Rockford Jefferson eliminates Crystal Lake South
Rockford Jefferson and Crystal Lake South were tied a total of nine times in regulation of the Class 4A Huntley boys basketball regional title game on Friday. So it only seemed fitting that it would be settled in overtime, where the J-Hawks prevailed with a 55-53 victory.
However, the OT almost didn't happen.
Jefferson trailed 50-48 in the closing seconds of regulation when senior Montel Brown was fouled with 5.6 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but ML Moore grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 4.2 seconds remaining. Moore, however, also missed the front end of a one-and-one. But again the J-Hawks grabbed the rebound. This time it was Brown, and he was fouled trying to go back up with the ball.
With a chance at redemption the third time proved to be the charm as Brown sank a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining to tie the game at 55-55 and send it into overtime.
Jefferson (23-8) shot just 7-of-19 from the free throw line, but made the 2 that mattered the most.
"Unfortunately we haven't shot free throws that well all season," Jefferson coach Todd Brannon said. "So, we actually practice quite a bit on getting the offensive rebound in just those type of situations. Crystal Lake South is a tough physical team and it was a tough game. We won ugly, but we won and it doesn't matter if you win by 1 point or 30 points. all that matters right now is that we are moving on."
Brown scored the first basket of the overtime period and later added a free throw to carry the J-Hawks to the win. Brown finished with a game-high 18 points.
"I just knew I had to make those 2 free throws or we were going home," Brown said. "And we don't want to go home yet. We set out to make it to state and that's what we are trying to do."
Moore added 11 points for the J-Hawks. His free throw with 1:11 left in overtime gave Jefferson the lead for good at 54-53. The J-Hawks overcame an early 7 point deficit to pull even at 21-21 just before halftime.
South (18-11) had a chance to pull ahead in the final seconds of overtime, and another chance to tie. However, after a steal in the backcourt by the Gators' Drew Murtaugh, his layup attempt was broken up by Kaveon Rogers with 8.9 seconds left. Then with one second left, Alexander Reich's floater in the lane that would have tied the game rimmed out.
The Gators played the final moments without their leading scorers, Zachary Geske and Kyle Bartusch, who both had 15 points before fouling out.
"We have such a good group of kids," South coach Matt LePage said. "It's tough to come up one rebound short of a regional title. But I was proud of their effort - it just wasn't meant to be."