McCluney's 3-pointer lifts Father Tolton past Helias

Helias guard Joe Rembecki jumps up to try and block an in-bounds pass from Father Tolton forward Jevon Porter during Tuesday's game in the Joe Machens Fantastic Four Tournament at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Helias guard Joe Rembecki jumps up to try and block an in-bounds pass from Father Tolton forward Jevon Porter during Tuesday's game in the Joe Machens Fantastic Four Tournament at Fleming Fieldhouse.

The Father Tolton Trailblazers defeated the Helias Crusaders on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. This time, it wasn't by a Porter.

Tre McCluney had a wide-open look from 3 on the right wing in the closing seconds, swishing the ball through the net with about a second remaining. McCluney's 3 gave the Trailblazers a 52-49 win Tuesday on the second day of the Joe Machens Fantastic Four Tournament at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"We broke down on that defensively," Helias coach Joe Rothweiler said. "We left him to go help a guy when we shouldn't have."

McCluney came off the bench to finish with nine points for Tolton. He made all three attempts from 3-point range.

"Credit to him, he knocked down the shot," Rothweiler said. "On the scouting report, we didn't have him hitting three 3s, and he did. He had a huge game."

It's the second time in tournament history Tolton has defeated Helias on a 3 at the buzzer. Michael Porter Jr.'s 3-pointer in the championship game of the 2015 tournament lifted the Trailblazers to a 54-51 victory.

"Any time you get beat on a buzzer-beater, it's hard to swallow," Rothweiler said.

Helias was holding the ball for the last shot trailing 49-47, when Malcolm Davis drove to the basket as time was winding down. Davis missed, but Drew Schmidt grabbed the offensive rebound and drew a foul with :09.0 remaining.

Schmidt made the first free throw, and after Tolton called a timeout, he made the second to tie the score at 49.

Justin Boyer brought the ball up the court for the Trailblazers and drew a double-team once he got to the top of the key with about four seconds left. He passed left to McCluney, who caught the ball with no player within 10 feet of him.

The ball passed through the net on McCluney's shot with about :00.9 remaining. However, unlike college basketball or the NBA, the clock doesn't stop on a made basket in the final minute of a high school game. Time expired before Helias could call a timeout to stop the clock.

"I looked up and tried to call it," Rothweiler said. "There was maybe 0.5 or 0.6 seconds on the clock. It would have been tough anyway."

Helias led for much of the game, including the final 13:30 of the first half. Tolton scored the game's first two baskets, then the Crusaders answered with a 10-0 run.

However, Helias was only able to hold a one-point lead at the end of each of the first three quarters: 15-14 after one, 24-23 at halftime and 34-33 through three.

"Whether it was an offensive rebound putback or a big shot by Jevon (Porter), they didn't go away," Rothweiler said. " We got a couple leads, but we didn't play with the same IQ that we were playing with to build those leads. When we got the lead, we took a couple shots early in the possession that we really didn't need to take."

For the second straight game, Helias was at a height disadvantage, but it showed in the box score Tuesday. Tolton outrebounded Helias 41-21, as 6-foot-9 Evens Apollon grabbed 11 rebounds and the 6-11 Jevon Porter added eight boards.

"I thought we did a pretty good job on the initial block-out," Rothweiler said, "but a lot of times, those offensive rebounds were tips to another guy who got it. Those ones really hurt us."

Rothweiler was pleased to see his defense take four charges in the loss, including Trey Bexten taking two charges against Jevon Porter.

"We missed a few of them, we probably could have gotten five or six," Rothweiler said.

Desmond White hit a 3 on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, then added a 3-point play a minute later to give Helias a 40-34 advantage with 6:48 to play. That matched the Crusaders' largest lead of the game.

The lead didn't last long. McCluney tied the score at 44 with a 3 from the corner with 3:44 to play.

"We played really well at times, but I think we shot ourselves in the foot at several points throughout the game, and gave one away that we should have won," Rothweiler said.

White led Helias with 16 points, while Johanns added 12 points.

Jevon Porter finished with a game-high 17 points for Tolton. He was held to four points in the first half, but returned from halftime to score 10 points in the third quarter.

Appolon led the Trailblazers in the first half, making his first six shots from the floor, including a breakaway dunk before the buzzer to end the first quarter. He finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points.

Helias (4-2) wraps up the tournament against Jefferson City (1-7). That game tips off at 7:30 p.m. today.

"It's good to turn around and play when you lose like this, especially when you're going to play your crosstown rival the next day," Rothweiler said. "It's going to be easier to forget that tough loss."

Tolton (5-0), ranked No. 4 in Class 4, can clinch its second straight tournament title with a win today against Blair Oaks (5-2). That game tips off at 2:30 p.m.

However, if Helias and Blair Oaks both win today, that would make a three-way tie for first place among the Crusaders, the Falcons and the Trailblazers, each with a 2-1 record in the round robin format.