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BOYS BASKETBALL | CLASS 2A RIVERDALE REGIONAL
Rock Falls can’t catch Riverdale
By TERRY DUCKETT Special to Shaw Media
PORT BYRON – Like it has all year long, the Rock Falls boys basketball team fought to the end in the Class 2A Riverdale Regional semifinal Feb. 23 against the host Rams.
But trailing by double-digits at halftime, the Rockets couldn’t climb out of an early hole in a 71-47 Riverdale win.
“We came out flat, they got the lead, and we tried to claw back,” Rock Falls coach Zach Sandrock said. “We fought like we have all year, but it was too little, too late.”
Riverdale (25-6) scored the game’s first 11 points, then weathered a flurry of Rock Falls 3-pointers before pulling away. It put the Rams in position to win their first regional title in 10 years – and do it on their home court.
“We haven’t won regionals here in awhile, and we want to be the team to do it,” Riverdale senior guard Brandon Stone said. “We think we’re ready for it.”
T a l l y i n g 1 7 p o i n t s a n d e i gh t rebounds, Stone jump-started the Rams with 12 first-quarter points. Senior guard Andrew Meloan had six of his 10 points in the opening period, i n c l u d i n g a t h r e e - p o i n t p l a y t h a t capped the hosts’ opening 11-0 run.
The Rockets (13-18) whittled that deficit to five, but 3-pointers by Stone and Meloan re-lit the Rams’ spark as they took a 23-7 lead after the first eight minutes.
“We wanted to come out and show them this is our house,” Stone said. “ O u r c r o w d h e l pe d u s a l o t w i t h momentum. With the first-round bye, we practiced hard this past week, and that prepared us for this.”
Riverdale kept up its pace in the second period, taking a 36-17 lead at halftime after shooting 50% (14-for-28) from the floor in the first 16 minutes.
“We had a slow start. Shots just didn’t fall early. I think we rushed a little too much at the beginning and let them dictate pace,” Sandrock said. “They’re a good ballclub, a good program. They’ve got a lot of shooters, a lot of guys who do a lot of stuff and strong role players, and they did their job tonight and controlled the pace.”
See RIVERDALE, page 17
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3-POINT-SHOOTOUT
Fulton, Morrison players advance in 3-point contest
Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media LEFT: Fulton’s Brock Mason shoots in the 3-point contest at the 1A Eastland Regional on Feb. 25. ABOVE: Morrison’s Alex Anderson also advanced. Mason and Anderson were two of four players to advance to the sectional competition.
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BOYS BASKETBALL | CLASS 1A EASTLAND REGIONAL SEMIFINAL | AQUIN 59, FULTON 56 (OT)
Fulton bat tles back, but Aquin w ins in overtime
By TY REYNOLDS treynolds@shawmedia.com
LANARK – Despite some heroics late in regulation to force overtime, the Fulton boys basketball team lost 59-56 to Aquin in a Class 1A Eastland Regional semifinal Feb. 23 in Lanark.
Steamers sophomore Baylen Damhoff hit a 3-pointer with 1 second left in regulation to tie the game 54-54 and send it into an extra period, then senior Brock Mason hit a hanger from the baseline for a 56-54 lead just 24 seconds into overtime.
But Aquin senior Dom Alber nailed a deep 3 from the left wing to give the Bulldogs (17-13) a 57-56 lead with 1:33 remaining, and classmate Ollie Arndt scored inside off a pass from Jack Hiveley with 26 seconds left to make it a three-point Aquin lead.
The Steamers (29-4) had another chance to tie. Damhoff and Ian Wiebenga both had 3-point attempts on the next Fulton possession, but their shots rimmed out, and Aquin grabbed the rebound.
