L-P outlasts Dixon in overtime for regional semifinal upset

LA SALLE – La Salle-Peru senior Nick Olivero didn’t mind the pressure.

Or the back-and-forth nature.

He was in his element despite the season and his high school career on the line Wednesday as L-P and Dixon exchanged the lead 15 times.

“It feels great,” Olivero said. “It was an extremely fun game to play in. I love those up-and-down games. I think we all do.”

Of course, it’s more fun to be on the winning side.

The No. 5-seeded Cavaliers were Wednesday as they made key plays and hit free throws down the stretch to upset Dixon 53-50 in overtime in a Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional semifinal.

“We just heard the crowd pop and everybody was just screaming and extremely excited,” Olivero said about his emotions after the final buzzer.

L-P (14-18) will face No. 2 Streator (23-8) in the regional final at 6 p.m. Friday after the Bulldogs held on to edge No. 7 Ottawa 41-39 in Wednesday’s first semifinal.

Streator beat L-P 58-57 in the season opener and again 58-50 on Jan. 14 at L-P.

“Streator is a really good team,” L-P coach John Senica said. “We have to go to work. In both games, I think our offense was stagnant. We just have to play better defense and run our offense. If we do that, hopefully we can keep the game close, we can see what happens and hopefully come out on top.”

After L-P missed two game-winning shots in the final minute of regulation Wednesday, the Cavs fell behind early in overtime as Brady Feit split a pair of free throws on Dixon’s first possession.

Dixon’s Eli Davidson then stole the ball, but the Cavs prevented the Dukes from converting the turnover into points.

L-P then scored on its final four possessions of the game as freshman Marion Persich drove for a bucket and scored after he cut to the basket and received a pass from Erick Sotelo before Olivero and Mikey Hartman each hit a pair of free throws in the final minute.

“We finished, and that’s our goal,” Senica said. “I think we’re finally jelling and we’re doing it at the right time of the season. It was such an up-and-down season and we’re building upon all that.

“Our kids’ execution (was the difference in overtime).”

The Dukes missed two 3-point attempts in the final minute and a half, one that would have given them the lead and one to tie with less than 10 seconds left.

Dixon did pull within 51-50 on a drive to the basket by Cullen Shaner with 11.1 seconds left before Hartman’s free throws.

“I thought they did a good job executing,” Dixon coach Chris Harmann said about L-P in overtime. “We missed a couple shots. They made free throws late. They did a good job.

“Out of the timeout with (18.8) seconds left, we got the look we wanted. We wanted to make them make a couple more free throws. We go it downhill quick. That part worked. Hartman did a good job knocking those two down. We got down the length of the court and had a look at it. Maybe passed up one, but got a pretty good look.”

The game was close throughout with neither team leading by more than four points outside of Dixon briefly extending its lead to eight at 27-19 with a 5-0 run to start the second half.

But after a timeout, the Cavs responded with a 13-2 run, taking the lead at 30-29 on a 3-pointer by Olivero with 4:07 left in the third.

L-P led 36-35 going to the fourth quarter.

“They came out of halftime and shocked us, but we stayed with our principles and really locked in on defense,” Olivero said. “Everybody picked up their man, rotated and I think the defense was really the difference.”

Olivero poured in 25 points to lead all scorers, while Persich and Sotelo had 11 points each.

Darius Harington, the Dukes’ all-time leading scorer who played for the first time since Feb. 7 due to injury, scored 17 points, as did Feit.

Dixon, which had its season ended by L-P in a regional semifinal for the second year in a row, finishes 22-10.

“It was a really good season,” Harmann said. “I just told these guys they’ve battled. They’ve had an up-and-down season, nothing’s been consistent this year for them. I think seeing the record they were able to put together gives a lot of credit to them and how hard they’ve worked throughout the year because it hasn’t been easy for them. These guys don’t have anything to hang their heads about.”

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L-P head coach John Senica and the rest of the Cavalier bench react after beating Dixon during the Class 3A Regional semifinal game on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 in Sellett Gymnasium at L-P High School. (Scott Anderson)