Huntley 54, Rockford Lutheran 53 ( 2 OT)

FREEPORT -- Tom Giordano was having a rough night, but he wasn't afraid to take the critical shot

Giordano and his Huntley teammates kept battling, right up until his running one-hander swished through at the buzzer ending the second overtime. That gave the Red Raiders an improbable 54-53 victory against Rockford Lutheran in the semifinal of the Class 3A Freeport sectional.

Huntley will face tonight's Burlington Central-Sterling winner in Friday's final.

Lutheran took a 53-52 lead when Brad Lighthall made a free throw with 4.3 seconds left. After a timeout to set up the final play, Giordano dribbled the length of the court. When no one picked him up, he fired it up from about 18 feet away.

"I was hoping I could make something," said Giordano. "I really wasn't doing anything offensively the whole game. Hopefully, that shot wipes everything away and nobody will remember the rest.

"I knew I'd have to hit one sooner or later, so I just kept shooting."

It was just Giordano's second basket of the game.

Jordan Neukirch led Huntley with 20 points. Diego Quintero added 9 and Zac Boster 8 off the bench.

Even before the game, Giordano was prepared if he had to take a final shot.

"He told me before the game, 'I'll hit it,' and of course he did," said Neukirch.

"It wasn't the best look in the world, but it was a pretty good look for that amount of time left," said Giordano.

"That was a heck of a shot by Tommy, especially the way his night was going," said Huntley coach Marty Manning. "It was nice for him to have that one fall. He might have been suicidal if it didn't."

Giordano chipped in in other ways with 8 rebounds and a pair of assists.

Huntley (20-9) played without forward Mike Gonzaga, who hurt his knee playing dodgeball in gym class Monday.

The Raiders and Crusaders both struggled from the free-throw line. Huntley made just 5 of 15 freebies. Lutheran wasn't much better at 8 for 17.

But the Crusaders kept fighting. Ben Easter's putback tied it at 41 at the end of regulation. Lighthall's 3-pointer tied it at 48 with 34 seconds left in the first overtime.

Lutheran (16-11) led 52-48 with 20 seconds left in the second overtime. Giordano made 1 free throw and missed the second, but grabbed his own rebound. He found Boster, who nailed a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to tie it yet again.

"Things were going back and forth all game," said Neukirch. "You had to have the ball last to make sure they wouldn't score."

Huntley scored the last 9 points of the first half to take a 21-20 lead at the break. It led throughout the second half and appeared safe with a 39-33 lead early in the final period. But the Raiders scored only once more in regulation as the Crusaders chipped away at the lead.

"We didn't close it out on the free-throw line," Manning said. "They were getting loose balls and rebounds. It's great that we won, but to be honest it seemed like they wanted it more than us."

Tim Hopps led Lutheran with 14 points. Lighthall finished with 12. Easter scored 9 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.