“At the end, we got down a little bit and Baylen hit a huge monster shot for us, then we came out and got a bucket to start overtime,” Fulton coach R.J. Coffey said. “Then we came down and had that turnover which I just can’t wrap my head around, and then 23 [Alber], who’d been hot, hits a deep 3; we just didn’t do our job to force him into a difficult look. He made a big play, and then we came down and it was a situation where I thought we had good looks and they just couldn’t go down.”
Alber was fouled, but missed both free throws with 4.9 seconds left to give Fulton some hope.
After dribbling to half court, the Steamers called timeout with 1.9 seconds left. But Fulton failed to get the ball in bounds out of the timeout, turning it over with a quick 5-second call, and Aquin was able to throw the ball in and dribble out the clock.
“It was up and down, a lot of swings,” Coffey said. “Obviously we didn’t finish the way we wanted to offensively, but we knew it was going to be a dogfight the whole way.
“We just couldn’t put enough possessions together with scores and stops. We’d make a couple baskets, but we’d give some up, and we just couldn’t extend that lead.”
Fulton led 14-9 early in the second quarter, then went on a lightning-quick 6-0 run early in the third to take a 26-20 advantage.
After Aquin got back to within 28-26, Ethan Price hit a pull-up jumper in the lane, Mason hit two free throws, and Damhoff scored inside to counteract baskets by Evan Broge and Alber for a 34-31 lead with 1:07 left in the third.
Price scored to start the fourth quarter, then Ian Wiebenga hit a pull-up jumper after an Alber 3 for a 41-38 Fulton lead with 7:17 remaining. Mason drove the lane and kicked out to Wiebenga for an open 3 about 30 seconds later, then Mason scored on a baseline drive to answer a bucket by Aquin’s C o n n o r S e n n e f f f o r a 4 6 - 4 2 Fulton lead with 5:52 left in regulation.
But Alber nailed another 3, then Hiveley scored with 4:58 to play for a 47-46 Aquin lead. Weibenga’s putback and Jacob Jones’ drive down the lane restored a 50-47 Fulton lead, but Broge hit a pull-up jumper to cut it to 50-49.
After Wiebenga went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line, Alber hit two free throws to tie the game at 51 with 1:54 to play, then Hiveley hit two free throws and Alber added another for a 54-51 Aquin lead with 46.2 seconds left.
Playing without Damhoff, who was forced to the bench with four fouls in the final minute of the third quarter, Coffey was happy to see his team take on the challenge and stay close down the stretch.
“It’s tough when your leading scorer goes out in foul trouble like that, you just hope to maintain – and I thought we did. We held it down, Ian hit a couple of big shots, Jones was getting to the rack a little bit,” Coffey said. “We just defensively couldn’t get enough stops, and they didn’t miss much in that fourth quarter, and they were getting to the free-throw line.”
Damhoff, who spent most of the fourth quarter on the bench with four fouls, was back in for the final few minutes, and after the Steamers ran down the clock for a final shot, it was all his. He missed a 3 attempt, but Mason got the rebound and found Damhoff open again on the perimeter, and the sophomore buried the tying 3 to force OT.
Damhoff scored 21 points, and Wiebenga hit three 3s and added 14 points for Fulton. Price scored nine, and Mason and Jones chipped in six points each, but the Steamers’ season ended earlier than they were hoping.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes. That’s high school sports. It can go up, it can go down, and I’m proud of our guys,” Coffey said. “We’ve had so many ups this year, and I just feel for them to where we couldn’t get the job tonight. But Aquin came in and played a heck of a ballgame. I’m proud of our guys, man, a great season. It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t get it done tonight.”
Alber scored 18 of his game-high 23 points after halftime, hitting all three of his 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and overtime. Senneff had 11 points, Hiveley added 10, and Broge chipped in seven for Aquin.
Photos by Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media Fulton’s Baylen Damhoff and Freeport Aquin’s Ollie Arndt battle for the ball during Feb. 23 action at the 1A Eastland Regional in Lanark.
