John Hart and company finally beat Roncalli, but just barely.

The Beech Grove High School senior guard scored a game-high 23 points and classmate David Sanders made a game-saving play near the end of regulation to allow the host Hornets to slip past their Southside rival 70-62 in overtime Tuesday night.

Prior to their victory in the first round of Class 3A Sectional 26 in front of a standing-room-only crowd, Beech Grove's seniors were 0-7 against the Rebels, including a pair of sectional losses.

"It feels good because we've lost to them my whole high school career," Hart said. "It feels real good, but we've got a ways to go for the sectional championship, so that's minor right now."

Beech Grove (17-3) faces Bishop Chatard (16-5) in Friday's first semifinal. The Trojans held Howe, the state's second-highest scoring team, to 28 points below its average and shot 44 free throws in a 65-50 victory in Tuesday's first game.

The two teams with a bye, Northwest (15-6) and Brebeuf Jesuit (6-13), play in the second semifinal.

Beech Grove hadn't beaten Roncalli since a 40-39 win in the 2003-04 season.

"I'd feel a lot better if it was Saturday night, but we'll take it," Beech Grove coach Randy Males said. "That's a big rivalry for us."

Beech Grove jumped ahead 23-7 and led by double figures most of the game before Roncalli rallied behind 3-pointers from Ryan Schnell, Aaron Evans and Tyler Peterman.

The Hornets trailed 52-50 with 23 seconds left to play, but Sanders was able to penetrate and dump the ball to senior Eric Weathers for a layup with 10.9 seconds remaining that sent the game to overtime.

The Hornets started the OT by throwing an alley-oop to Hart for a dunk. Sanders twice penetrated and dumped the ball off for easy baskets, and Beech Grove went 12-of-12 from the foul line.

"This year in our first game with them, we weren't very aggressive," Males said. "(Tuesday), except for that third quarter bit, we were much more aggressive."

Hart had 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Sanders added 16 points and six assists. Senior Benjamin Walters scored 15 on five 3-pointers, and Weathers had 12. Evans led Roncalli (14-6) with 23.

In the opener, Chatard's 3-2 zone kept the Hornets out of sync, and the Trojans had a huge edge in free throws in ending the career of Howe all-time leading scorer Larry Stone, who is headed to IUPUI.

The Hornets, averaging 78 points, had two baskets in the first quarter, three in the second and three in the third. They didn't reach double figures until Stone's free throws with 2:35 left in the first half.

Chatard was 27-for-44 from the foul line, with 30 attempts coming in the fourth quarter.

"We've been working on our 3-2 zone the whole week," said Chatard senior Daryn Hightower, who had 10 points and 13 rebounds. "We knew their guards wanted to penetrate and try to get in there as fast as they can and dish it off to their big guys. We tried to get out there as fast as we can and not let them penetrate."

Stone finished with a game-high 22 points but shot just 8-for-23. Greg Foster was 2-for-12 and 6-8 sophomore Jordan Manuel went 1-for-9, including 0-for-3 from behind the arc.

Bishop Chatard -- J. Kennedy 9-29 5-7 10, P. Kennedy 24- 11-16 15, Wayer 3-7 2-4 9, B. Kennedy 2-6 1-2 5, Huxhold 1-3 0-0 2, Zimmerman 4-10 0-1 8, Hightower 1-8 8-14 10, Dietrick 3-5 0-0 6. Totals: 18-52 27-44 65.

Howe -- R. Eubank 0-0 1-2 1, D. Eubank 2-4 2-3 6, Stone 8-23 4-6 22, Boutte 2-5 0-0 6, Brown 2-4 0-0 4, Foster 2-12 3-6 7, Manuel 1-9 0-0 2, Wilson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 18-58 10-17 50.

3-point shooting -- Chatard 2-13 (J. Kennedy 1-6, Wayer 1-2, B. Kennedy 0-3, Huxhold 0-1, Dietrich 0-1), Howe 4-18 (D. Eubank 0-1, Stone 2-8, Boutte 2-3, Foster 0-3, Manuel 0-3). Rebounds -- Chatard 41 (Hightower 13, Zimmerman 13), Howe 34 (Foster 11). Assists -- Chatard 8 (P. Kennedy 4), Howe 7 (Stone 3). Turnovers -- Chatard 13, Howe 16. Total fouls -- Chatard 14, Howe 29. Fouled out -- Boutte, Foster. Technical -- Howe bench.

Roncalli -- Peterman 4-9 0-0 10, Banich 0-0 0-0 0, Hasty 0-1 0-0 0, Evans 9-14 4-6 23, Schnell 4-9 3-3 14, Trumble 2-3 1-1 7, Thompson 3-10 2-2 8, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Reeser 0-1 0-0 0, Mislan 0-1 0-0 62. Totals: 22-48 10-12 62.

Beech Grove -- Sanders 5-8 5-6 16, Weathers 4-5 4-4 12, Walters 5-9 0-0 15, Hart 7-17 7-8 23, Clem 1-4 2-5 4, Page 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-45 18-23 70.

3-point shooting -- Roncalli 8-18 (Peterman 2-5, Evans 1-2, Schnell 3-6, Trumble 2-3, Thompson 0-2), BG 8-15 (Sanders 1-1, Walters 5-8, Hart 2-5, Clem 0-1). Rebounds -- Roncalli 27 (Thompson 7), BG 20 (Clem 11). Assists -- Roncalli 9 (Schnell 4), BG 12 (Sanders 6). Turnovers -- Roncalli 13, BG 11. Total fouls -- Roncalli 19, BG 16. Fouled out -- None. Technical -- Roncalli bench.