Wilmington slips past pesky Peotone
COAL CITY -- For a brief moment, the Wilmington High School boys basketball team saw its season slipping away.
The Wildcats (16-12) squandered a nine-point second-half lead before righting the ship to gain a 47-42 victory over Peotone in a 2A regional semifinal on Wednesday night.
The win moves Wilmington on to face top-seeded Herscher at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Coal City Regional final. Herscher beat Reed-Custer 63-20.
The Coal City Regional winner will face the Bishop McNamara Regional winner at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Momence Sectional.
"When they took the lead, none of our guys faltered," Wilmington coach Brian Koehne said. "These guys are used to playing in clutch situations, not only in basketball but football and baseball as well, and that showed out here tonight.
"The big thing for us was once Andy Crutchfield got into foul trouble we were able to weather the storm. A month ago, we played in a championship game (Interstate Eight Tournament) and we came up short. We told the guys this one is the most important one. So, hopefully, for our sake it will be a different outcome."
Wilmington still led 38-32 going into the fourth quarter. But that's when the Blue Devils (11-17) used an 8-0 run to take the lead.
Peotone picked up a pair of baskets each from Adam Sattler and Nic Romanchik (12 points).
Following a six-minute scoring drought, the Wildcats answered with six straight points and went back on top 44-40.
Cort Scheel had a basket and two free throws during the stretch. He finished with 8 points. Crutchfield battled through foul trouble and finished with 12 points. Matt Russell added 10, Colin Webb 9 and Jake Van Duyne 6.
Peotone, which trailed by two points or more the rest of the way, also picked up 12 points apiece from Trent McConkey and Jordan Carstens.
"I was proud of our effort," Peotone coach Scott Maupin said. "We played wire-to-wire tonight and we haven't necessarily been doing that."
Highlights
Herscher 63, Reed-Custer 20 -- At the 2A Coal City Regional, Herscher ran to a 19-4 lead after one quarter and coasted to the semifinal win over the Comets (6-22).
The Tigers, the No. 1 seed, built a 32-8 halftime lead and extended the margin to 46-13 after three quarters.
"Herscher is playing great basketball," Reed-Custer coach Tim Ricketts said. "They are shooting the ball well and they simply took us out of everything we tried to do tonight."
No Reed-Custer player had more than 6 points. Jake Hays finished with 6 points for the Comets, who advanced to the semifinals with a 43-34 victory over Coal City on Monday.
