Bartlett 67, East Aurora 64

The Bartlett and East Aurora boys basketball teams both know a thing or two about exciting games. The Hawks came back from a 17 point third quarter deficit to beat the Tomcats 67-64 earlier in the season.

Both teams gave the crowd its money's worth yet again in regional action as a fourth-quarter rally by the Tomcats almost led to another comeback victory.

The Tomcats cut a 51-38 deficit down to 3 with 2:31 remaining before William Brown, who had scored 16 points up to that point, fouled out while receiving a technical after emotion got the best of him.

This gave the Hawks a 6-point swing as Cory Hrynyk sank four shots at the line and Marc Little added two more free-throws right after as the Hawks finished with a 75-62 win in their own Class 4A regional.

No. 8 seed Bartlett (20-7) will meet top-seeded Batavia at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the regional title.

"That was big for us," Hrynyk said. "Both teams were emotional and I saw the ref T someone up."

The Hawks set the tone early as they finished the first quarter on a 14-2 run to take a 19-10 lead as Luke Labedzki (14 points) hit three baskets from behind the arc in the quarter.

"Our motto all season long has been playing 32 minutes," Hrynyk said. "We looked back at the last time we played them and knew we had to come out strong."

However, the Tomcats (16-11) went on an 11-0 run to begin the second quarter with Takaius Brooks scoring 6 of his 13 points.

The Tomcats led most of the quarter before the Hawks finished with a 12-0 run turning a 7-point deficit into a 33-28 lead at the break.

"We were able to hang with a regional championship caliber team," said Tomcats coach Wendell Jeffries. "We lost our composure at the end of the first half though."

The key came down to the free-throw line as the Hawks shot 24-for-25 from the line while the Tomcats went 2-for-9.

"Wow, that's the game right there," Jeffries said when he heard the numbers.

Little led the Hawks with 22 points after nailing four from the line in the final 21 seconds of the game to overtake Hrynyk who scored 21.

"We're going against one of the top teams in the state," Wolfsmith said of Batavia. "We want the challenge."

Ryan Hayden led the Tomcats with 25 points.