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Rockford Auburn ends St. Charles East's run

ROCKFORD - The madness of March was clear and evident Friday night in Rockford.

Trailing Rockford Auburn the entire way, St. Charles East forged its first lead of the night on J.T. Ford's 3-pointer from the wing to make it 43-41 with 4:17 remaining.

Unfortunately for the Saints, Rockford Auburn closed out the game on a 14-5 run over the final 3:27 during its 55-48 Class 4A sectional boys basketball title victory at Rock Valley College.

Sectional champions for the fourth time in six years, the Knights (24-6) advance to Tuesday's supersectional against Conant (23-6) at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

One year after suffering a 65-62 sectional championship decision to Geneva, Rockford Auburn earned some redemption against a different Upstate Eight Conference River Division foe.

"It's an amazing feeling," said Knights coach Bryan Ott. "We weren't surprised by the back and forth nature of the game. This was an excellent team that we played.

"The fact that it was a game of runs is not at all surprising. I'm just glad that we made the last one."

St. Charles East (18-13), which at one point trailed 35-25 midway through the third quarter, had numerous opportunities down the stretch to capture its first sectional crown since 2001.

Already without the services of junior guard Zach Mitchell (appendectomy last Sunday), the Saints suffered another setback when senior guard Evan DiLeonardi (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals) picked up his fourth and fifth fouls within a 15-second span in the fourth quarter.

"It was huge," said Saints coach Patrick Woods. "I think they outscored us 15-5 (actually 14-5) with him out. But at that point, we felt like we couldn't take him out of the game with four fouls."

Senior guard James McQuillan (11 points, 5 rebounds) split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 44-44 with 2:57 left.

Trayvon Tyler (game-high 18 points) converted 2 free throws and a steal and layup by Shidyae Evans a few moments later put the Knights back on top at 48-44 with 2:25 remaining.

St. Charles East pulled within 50-48 on two more McQuillan free throws with 1:28 left but couldn't overcome the Knights' ball-hawking pressure defense down the stretch.

Three costly turnovers and a missed layup in the game's final minute proved too much to overcome.

"We were up 43-41 with four minutes to go and I thought we had them right where we wanted them," said Woods. "I know we turned the ball over the last three possessions and had a missed layup. But this game wasn't lost in those last four minutes.

"We just had so many other opportunities. In the first quarter, we had two rebounds under the basket and we threw it back to them for layups. There's a lot of little things throughout the course of the game that led to our demise and turnovers (22) was number one. We knew that coming in."

Ford scored 8 of his team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter, including the Saints' only 3-point basket (1 for 4 from beyond the arc).

"We had opportunities, we just didn't take advantage of them," said Ford.

The loss ended a solid postseason run for the Saints, who made their first sectional appearance since 2007.

"I wish we could have won this together because I love every single one of the guys," said McQuillan.

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

  St. Charles East's James McQuillan drives to the hoop Friday during the Class 4A Rock Valley College boys basketball sectional championship. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
  St. Charles East guard Evan DiLeonardi goes up and over Rockford Auburn's Justin Robinson Friday during the Class 4A Rock Valley College boys basketball sectional championship. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
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