point fourth quarter.
"We missed shots and then we started pressing, which made us miss more shots," Hixenbaugh said. "They're obviously a good team and took advantage of that."
The first quarter, though, was a good one for MICDS.
The Rams jumped out to a 6-2 lead just two minutes in and later extended it to 12-5. Militello keyed the run by hitting three of four shots from the floor.
The lead was 15-9 for MICDS after one quarter, but things started drying up in the next eight minutes for the Rams. Trey Baur's early bucket was their only field goal of the quarter.
Alex Spencer nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner just ahead of the halftime buzzer to give Burroughs its first lead of the night at 21-19.
"That was a huge momentum thing," Wilcutt said. "I think threes at the end of the quarter or the half really ignites the crowd and gets you into it. More than the points, it was a momentum swing."
The Bombers scored the first eight points of the third quarter to open the game's biggest lead at 29-19. The Rams' Robin Thompson then hit a 3-pointer with 2:55 to go in the quarter to give his team its first field goal in nearly 13 minutes.
MICDS trimmed the lead slightly to 35-27 entering the fourth quarter, but the Rams would stay stuck on 27 for quite some time.
Burroughs scored the first seven points of the final quarter and MICDS could muster only a Rashad Lindsey free throw with 1:06 remaining to avoid a goose egg in the fourth quarter.
"They were actually trying to slow our game down, but in slowing our game down they were actually slowing their game down as well," Oluokun said. "So, we packed it in and made them settle for jumpers and made them take their time on offense."
In the girls game at Washington University. ...
MICDS 37, JOHN BURROUGHS 23 • Campbell Torchin scored 11 points to lead the Rams to their 10th straight victory over the archrival Bombers.
"We were coming off a tough five-game span, so we were a little tired and you could see that in our legs," MICDS coach Scott Small said. "I thought we did a great job defensively and made it tough for them to get looks. We just couldn't translate it into a lot of points."
Emily Kyman scored 10 points and Cameron Jackson added eight for MICDS (15-5, 5-1), which has not lost to Burroughs since Feb. 3, 2007.
The Bombers (6-9, 0-5) were led by six points and seven rebounds from Steph Kelly.