Erie-Prophetstown bat tles, but Rockr idge pulls away
By TERRY DUCKETT Special to Shaw Media
PORT BYRON – Having had two previous meetings with Erie-Prophetstown under its belt, the Rockridge boys basketball team was expecting a battle.
Facing their Three Rivers West Division rivals for the third time in the Class 2A Riverdale Regional semifinals Feb. 23, the Rockets got the battle they were expecting as E-P simply would not go away.
It was not until the fourth quarter that Rockridge got a significant degree of separation as it pulled away for a 56-38 victory.
“We knew it’d be this type of game,” Rockridge coach Andy Saey said. “We just had to control what we could control. Our defense needs to travel with us if we want to do something special.”
Up 40-28 going into the fourth quarter, the Rockets (22-6) braced themselves for another E-P run as the Panthers (15-10) closed the gap to 42-31 on a Caleb Naftzger three-point play early in the period.
F r o m t h at p o i n t o n , R o c k r i d g e allowed just seven points, while senior forward Nate Henry scored nine of his game-high 20 points in the closing minutes to help his club nail down its 11th straight victory.
“E-P’s a tough team, and this is our third time playing them,” said Henry, who also pulled down eight rebounds. “Each time we’ve played them, it’s been a dogfight, always close until the very end. We just had to keep our composure to win this game.”
T r a i l i n g 2 8 - 1 7 a t h a l f t i m e , Erie-Prophetstown made one of its biggest pushes of the night as five straight points from senior standout Kolby Franks and a bucket by Naftzger got the Panthers to within five at 31-26 nearly three minutes into the third.
“We were striving to get consecutive stops; that’s what we talk about in our timeouts,” Saey said. “If we could do that, then we’d be in good position.”
T h a t i s w h a t t h e R o c k e t s d i d , enabling them to close the third quarter with a 9-2 run. From that point on, E-P was unable to get back to within single digits.
“We made a nice push with a lot of momentum,” E-P coach Ryan Winckler said of his squad’s second-half start. “But Rockridge is a really good team, and they scored on three straight possessions. After that, it was a fight back uphill for us.”
Despite the efforts of Franks (15 p o i n t s , 9 r e b o u n d s ) , N a f t z g e r ( 1 6 points) and Connor Sibley (5 points, 8 rebounds), the Panthers were unable to sustain any long runs.
“I’m proud of the guys and the way they executed our game plan and made it difficult on them,” Winckler said. “It just came down to us not making some shots. But I hope our guys have no regrets. They left everything on the court.”
• RIVERDALE
Continued from page 15
R o c k F a l l s w a s n ’ t d o n e . I t rallied like it has so many times this season. With Timmy Heald knocking down three straight 3-pointers and teammate Gavin Sands scoring seven of his 12 points in the third quarter, the Rockets managed to get back to within single digits at 45-36.
“We know teams like that want to give it their best and beat us at home,” Stone said. “We just had to weather the storm.”
H e l p i n g t h e R a m s d o t h a t w a s senior forward Max Maring. Picking up in the second half where Stone left off in the first, Maring scored 15 of his game-high 21 points and had a 10-point third as Riverdale took a 53-40 lead into the fourth period.
Another run of 11 straight points by the Rams enabled them to open a 64-42 lead, effectively taking control of the game.
“After halftime, [Rock Falls] came out fired up,” said Maring, who had a game-high 18 rebounds. “We had to turn it up on defense, be taller than them, drive, kick it out and feed the paint. Just play our kind of basketball.”
Booker Cross led Rock Falls with 14 points, and Sands added 12. Devin Schultz grabbed seven rebounds, and Ayden Goff added six boards.
“I’m proud of the way these guys fought tonight, and all season,” Sandrock said. “We cut it to single digits a couple times in the third quarter, but they hit shots and extended the lead, and we just couldn’t catch up.
“But this was a fun team to watch grow this season. The seniors were great leaders, and I think these younger guys will just continue to get better.”
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