Truth be told, the first two weeks of the state basketball tournament have been rather ho-hum overall.
Then Friday night came.
There were eight one-possession games throughout the state, including three buzzer-beaters alone in Class 4A.
The three heart-stopping finishes in the state’s largest class provided a buzz throughout the state.
New Trier broke Glenbrook North hearts for a second straight year. Remarkably, it came in a similar fashion (a one-point loss in the closing seconds) and at the same point of the season (sectional championship) as last year.
New Trier sophomore guard Christopher Kirkpatrick was calm as can be on a catch-and-shoot three from the wing, burying the shot as the buzzer sounded to set off a wild celebration at Maine South.
The Pekin Sectional final was pure chaos in a battle of Class 4A heavyweights.
Quincy led Normal 43-42 and had the ball with 4.3 seconds to play, inbounding the ball under Normal’s basket. The inbound pass was deflected, a loose ball and scramble followed, the ball miraculously ended up in Jaheem Webber’s hands, and the 6-10 big man’s dunk at the buzzer won it.
Glenbard North’s Jack Schager started last year as a sophomore. The 6-1 junior is considered a knockdown shooter. He has shot 49 percent from the three-point line this season while averaging 7.8 points a game. Schager made a trio of key three-pointers Friday night.
But none were bigger than the dagger he buried just before the buzzer sounded to stun York, 44-43, to win a sectional championship.
Schager took a pass from Josh Abushanab and with a defender and hands in his face, quickly got it off from three and drained it as the clock struck 0:00 with the ball in the air.
Glenbard North is your Cinderella
The 2024 sectional championship will live in Glenbard North basketball lore forever.
First, it’s just the third sectional championship in program history. But the legend of the 2024 title will be more about how the Panthers did it.
Down two in the closing seconds of both sectional games, Glenbard North buried buzzer-beating three-pointers to win both. Two buzzer-beaters? Two?
JJ Hernandez’s desperation three stunned top-seed Lake Park 37-36 in the sectional semifinal. Then the Schrager heroics followed in the 44-43 win over York.
Coach Kevin Tonn’s Panthers were 0-3 against their two sectional opponents in the regular season, losing twice to Lake Park and dropping a 58-43 game to York a month ago.
And we’ll throw in one more ridiculous nugget: Glenbard North won both games without its most productive player.
Jalen Crues was lost with a broken wrist in the regional semifinal. He’s an athletic 6-7 senior who was a regular double-double while averaging 14.9 points and seven rebounds a game. In the regular-season loss to York, Crues, an all-conference performer, scored 21 of Glenbard North’s 43 points.
This is also a program that just four years ago was coming off a two-year stretch where it went a combined 3-46.
The 2014 sectional championship team also won tight games and became a Cinderella story. The scores of the four Glenbard North postseason wins that year? 51-48. 48-44. 77-74. 84-81.
The Panthers finally lost in the super-sectional to Benet –– in another tight one –– 62-59.
This ride continues with a super-sectional date with New Trier on Monday night.
Sectional droughts come to an end
It’s been a long time coming for Palatine and Crystal Lake South basketball. Both ended significant sectional championship droughts.
It’s come full circle for both as Palatine and Crystal Lake South made sectional basketball noise just over 40 years ago.
Palatine won back-to-back sectionals in 1981 and 1982. Crystal Lake South last won a sectional in 1983.
Both Palatine and Crystal Lake South, who have broken the school record for wins, are seeking their first-ever trip to the IHSA State Finals.
Palatine lost a pair of super-sectional heartbreakers in the early 1980s, losing 35-34 to Antioch in 1981 and then falling 52-50 in overtime to St. Joseph in 1982. Crystal Lake South’s lone super-sectional appearance ended with a 71-64 loss to Elgin in 1983.
Living up to the seeds
The big four heavyweights at the top of Super 25 rankings –– Curie, Homewood-Flossmoor, Thornton and DePaul Prep –– were all No. 1 sectional seeds. They all took care of business without too much of a scare.
No. 1 ranked Curie won a city championship in February and then simply had to do it again in the postseason, beating Young in the sectional semifinals and taking care of Simeon for a third time this season in the Riverside-Brookfield Sectional final. They were in control throughout both games.
If any of the top four teams played with fire, it was No. 2 ranked Homewood-Flossmoor. But the Vikings are still standing and broke through for their first sectional championship since 2008.
H-F didn’t exactly run away from Stagg in a 64-56 win in the regional championship. They needed overtime to beat Joliet West in the sectional semifinal. In the sectional title game they led at every break –– first quarter, at the half, going into the fourth quarter –– before pulling away from Bloom in a 61-50 win.
