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Westminster Christian rolls into 1A regional final

How the Westminster Christian boys basketball team finds postseason success has changed quite a bit since last year, but the Warriors are still finding it.

No. 2 Westminster Christian will play for its third straight Class 1A regional title on Friday, thanks to an 81-53 semifinal win over No. 10 Islamic Foundation at the Christian Liberty Academy regional in Arlington Heights Wednesday.

The Warriors (18-9) will face No. 3 Schaumburg Christian (17-4), which defeated No. 12 Rochelle Zell in the second semifinal 41-37.

It was the first postseason victory for first-year Westminster Christian coach Andy Zielinski, who took over for retired hall-of-famer Bruce Firchau on the heels of back-to-back regional titles.

The differences between Zielinski's squad and the Westminster teams of recent championship vintage were evident in the playoff opener. Whereas Firchau's teams mostly ran set plays, Zielinski's Warriors run a motion offense in which they read the defense, look for gaps and attack the basket.

"Before we'd have a person who really wasn't doing much on a certain play and then he'd kind of zone out," said senior Dillon Rejman, who led the Warriors with 22 points and 6 assists. "With this offense you've got to keep cutting and keep moving and it gives everyone a chance to play."

Rejman was often a beneficiary of set plays in the previous offense and it showed in his shooting numbers. Through last year's regional title game, the 6-foot-3 guard had made 76 3-pointers. Entering Friday's regional title game he has 51 3-pointers, yet his overall production has increased. He averages 14.2 ppg, up from 12.8 a year ago.

"This year he's not getting as many 3s but he's getting a lot more drives to the baskets as well as everyone else," said junior Scotty Graziano, who scored 14 points.

The result of multiple drives to the basket against Islamic Foundation (5-7) was a 19-of-31 first-half shooting performance for a 46-25 halftime lead. The Warriors scored on numerous backdoor cuts and repeatedly beat the Chargers in transition. Westminster led 62-39 after three quarters as 11 different players scored.

Rejman and Graziano are the only two holdovers from the rotation that won consecutive regionals. Graziano said one important aspect remains unchanged from past seasons.

"It's still everybody having fun, everybody being friends and just having a great time," he said.

The Warriors hope to have a bit more fun on Friday when they attempt to secure the fourth regional title in school history. Westminster defeated Schaumburg Christian 61-41 last Friday.

"It's going to be a tough game," Zielinski said. "Schaumburg, we played them at our place. It's hard. When you've played a team once they're going to adjust and do some different things. We'll have to play well to win. Simple as that."

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