St. Peter's saved its best for last and in the process, knocked off the No. 2-ranked team in the state.
Chris Ledlum's steal and dunk gave the Eagles the lead for good midway through overtime en route to a 57-51 CHSAA victory over visiting Archbishop Stepinac Tuesday in New Brighton.
The 13-3 Eagles, who improved to 2-1 in CHSAA play, trailed by as many as eight in the second half against the Crusaders (12-4), who were ranked second state-wide according to the latest New York State Sportswriters Association poll. But St. Peter's, the No. 18-ranked team, played its best ball over the last eight minutes of the game, including the four-minute overtime.
Ledlum finished with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles, who held the White Plains, N.Y., school to just two points in the extra session.
"That's a really big win for us against a big, athletic and physical team,'' beamed St. Peter's coach Charlie Driscoll, whose team notched its biggest win since the Eagles knocked off Cardinal Hayes ... the state's top-ranked team ... during the 2013-14 season. "We obviously wanted to show we can compete against them and I thought we did the whole game.
"We got it to overtime and we did a great job pulling it out,'' added Driscoll, whose team forced OT thanks to Chris Clancy's game-tying trey with 32.5 ticks left in regulation. "A win like this should help us when the seedings come out for the Archdiocesan playoffs.''
In addition to Ledlum, the Eagles received strong contributions from sixth man Jamal Achille (16 points), Clancy (13 points, three treys) and Kaleb Hicks (game-high 14 rebounds, six points).
With the score tied 51-51 with under two minutes left in OT, Stepinac inbounded the ball at mid-court and got the ball into the hands of its top player, senior Alan Griffin (14 points).
Griffin attempted to make a move around Ledlum, who knocked it loose and went to the basket with nobody in front of him. The 6-foot-6 junior slammed it home ... getting fouled by Griffin in the process ... to give the host team a 53-51 lead with 1:40 to go.
"To make a play like that against their best player is unbelievable, especially at that time (of the game),'' said Driscoll. "I'm glad he used two hands on the dunk, make sure it went down.''
Jordan Fox added a right-wing jumper with 52.9 seconds left to make it a four-point game and with the Eagles doing a solid job on the defensive boards down the stretch, they prevented any second chances.
"I thought the defensive rebounding was the key,'' said Driscoll. "Guys were boxing out and (Hicks, Ledlum and Achille) came up with some big boards with the game on the line. It made a difference.''
Clancy, meanwhile, sealed the W by nailing both ends of a one-and-one with 14.4 ticks on the clock.
St. Peter's trailed 36-30 entering the final eight minutes, but stayed within striking distance before grabbed a three-point lead with just under four minutes to play.
Although Stepinac received two late treys from Ed Minaya to regain a three-point lead with time winding down, the Eagles set up to take the ball out under the Crusaders' basket with 45 seconds left to play.
The Eagles worked a play for inbounder Clancy, who wound up with the ball on the left wing before draining a game-tying three with just over 30 ticks remaining to help force the extra session.
"(Clancy's) shot was big as well. It's a shot we want him to take in that situation,'' Driscoll said of his starting point guard. "He was open and knocked it down. I knew it was going in as soon as it left his hand.''
Driscoll, meanwhile, also praised Achille for his contributions off the bench.
"He gave us a lot of energy,'' said Driscoll. "He came up with a few big baskets and rebounds when we really needed it.''