MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Standing just one win away from playing for its first Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, the Roosevelt men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with seventh-ranked Saint Xavier and was within seven of the nationally-ranked Cougars with just over three minutes left in regulation, but the Lakers ran out of steam in a 73-59 loss in the 2014 CCAC semifinals at Cardinal Stritch's Panella Court on Friday night.
Tyree York scored 17 points and handed out five assists for Roosevelt (16-16), who finishes the season with a school single-season best 16 wins and advanced farther in the CCAC tourney than any other Lakers men's basketball team in school history.
Jeremiah Jackson scored 12 and Kevin Priebe had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Brad Karp led all scorers with 20 points for Saint Xavier (28-4), who will meet top-ranked Cardinal Stritch in the CCAC title game on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Milwaukee.
The Green and White outmuscled the bigger Cougars on the boards with a 36-28 rebounding advantage, but the Lakers missed 15 of 17 shots from beyond the arc and couldn't muster much offense in the final three minutes of both periods.
The Lakers shot just 42 percent for the game, eight percentage points less than the Cougars.
"Outrebounding Saint X normally would put us in a great spot to win, but going 2-for-17 from three made it tough," said Roosevelt head coach Joe Griffin. "Our bigs were effective down low, but to advance against great teams, we have to simply make more shots. Our shot selection was a little disappointing as well, but I loved our scrappiness and tenacity.
"Our seniors should be proud that we grew again this year and they are leaving a program with a lot of momentum for continued growth."
Roosevelt never let the game get away, leading the Cougars early and, after Saint Xavier claimed the lead, keeping it a single-digit contest for all of the first half. The Lakers trailed by just two late in the first half before Saint Xavier went on a 6-0 run to close the period.
The Lakers fell behind by 10 early in the second half but eventually evened the game six minutes into the last stanza with a big 10-0 burst.
Thanks to what turned out to be 57 percent second-half shooting, the Cougars slowly built their lead back up to double figures, but Roosevelt got within six with just over four minutes left after an Elliott Vaughn bucket.
Jack Krieger was a one-man wrecking crew that did the Lakers in during the game's late stages. He hit back-to-back threes, sandwiching a Joe Harks jumper that made it a seven-point game at the 3:26 mark, and then made a layup after a Priebe basket for his own eight-point run that kept Saint Xavier ahead by double figures near the two-minute mark, and over 10 was where the Cougars' lead would stay until the final horn.
Roosevelt loses the services of seniors Mykyta Cheshko, Jason Sotira and Brett Hoffman to graduation, but the Lakers are set to return a junior class consisting of York, Jackson, Priebe, Harks and Vaughn.
