North Lawndale makes 2A title game
PEORIA, Ill. -- Top-ranked Chicago North Lawndale and perennial powerhouse Peoria Manual will meet for the Class 2A championship after winning their state semifinal games on Friday.
North Lawndale edged Pinckneyville 47-44 in a game that wasn't decided until the final second, while second-ranked Peoria Manual beat Olney East Richland 53-47.
Chicago North Lawndale barely escaped a Pinckneyville team that stayed with them all night. Twice in the final nine seconds, Pinckneyville banged 3-pointers off the rim -- one that would have won the game and another that would have tied the score.
Collin Woodside missed the first 3-pointer with nine seconds left and his team down by a point. And with one second left and his team down by 3, Hayden Hicks launched a shot the left corner that rolled around the rim and out again.
"It looked good to me," said North Lawndale coach Lewis Thorpe. "Honestly, from where I was, it looked like it was going in."
Jonathan Mills led Chicago North Lawndale with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Kyle Cassity paced Pinckneyville with 16 points. Woodside added 11 more in the losing effort.
In the earlier game, Peoria quickly jumped out to a 12-point lead against Olney East Richland and maintained it until the final minutes of the game.
Senior 6-foot-11 center Keane Thomann led sixth-ranked Olney with 17 points and 8 rebounds.
Class 1A
Unranked teams knocked off the top two boys Class 1A squads in the state during semifinal play Friday, setting up a championship matchup between Nokomis and St. Anne.
Nokomis slipped past second-ranked Warrensburg-Latham 36-33, while St. Anne surprised top-ranked Lewistown 52-45 in the earlier semifinal at Carver Arena.
Senior forward Wade Kimbro led Nokomis (30-5) with 12 points, while Zack Boyd and Dominique Warnsley led Warrensburg-Latham (31-2) with 12 points each.
Earlier, St. Anne knocked off top-ranked Lewistown 52-45.
Led by senior center Varron Burdunice's 27 points, St. Anne overcame a stubborn zone defense by the Indians, who dropped to 31-2 with the loss.
The Cardinals, unranked in the final Associated Press Top 10 poll, improved to 24-8.