Downers Grove South 70, Hinsdale Central 52

When you're hot, you're hot.

And Downers Grove South's boys basketball team was smoking in Wednesday's Class 4A Lyons Township regional semifinal, upsetting Hinsdale Central 70-52 in LaGrange.

The No. 11 seed Mustangs, who play No. 3 Lyons on Friday, made 24 of 40 field goal tries, a blistering 60 percent.

Beginning with Andrius Simulis' 3-pointer 36 seconds into the game on Downers South's first shot, five Mustangs made 3s.

Malcolm Herron, scoring a team-high 17 points, had 3 of them. All told Downers South made 9 of 13 beyond the arc.

"I'll tell you what," Hinsdale Central coach Ed Lynch said, "the rim could probably be about as big as a pop can and it would have went in for them tonight."

But you know these basketball coaches. It's not all about offense.

"We shot real well," said Mustangs coach Paul Runyon, "but I was more pleased with our first-half defense, is what I was real pleased with."

He cited Billy Dillon's job on No. 6 seed Hinsdale Central star Chris Chana, though the three-year starter did hit five 3s and had 11 of his game-high 21 points -- plus 6 steals -- in the first half.

Runyon also lauded 6-foot-6 sophomore Bledar Dervishi, in off the bench to score 15 points; and point guard Alex Gorniak, who scored 12 and handled himself against Red Devil John Whitelaw, who fouled out early in the fourth quarter.

"I thought those two positions were really, really key to tonight's victory," Runyon said.

It started innocently. Hinsdale Central (14-12) hit 6 of 7 shots in a first quarter that ended in a 14-14 tie.

The Red Devils hit the wall in the second quarter while Downers South (14-13) broke through it. The Mustangs snapped a 17-17 tie with 13 straight points, including a pair of Dillon 3s, and were off to a 37-23 halftime lead.

Their hot hand continued into the third quarter. Hinsdale Central cut it to 37-28 in the first two minutes, but first Julius Staisiunas then Dervishi established themselves and Downers South led 54-33 entering the fourth.

Thirteen points was the closest Hinsdale Central got, 58-45 with 3:23 left on Nick Kladis' basket off a steal by sophomore Jason Rafferty, who finished his season with 12 points and 8 rebounds.

"We just dug ourselves into a hole and couldn't get ourselves out," Chana said.

-- David Oberhelman

Bartlett 75, East Aurora 62: Bartlett and East Aurora both know a thing or two about exciting games. Bartlett 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.

East Aurora 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 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 of 25 from the line while the Tomcats went 2 of 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.

-- Seth Hancock

York 62, Oswego East 54 At the Class 4A Waubonsie Valley regional, the No. 7-seeded Dukes took a 33-19 halftime lead and withstood No. 11 Oswego East's 20-point fourth quarter. York (19-8) sent four players in double figures: Steve Ganser with 17, Rick Aleman with 14 and Tom Judge and Roger Coffin with 12 points apiece. York advances to Friday's regional final against No. 2 seed Waubonsie Valley (21-6).

Women's basketball

College of DuPage 53, Harper 49: College of DuPage watched a 12-point advantage midway through the second half shrink to 2 points with 1:30 remaining against host Harper College.

But the top-seeded Chaparrals made two big defensive stops in the final minute to hang on to a 53-49 victory in the semifinal of the NJCAA Region IV Division III women's basketball tournament in Palatine.

COD (20-11) advances to play second-seed Rock Valley (16-10) for the Region IV title at 5 p.m. Saturday at Harper. The winner advances to the national tournament at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, N.Y., on March 13.

Harper sophomore Jenny Murray's basket and ensuing free throw narrowed the Hawks' deficit to 51-49.

Fourth-seeded Harper (6-23) had two chances to tie the game in the final minute, but 2 turnovers on errant passes helped COD secure the win.

"One thing my ladies are starting to understand is we don't need a steal or blocked shot," said COD coach Chris Cotton of his team's defense in the final minute. "We just need containment and allow the other team to turn the ball over themselves."

Freshman Danielle Roden scored a team-high 15 points to lead the Chaparrals with sophomore Bonnie Nge adding 14 points.

Murray scored 14 of her game-high 20 points in the second half to lead Harper's rally. Emily Vierneisel added 10 points.

"We haven't been in a close game like that in awhile," said Harper coach Rusty Becker, whose team lost its first two meetings to COD by 24 and 31 points. "We got what we wanted, unfortunately we had a few turnovers."

COD led by 10 points on two occasions in the first half, but Harper narrowed its deficit to 29-23 at halftime. The Hawks then pulled within 3 points early in the second half.

The Chaparrals, with only six players suited up because of injuries, answered as freshman Amanda Smith's driving 3-point play gave COD its largest lead at 44-32 with 10:52 to remaining.

"We only have six players, so all we know what to do is battle," said Smith, who also intercepted an errant pass with 29 seconds remaining to help secure the victory. "We knew what was on the line and what was at stake here, we didn't want it to end here."

COD converted 7 of 10 free throws in the second half, but Murray scored 7 points in the final five minutes to lead the Hawks.

"We weren't about to give up," Murray added, "We came out in the second half with much more energy and were more aggressive."

-- Michael Eaken