There’s something special about a Southland Conference game in Kankakee’s gym.
The level of play and the level of fan support is not something you see everywhere.
So it was on Friday when the No. 20 Kays, after trailing almost the entire game, rallied to beat No. 12 Rich 65-61 in overtime.
Larenz Walters hit the go-ahead free throws with 35.6 seconds left and Damontae May made two more foul shots with 2.1 seconds remaining to seal it for the Kays (15-2, 2-2). Kankakee trailed by 11 in the third quarter and its only lead in regulation was 3-0 on Walters’ three-pointer in the first minute.
“This is a beast,” Kankakee coach Chris Pickett said of the Southland, which has four teams in the Super 25. “I come from the Public League Red South, which is a super conference. Lou [Adams, Rich’s coach] came from the Public League Red West, which is a super conference. And we’ve been talking all year that this is a super conference. The teams in this conference — there are no off nights.”
Walters, who scored a game-high 23 points, loves these games in this gym.
“You want to go to the next level, every game is going to be like that,” Walters said. “Being in the Southland Conference, every game is a big game. ... The Kankakee atmosphere is just different. The community, they all come out and support. The gym gets loud, we love it.”
Rich (14-5, 2-2) nonetheless took control early, leading 21-9 late in the first quarter. Kankakee got the deficit down to 34-30 at halftime, but the Raptors pushed their lead back to 11, 47-36, late in the third quarter.
“We [were] only down four at halftime but I feel like we [were] beating ourself,” May said. “The home crowd, they fired us up too.”
The Kays tied it at 51 with 4:57 left on May’s basket after one of the Raptors’ 17 turnovers.
Rich led 59-57 and 61-59 in overtime, but May and Walters went 6-for-6 from the line in the final 1:11 to win it.
May finished with 16 points, while sophomore Lincoln Williams scored 10 and played tough defense on Rich star sophomore Jamson Coulter.
“He has the capability of doing that,” Pickett said of May’s scoring. “We saw some things on their defense that we were able to exploit and utilize what he’s strong at — getting him out in space and making a good read on the floor. He made the right reads tonight and that helped us out.”
Coulter scored 15 for the Raptors but had to work for his points.
Jayden Williams also had 15 points and six rebounds for Rich, Samar Bures added 11 points and Nyshawn Turner had eight points and six rebounds.
“Lincoln is one of our better defenders,” Pickett said. “And he had some moments in the first half that hurt us because he didn’t stick to what we were trying to do with the game plan. In the second half he did and that’s how we were able to get back into the game.”
Elijah Stipp had eight points, five rebounds and two blocks for Kankakee, and Ke’Shawn Wade provided six points and energy off the bench.
“When [Wade] came off the bench, he gave us like six rebounds, three steals right away,” Walters said. “He gave us the big push we needed.”
