Waubonsie Valley 61, York 40
Josh Daniels, like all Waubonsie Valley players, has "Warriors" stitched across the front of his jersey.
Friday it should have read "Flammable." He was on fire.
The three-year starter scored a career-high 28 points, 15 above his season average, on 11-of-14 shooting, 6 of 8 on 3-point shots.
Daniels and fellow senior guard Kevin VandenBerg, with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, quickly took the starch out of York and the drama out of the Class 4A Waubonsie Valley boys basketball regional final in a 61-40 win in Aurora.
"I figured this was my last game on this court, so I wanted to make it memorable," said Daniels, who rendered moot his combined 6-of-29 shooting in two season-ending Upstate Eight Conference losses.
"I was in a little shooting slump the last few games, but (Warriors coach Steve Weemer) told me I was a good shooter, just fight that out and I was going to do good. I came out and did good."
"A shooter's got to keep shooting the ball, and he did that," Weemer said. "It wasn't a matter of a green light or not. I said, Man, he's hot, we've got to keep getting him the ball."
Batten the hatches, because with its second straight regional title No. 2 seed Waubonsie Valley (22-6) will face archrival Neuqua Valley, a 62-53 winner over West Aurora, in Wednesday's East Aurora sectional semifinal.
Waubonsie beat Neuqua 61-59 on Jan. 11. Should the Warriors make 21 of 41 shots as they did Friday, Wednesday will be just as interesting.
Waubonsie took a quick 10-1 lead on York on 2 Daniels 3s and 2 VandenBerg baskets. No. 7 seed York (19-9) barely threatened thereafter.
"I think they started out hot and really put us back on our heels, and when our shots didn't fall I think it put more pressure on us," said York coach Al Biancalana.
The Dukes trailed 17-7 at the end of the first quarter and pulled within 10 points just once after, 22-13 on reserve forward Joe Santiago's second-quarter putback.
Daniels swished another 3-pointer and Waubonsie skipped off to a 29-15 halftime lead. The Warriors led 42-22 entering the fourth quarter.
"We couldn't guard him," Biancalana said.
Not to be overlooked was Waubonsie's defense. Forward Jelani Johnson helped hold York marksman Roger Coffin to 6 points and no 3-pointers, and the Dukes went 12 of 45 from the field, 1 of 14 from the arc. Senior forward Steve Ganser topped York with 9 points.
"They were tagging (Tom) Judge and Roger, our shooters, and they did a good job on them," Ganser said. "They played solid defense, but we just did not have one of our better games."