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Cannon, Waubonsie Valley zip past Plainfield South

Eric Cannon scripted a promising start to the Waubonsie Valley boys basketball postseason Monday night in Plainfield.

Cannon drilled two 3-pointers on his opening field-goal attempts, and Waubonsie Valley never trailed again in its 65-51 Class 4A regional quarterfinal victory against host Plainfield South after Kyle Schroeder beat the first-quarter buzzer with a 16-footer.

Cannon finished with a game-high 21 points with four 3-pointers and a three-point play to help prolong the Warriors' season.

Waubonsie Valley (13-17), the No. 15 seed in the Romeoville sectional complex, will face second-seeded West Aurora (21-4) Tuesday night in the semifinals.

Plainfield South, seeded No. 20, had its season come to an end at 3-27.

"(My perimeter game) opens up things up for other people," said Cannon, who had three 3-pointers in the opening half to stake the Warriors to a 28-22 cushion at the break.

Waubonsie Valley once again illuminated the importance of the early minutes after halftime.

Cannon had a pair of driving scores in transition in scoring 7 of the Warriors' points in a 14-2 run to start the third quarter.

Plainfield South staged mini-revolts after its resulting 18-point deficit to start the second half, primarily behind the 19 ultimate points of leading scorer Michael Trujillo, but the Warriors' lead never shrank to less than 9 points the remainder of the game.

"That (third) period we really shared the ball well," Cannon said.

The Warriors' ball distribution was clearly evidenced by three other starters joining Cannon in double figures.

Schroeder complemented the game-high Cannon output on a regular basis with 7 field goals for his 14 points.

Sophomore Marcus Skette also hit two 3-pointers for Waubonsie Valley in tallying 11 points.

Derrien Porter converted his only field goal - from beyond the arc in the second quarter - and the junior guard scored the remainder of his 11 points on 8-for-10 free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter.

"I wasn't concerned about (our players) being overconfident (due to the Cougars' record)," Waubonsie Valley coach Jason Mead said. "In the playoffs you just have to win. We had a lot of guys who did a lot of good things."

Mead was admittedly worried about his players being beaten off the dribble, but the Warriors more than compensated defensively by forcing turnovers on a regular basis.

"At the end of the day, we still have another day to work on (any defensive liabilities)," Schroeder said.

"They played great half-court man-to-man defense," Plainfield South coach Tim Boe said of the Warriors.

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