Zion-Benton 79, Mundelein 74
After accidentally hurting himself, Markus Yarbrough purposely put the hurt on Mundelein.
Zion-Benton's 6-foot-7 center said that as he filed into the locker room during halftime of Friday's regional final at Libertyville, he bumped his hand against the wall.
Hard.
"One of our coaches was like, 'Isn't that your shooting hand?' And I was like 'Yeah,'" Yarbrough said. "And he was like, 'Well, you better do what you need to do to fix it and keep your head up because we need you in there.'"
Yarbrough obliged and didn't seem the least bit sore in the second half.
In fact, he seemed pretty darn comfortable as he punished Mundelein in the paint. He scored 16 of his team-high 23 points after the break to help Zion-Benton pull out a 79-74 victory over a Mundelein team that just wouldn't go away.
The Zee-Bees, who are the No. 1 seed in the Barrington sectional and move to 28-3 on the season, earned their tenth regional title in a row. They will now face No. 5 Buffalo Grove, a 57-41 winner over Lake Zurich, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the first sectional semifinal at Barrington.
"We've got great fans who back us up all the time," said Yarbrough, who was swarmed by well-wishers after the game. "We're happy to win because we just played a really good team."
No. 8 Mundelein, which got a game-high 26 points (including four 3-pointers) from senior guard Andy Rochon and closes out the season with an 18-12 record, fell behind by as many as 12 points in the third quarter.
The Mustangs then rallied to within 5 points by the start of the fourth quarter, but were down by double digits again before they knew it.
Zion-Benton, which got double-figures from five players, reeled off a 6-0 run to start the period to go up by 11 points (68-57).
But, yet again, the Mustangs kept scratching and clawing. With about a minute remaining, they had cut the deficit to 3 points on a huge 4-point play by Ken Branch (12 points overall) and a clutch putback by Ben Brust.
With the clock winding down under 20 seconds, Mundelein senior forward Navjot Singh had a good look at a 3-pointer, but it just missed. The Mustangs were then forced to foul and Zion-Benton guard Rodney Clinkscales (15 total points) coolly dropped 4 straight free throws to ice the victory.
"This game was tough," said Singh, who scored 20 points on four 3-pointers. "But we didn't give up. We kept playing hard the whole night and that's what kept us in it. It showed the character of this team. We can hold our heads up.
"We just couldn't get over that hump and it's disappointing. We didn't want our season to end."
No one in the Mundelein locker room did -- particularly head coach Dick Knar.
The seniors on the team hold a special place in his heart. They were freshmen during his first season at Mundelein and are the first class to complete all four years under his tutelage.
"I didn't want the game to end, I didn't want the season to end," said Knar, who got his first regional title with the Mustangs last year. "It was fun to be a part of this group.
"The seniors have really busted their butts for four years and made us a formidable team. I mean, we're competitive now."
Besides Yarbrough and Clinkscales, the Zee-Bees also got double-figures from Quintrell Love (15 points), Ronald Steward (12 points on four 3-pointers) and Lenzelle Smith (11 points).