CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS – The West Central basketball group stored preventing in its Class 1A Illinois boys basketball semifinal recreation towards Aurora Christian on Thursday.
The Cougars trailed for a lot of the recreation and trailed by eight factors with 3 minutes, 59 seconds remaining, however a senior group led by seniors Probability Little, Zack Evans and Mason Berry didn't hand over and got here away with a 70-65 double extra time victory on the State Farm Middle.
“We simply maintain preventing,” Berry stated. “That's actually it. We now have one aim and that’s to win the nationwide championship. So we're nonetheless pushing for it.”
The small, 6-foot-4 ahead led West Central (35-3) with 33 factors, together with hitting 15 of 20 free-throw makes an attempt. Evans scored 17 factors and dished out 4 assists, and Berry added 11 factors and 10 rebounds.
“They’d quicker guards, so I knew Zack (Evans) wasn't going to have the ability to get round them as simply as he normally does,” Little stated. “I knew I needed to go down and be there bodily and simply get the job accomplished.
“Our teammates do a really, superb job of discovering me after I'm open. I felt like I owed it to them,” Evans stated. “I had, I believe, zero factors within the first half. I knew they wanted me, so I needed to step up and be the chief that I’m.”
The Cougars will play Meridian (Mounds) (26-8) within the Illinois Class 1 championship recreation on Saturday at 11 a.m. ET.
Sophomore guard Marshawn Cocroft led Aurora Christian (25-9) with 36 factors on 15-of-27 capturing. He made 4 3-pointers.
Jalen Carter scored 13 factors within the loss, whereas Asa Johnson added 12.
Aurora Christian led 7-5 after one quarter, 20-18 at halftime and 37-34 after three quarters and by as many as eight factors halfway by means of the fourth quarter.
West Central, which led simply 6:06 your entire recreation — in comparison with 28:43 for Aurora Christian — continued to battle.
The Cougars outscored Aurora Christian 23-20 within the fourth quarter to ship the sport into OT, and after each groups scored eight factors within the first four-minute extra time, West Central outscored the Eagles 5-0 within the second extra time to safe the win. .
Illinois 1A Semifinals: West Central – Aurora Christian
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– Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveIL
