Isaiah Thompson was ‘incredibly nervous’ with Oak Lawn’s first conference title in 40 years on the line. Two free throws. One shot at history.

Senior guard Isaiah Thompson shook off the nerves, put his past free-throw woes behind him and hit a pair of historic shots for Oak Lawn.

Thompson’s two free throws with 43 seconds left Wednesday night gave the visiting Spartans the lead on their way to a 48-45 win over T.F. South, clinching the program’s first conference championship in 39 years.

“It’s a great feeling,” Thompson said. “I can’t really explain it. It hasn’t even settled in yet. We made history. It was a crazy celebration in the locker room.

“Coach (Jason Rhodes) threw water on us. It got really loud.”

It’s the first South Suburban Conference championship for Oak Lawn (17-4, 9-1 SSC Red) and its first conference title since winning the SICA West in 1982-83.

“I think about all those guys over the years and how much it meant to the players before,” Rhodes said. “Some years, we’d have guys crying in the locker room after we lost a game that could have won it for us.

“This means a lot for our kids, our community and our school. Everyone is always talking about it. I like the way we did it. It was a gritty, road win that could have gone either way.”

Ayham Salah scored 17 points off the bench to lead the Spartans. Thompson added nine points and seven rebounds, Johnny McGowan scored eights points and Davion Lawrence contributed six points and 11 rebounds.

Lyonel Hodges paced T.F. South (10-11, 4-4 SSC Blue) with 14 points, while Jalen Dale had 10 points and five rebounds and Xavier Lewis added nine points and eight rebounds.

Thompson went to the line with the game tied 45-45 and felt the pressure.

“I was incredibly nervous,” he said. “I was like, ‘If I miss these, I’m done.’ I knew it was going to be a problem. I’ve been having trouble with free throws the whole season.

“I almost wanted to give up on free throws, but I told myself that as long as I kept sticking to it and kept listening to coach, I’d be able to make them.”

After Thompson knocked down both shots, Lawrence added a free throw with 17 seconds left.

A 3-pointer by T.F. South at the buzzer was off the mark, allowing the Spartans’ celebration to begin.

While Oak Lawn struggled to score most of the game, Salah kept his team going by knocking down four 3-pointers.

“I’m always feeling good with my shot,” Salah said. “I’m not going to lie — I like shooting. It just takes one person to hit, and once we get our energy going, it’s hard to stop us.”

T.F. South coach Todd Gillespie was unhappy his team let Salah and others get open looks from outside.

“We started off kind of slow, but then we turned it up and got better,” Gillespie said. “We were just not closing enough on their shooters quick enough. We talked about that because we knew they had some shooters, but they just seemed to get open and we were not close enough when they caught it.

“We just have to get better. I have to have them better prepared.”

Meanwhile, it was a night the Spartans won’t soon forget.

“This is a big win,” Salah said. “We haven’t done this in so long, and I think it proves the work that we’ve put in pays off. You just have to trust the process and keep going.

“We’re definitely proud. I think this was definitely the right group to do it. We have great team chemistry. We like being around each other. I think we deserve it.”