Chicago Simeon and Proviso East staged one of the all-time great state championship games Saturday at Carver Arena. Maywood junior Sterling Brown drained a three with four seconds to play, but Proviso East was forced to watch the final seconds tick off the clock as the ball rolled under the basket. There were no timeouts left and time had run out. Simeon had a 50-48 victory and a third consecutive IHSA Class 4A state championship. The win gave Simeon a sixth state championship, the most in state history. It also gave Simeon coach Robert Smith his fifth title, the most by one coach in state history, breaking the record held by East St. Louis coach Bennie Lewis since 1989. In a curious incident after the win, all of Simeon’s players removed their shoes and placed them in a line next to the podium set up on center court. IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman picked up the shoes and removed them. “They said they wanted to leave their mark on the court,” Smith said. Proviso East was led in scoring by Sterling Brown with 25 points, the Wolverines leaders were Jabari Parker with 15 points, Steve Taylor with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
-Bob
I was at the Peoria Civic Center capturing some images of the IHSA Class Boys 1A & 2A state tournament. This is the original March Madness, not only are there tournament games in Carver Arena, there is also a wheelchair basketball games held next door in the exhibition hall as well as various vendors and games for children of all ages. The Class 3A & 4A games will take place next week on March 16th and 17th.
-Bob
The state-ranked No. 4 Central Lions (25-3) defeated the third-ranked Washington Panthers (26-6) 56-53 in overtime before an overflowing Renaissance Coliseum in the Class 3A Peoria Sectional championship game Friday night. Shamar Hill sank two free throws with just under a minute remaining to put Central up for good in the overtime period. Jerrell White made i of 2 free throws with 18 seconds left to put the Lions up by three. Washington had two chances to tie the game as Alec Peters 3-point shot was long and Chase Vogel had his hurried shot blocked by Central senior Trey Kellum to end the game. Peoria High will take on unranked Rockford East (20-10) for the Dekalb Supersectional at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Northern Illinois University.
-Bob
Drake (17-14) scored the game’s first 12 points and never looked back, downing Bradley (7-25) with a 65-49 victory in the first round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Thursday night at Scottrade Center. Rayvonte Rice scored a game-high 18 points, while Ben Simons added 16 for the Bulldogs. Walt Lemon, Jr. led the Braves with 16 points and shared team-high honors by matching his career-high with seven rebounds. Dyricus Simms-Edwards was the game’s only other double-digit scorer, finishing with 14 points. Click here for complete game stats.
-Bob
Cowden-Herrick Beecher City (29-3) advances to the IHSA Class 1A championship game with a 63-54 victory over Illini Bluffs (24-6) at Redbird Arena. The Lady Tigers were led by junior Taylor McClintock with 38 points. Faith Wendte scored 20 points pacing the Lady Hornets and Micah Jones grabbed 16 rebounds. Illini Bluffs will play Leroy in the third place game, while C-H/BC will battle Freeport (Aquin) for the Class 1A State Championship. Click here for complete game stats.
-Bob
