With six seconds left, the ETHS Boys Basketball was down to its last breath, a wide-open top of the key three from Loyola’s point guard, junior Luke Alvarez, had put the Ramblers up by one. The Kits’ head coach, Mike Ellis, called a timeout to draw up a play from the game’s final attempt. After looking further down the court, senior Timi Ogunsanya located Ben Ojala well inside his own half. The Sophomore evaded two defenders before rising above senior Danny Lee to sink the game-winning buzzer beater from twenty-five feet out, winning the game 63-61 for the Kits, making Beardsley erupt in cheers.
“I dream about hitting that shot all the time in my driveway, but it feels so amazing to do it in a real game in front of a real crowd,” said Ojala, who thought about committing to Loyola in 8th grade and whose brother played four years of varsity soccer for the Ramblers.
Ojala’s shot extended the Kits’ home win streak to nearly two years, with the last time a visiting team won in the Kits’ home in a competitive game being when Loyola themselves triumphed 47-44 back on January 23rd, 2024. The visitors looked like they were destined to prevail throughout the entire second half. After going into the break down 24-16, the Ramblers took control of the momentum, going on a 17-7 run to reduce the deficit to just 43-41 going into the fourth quarter.
“We got too comfortable and played with a look of satisfaction coming out of the break, while they played with a look of desperation in their eyes. That we got in that situation because we did not entirely realize there was another half to play,” remarked Ellis.
Loyola senior Trey Williams tied the game at 43 early in the final frame, before a series of ten lead changes culminated in Ojala’s game-winner. A pair of free throws from the Ramblers’ senior Brody Munsey-Johson gave them their biggest lead of the night, 53-48, with just under three minutes to go. Junior Tate Shroeder, who tallied an impressive 25 points on the night, hit a trio of impressive buckets, the last of which was a go-ahead three-pointer with fifteen seven seconds left.
“Loyola was the aggressor for the entire second half, but we executed very well in the final four minutes of the game,” noted Ellis.
The Kits got out to an early lead by drastically outshooting the Ramblers from behind the arc. The Kits connect on 6/11 of their first half three pointers, compared to a woeful 1/10 for their opponents. However, the absence of injured junior bigman Vito Rocca was felt immensely by the Kits as they were out offensive rebounded 8-2, which caused breakdowns in the Kits’ defense that the Ramblers were able to capitalize on.
“A lot of those boards are 50-50 balls; it comes down to a matter of will and desire. Tonight,t they wanted it much more than us, so that will definitely be a target area for us in the future,” explained Ellis.
The Kits are now 17-3 (6-0 CSL) and are ranked #10 in the last Sun Times poll travel to #23 GBN 17-5(5-1 CSL) on Friday in a matchup that could decide the destination of the CSL crown.