Thornton, which has lived near the top of the rankings all season, wasn’t tested until Friday’s sectional championship. Brother Rice clawed its way back from a double-digit deficit to tie it late in the third quarter, but the Wildcats responded and separated themselves quickly en route to a 61-54 win.
DePaul, the No. 4 ranked team in the Super 25, has just obliterated the 3A field so far, allowing an average of 21 points a game in four state tournament wins. That number right there? It’s unheard of in any stretch of state tournament basketball.
The Downers Grove North recipe
Downers Grove North’s win over top-seeded Bolingbrook to win the East Aurora Sectional wasn’t exactly a big surprise. The Trojans have been ranked in the top 10 all season long, came into the sectional title game with 30 wins, a Division I player and a belief after winning the sectional last year.
The final score and how the game played out was certainly an eye-opener, however.
This was a Bolingbrook team that was rolling. They beat Waubonsie Valley and Homewood-Flossmoor late in the season and were ultra-impressive in dismantling Benet in a sectional semifinal win Tuesday night.
Bolingbrook did jump out to an early lead. But after Downers Grove North took the lead in the second quarter and headed to the half up 26-21, the Trojans never looked back. They extended the lead to double digits and won going away, 69-52.
Downers Grove North’s team is certainly different than a year ago, the one that finished fourth in the state in Class 4A. This team demonstrates a penchant for winning games in similar fashion.
From an individual perspective, coach Jim Thomas’ team thrives with some key elements from specific players. The timely shooting of Alex Miller (four three-pointers), mixed with some tough and steady play from senior veteran point guard Owen Thulin (10 points, nine assists), and the presence of star Jack Stanton (game-high 23 points) is always a recipe for disaster for opposing teams.
But it’s the Downers Grove North defense that is the true difference-maker, and it’s always the strength that many can overlook or simply isn’t easily detected.
DGN is not only tough and physical with its half-court defense, but they’re outstanding in their transition defense. That combination limited their three postseason opponents –– Naperville Central, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley –– to fewer than 40 points in all three wins.
Then they held a high-octane Bolingbrook team in check. The Raiders scored 60 or more points in 27 of their previous 31 games and were averaging 65 points a game in their last 14. But Bolingbrook managed just 52 in the loss to DGN.
As a result, Downers Grove North basketball is enjoying the most successful stretch in program history.
Not much drama in Class 3A
There were only two one-possession games in all of the Class 3A sectional games played last week.
In fact, in the 56 games played in Class 3A from the regional championship on, just six games were decided by a possession. There were 15 sectional games won by at least 10 points. Low-scoring regional games and sectional blowouts were the norm.
The Class 3A forecast from over two weeks ago has hardly changed up to this point. Of the City/Suburban Hoops Report’s eight sectional winners picked before the start of the state tournament, seven of the eight have advanced to the super-sectional.
The lone team to go down was defending state champ Metamora, which lost to talented Peoria Richwoods and 6-10 Lathan Sommerville, a top 100 player in the country headed to Rutgers, in the sectional final.
Beecher still unbeaten, sets up 2A super showdown
Beecher has been quite a story.
Before this season, Beecher had won one regional championship in school history –– in 2007 –– and had never won a sectional game.
Now they are on the precipice of a Hallmark ending to a remarkable season.
Beecher, a town with a population of 4,690 people located 30 minutes south of more familiar basketball powers Thornton and Homewood-Flossmoor, is a perfect 35-0. They took care of Fieldcrest to win a Class 2A sectional championship.
The Bobcats, led by Orlin Nesbitt, Adyn McGinley, Zack Johnson, Ethan Rydberg and Jack Hayhurst, have done it with balance. Different players are stepping up in different games all season long, including the recent postseason ride.
Now Beecher faces Phillips in the Joliet Central Super.
Phillips won a state title in 1975 on the back of all-stater Larry Williams. Led by star guard Darius Clemons, they were undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state two years later when the Wildcats reached the state quarterfinals but were upset by St. Laurence.
It’s taken nearly 50 years but Phillips is back in a super-sectional with electric guard EJ Horton (24 ppg) and Amari Edwards leading the charge.
This is a Phillips team that played the likes of Quincy, Simeon, Kenwood and Peoria Richwoods all tough in close losses, and they’ve beaten Hyde Park, Lincoln Park and Lindblom.
Following a regular season in which Phillips (22-9) finished fourth in the tough Public League Red South Central, the Wildcats have dominated in 2A. They’ve pounded all four postseason foes with no game being closer than the 90-71 sectional title win over Hansberry. Edwards poured in 32 points and Horton added 29 in the win over Hansberry.
