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Resilency shines through during St. Charles East's surprise run

ROCKFORD - Not many expected St. Charles East to be playing for a sectional championship - yet there it was Friday battling Rockford Auburn in front of a raucous crowd at Rock Valley College.

The way the game played out was just as unexpected as the Saints getting this far. Normally a deadly 3-point shooting team, the Saints only made 1.

That came from J.T. Ford with four minutes to go and gave the Saints their only lead of the game, 43-41.

Unfortunately for St. Charles East, Evan DiLeonardi picked up his fourth and fifth fouls moments later. Auburn outscored the Saints 14-5 over the final 3:57 with DiLeonardi on the bench on its way to a 55-48 victory.

The Saints (18-13) made up for the lack of 3s by getting to the free-throw line 25 times, sinking 21. It just wasn't quite enough.

"You have to take what the defense gives you," Saints coach Patrick Woods said. "We love to shoot 3s but when you are not open and someone is draped in your face you can't shoot them. Our plan was to attack the basket and I thought we did a pretty good job of that."

Auburn coach Bryan Ott said the Knights weren't specifically trying to attack DiLeonardi once he had 4 fouls. They just wanted to go inside and DiLeonardi wound up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Honestly it wasn't targeting him in particular," Ott said. "It works out nicely for us that way. I wish I could tell you I was the genius who said 'Let's foul out No. 12' but it wasn't that. We needed to attack the inside and he happened to fall victim to it right there.

"I have a lot of respect for their coach and their team. That's a tough way for them to go out. They certainly deserve to be here."

It took Woods about 45 minutes after the game to finish talking to his team. A lot of seniors to thank, a lot of hard work to be acknowledged.

And a few stories to share, such as teasing senior James McQuillan about how many hair styles he had in his four years.

"We don't talk about the game," Woods said. "We talk about family and how we're here for them going forward. (Seniors) J.T. and (Zach) Hondlik are a great representation for our program because they played the least amount of minutes last year and never once did we hear a gripe, a complaint, a parent phone call. Nothing. They didn't come off the court this year and that's a credit to them for their hard work and effort. We try to set that example for younger kids. That's how you continue to win consistently."

Sophomore Justin Hardy, who scored 10 points Friday to join Ford (12), McQuillan (11) and DiLeonardi (10) in double figures, said the senior class has taught him a lot.

"All these guys are so dedicated to everything they did and it rubbed off on me," Hardy said. "My work ethic has been really great since I've taken what I've learned from those guys and put it to work. It's just about having a positive attitude through it all. We lost a lot of games this year and guys like Hondlik and James were really positive and that's something I didn't have before. That's something I'll carry with me through life.

"I'll have to be a leader next year and that's something I've been working on. I can use what I've learned from the leaders we've had on the team in the past."

When the Saints finally did emerge from their meeting room, there were a few red eyes from players, but there also were some smiles as they dug into 20 pizzas waiting for them. St. Charles East didn't have anything to hang its head about. As disappointing as the loss was with multiple chances to tie or take the lead in the final minute, the Saints went down fighting.

"We battled hard the whole game," Hondlik said. "Key word this year has been resiliency and we showed that tonight.

"It was kind of light hearted in there. When we first walked in you knew the season was over but when the coach walked in it changed everybody's attitude. It just kind of lightened up."

With recent teams led by Kendall Stephens, Dom Adduci and especially last year's 24-4 squad run by Cole Gentry, those were the Saints squads expected to make postseason noise.

It turned out to be this year's squad, one with the talented sophomore Hardy, junior Zach Mitchell - who was greatly missed Friday out after having an appendectomy Sunday - and seniors DiLeonardi, Ford, McQuillan and Hondlik who led the Saints to their first sectional since 2007 and first sectional title game appearance since 2001.

And they did it despite a 6-game losing streak in the middle of the injury-filled season.

"I don't think our record shows how good we were," Hondlik said. "We struggled through a lot of injuries. We finished as one of the best 16 teams in the state."

And they drew huge crowds throughout the postseason.

"The school spirit, the fan section was absolutely amazing," McQuillan said. "Just the buzz around school. Classmates coming up to you and wishing you good luck. That's something I'm definitely going to miss. The whole St. Charles community, I wish we could have won for them and our team and coaches."

Images: St. Charles East falls to Rockford Auburn, 55-48 in a boys basketball sectional final

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