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Health & Fitness

Oak Forest Pulls Off Last-Second Win Against Tinley on Senior Night

Video shows Oak Forest Boys Basketball last second heroics as Tom Zale takes pass from Tim Loeding with 2 seconds left in game and...

On Friday night Oak Forest High School honored the Seniors from the Cheerleading, Dance and Boys Basketball Teams along with retiring Athletic Director Sue Bonner. Then before a packed house, Oak Forest and Tinley went out and played a game that won’t be forgotten for quite some time.

With 20 seconds to play, Oak Forest Senior Forward Tim Loeding hit 1 of 2 free throws to give Oak Forest a 64-62 lead. Tinley Park’s Tracey Brandy, who carried the Titans in the 4th quarter with 11 points, then drove the length of the court and made a driving layup with 11.4 seconds to play while running into Oak Forest Junior guard Tom Zale. Replays showed the call could have gone either way, a block or a charge. The fans from Tinley went crazy and those from Oak Forest couldn’t believe a game that Oak Forest led for most of the 2nd half was about to slip away.

With a chance to give Tinley the lead with 11 seconds to play, Brandy missed the free throw. Oak Forest’s Kyle Funkhouser grabbed the rebound and quickly dribbled to half court and took a shot from there with about 6 seconds to go. Proving there is a basketball god, Loeding got the long rebound in traffic and then made a great unselfish pass to a cutting Zale who laid it in with his non-shooting, left hand with 2 seconds to play. After a quick Tinley time out, well—go watch the video!

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The game was close all the way. Every time Oak Forest moved out to a 4-6 point lead Tinley Park would answer. At halftime the score was tied 28-28. The turnout and energy in the Oak Forest gym was a season best. (Could it be because Oak Forest finally ushered visiting fans to their own side?) For the first 3 quarters every time Tinley got close they would turn the ball over with another travelling call. Oak Forest enjoyed its biggest lead of the night at the end of 3 quarters at 48-39 before Brandy and the Titans made their comeback. The Bengals were led in scoring by Seniors Mario Schaeffer with 16, Funkhouser had 13, Loeding 11 and TJ Mayer had 8. Junior Blake Waller had 5 and Zale’s winning basket was the last 2 of his career high 13.

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