Seventy seconds is all it took Tuesday night for sophomore point guard Noah Mister to turn around Mount Carmel’s fortunes.
To be honest, his effort might have even saved the Caravan’s season.
“With your back against the wall, you’ve got to do something,” Mister said afterward. ”So I had to take the game over.”
That he did. Mister’s 9-2 run at the end of the third quarter provided a spark, getting Mount Carmel back into the Class 3A Hinsdale South Sectional semifinal before beating Hyde Park 53-50.
The winning shot was a jumper in the lane by senior forward Christian Uremovich with 1.2 seconds left. He got fouled and sank his free throw to set the final score for Mount Carmel (29-5).
But it was the 6-foot-1 Mister’s masterful performance in the final 1:10 of the third that was the difference-maker for the Caravan, who advanced to play at 7 p.m. Friday for the sectional title.
“We were down,” Mister said. “I knew I had to do something for my team. It’s do or die.”
That set the stage for Uremovich’s heroics, bolstered by nine key points in the fourth quarter from senior guard Angelo Ciaravino. The Northwestern recruit led Mount Carmel with 18 points.
The Caravan will play the winner of Wednesday’s other sectional semifinal between De La Salle (22-11) and Lindblom (18-11).
Hyde Park (21-9) was led in scoring by senior forward Jurrell Baldwin with 20 points, including four 3-pointers.
After the game, Ciaravino gave a glowing report on Mister, who transferred to Mount Carmel from Kenwood, where he played varsity as a freshman.
“We know he can go off like that at any time,” Ciaravino said. “It happened to be that time. We were just feeding off his energy.
“That was really huge for us — seeing him go to work, hitting shots, getting downhill, getting whatever he wanted. That fed all of us and gave us a big energy boost.”
Uremovich, who finished with 12 points, offered up a similar sentiment.
“He definitely had one of the hardest jobs (Tuesday night),” Uremovich said of Mister. “He’s only a sophomore, and he has to take care of the ball and run the offense.
“He stepped up big in the third quarter and brought us back.”
Not too shabby, but Mount Carmel coach Phil Segroves said that is what he expected Dec. 6 when Mister became eligible to play.
It’s also what he expected when Mister had a challenging first half, going scoreless.
“A high school kid can go one way or another,” Segroves said. “He can feel sorry for himself he didn’t play well in the first half and pout. Not Noah.
“Noah dug deep, fought harder, got on the floor in the second half and said, ‘Hey, I want to help my team win.’ And that’s what he did.”
Segroves went so far as to say he believes Mister is a high-level Division I point guard prospect.
It’s big-time praise, but Mister is focusing on playing with poise, which is the calling card of his leadership philosophy.
“Just keep my team together in all situations,” Mister said. “We can’t get down and put our heads down because then it would have gotten worse. We came back, and they just couldn’t handle it.”
As Mister munched on a couple of homemade chocolate chip cookies, he also mused about how Mount Carmel’s Catholic League schedule is a big factor in games like this one.
“Every game is a dogfight,” Mister said. “This is nothing new. We don’t really play from behind a lot, but we play against teams like DePaul Prep, Loyola, St. Ignatius.
“You can’t ever have an off night because you’re going to get beat.”
Gregg Voss is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
