Simply, Moran special player

The Jacobs boys basketball team went to Plan B early.

Really, though, it was Plan A disguised as Plan B for a night.

Had top-seeded Jacobs gotten off to a hot start and blown out No. 4 Crystal Lake South from the outset of Tuesday's Class 4A regional semifinal, star point guard guard John Moran and his injured left hip would have remained planted three seats down from head coach Jim Hinkle, the veteran coach said.

But the playoffs have a funny way of forcing teams to earn it every single night, injured or not.

The host Gators, who had played Jacobs to a 6-point game at the same venue two weeks earlier, jumped to a 12-7 lead, thanks to 3-pointers by Eric Wilde, Mike Brockway and Wesley Evans and a drive and free throw by Steve Rogers.

The Golden Eagle fan base gnashed its collective teeth, knowing the game was not following along the lines of best-case scenario.

Following Rogers' basket, Hinkle called timeout. Moran headed to the scorer's table to check in with 2:16 left in the first quarter.

It wasn't Clark Kent busting out of a phone booth or a cavalryman riding in on a white horse. But it was close.

Moran played the rest of the game and led all scorers with 21 points to go with 8 rebounds and 6 assists in a 48-35 victory.

"Nice sixth man, huh?" Hinkle said with a smile after the game. "It would have been nice if we could get it without him, but we couldn't. South came out and was really pumped up, knocking down everything they took. So, we had to be at full force to get them. Once we were at full force..."

Well, once they were at full force the Golden Eagles reverted to their usual selves.

Moran started off a bit slowly, missing his first 3-point attempt. But he canned a silky turnaround jumper from the left elbow to start the second quarter, igniting Jacobs to a dominant period in which it outscored South 12-2. That fact was all the more impressive since the Eagles did their damage without starting center Conrad Krutwig, who kept Moran's chair warm after picking up his third foul with 5:37 left in the second period.

With adrenaline overpowering the pain, Moran willed Jacobs forward.

He drained a fadeaway 3-pointer off an inbounds play with 56 seconds left in the half to give the Eagles an 18-16 lead.

After South turned a layup possibility into a turnover, Moran drove up court and rifled a pass to the corner to his co-captain, Zack Peterson, who sank the bomb to beat the halftime buzzer.

"We all know Johnny's going to play, even if he's hurt as bad as he is," Peterson said. "He's doing a great job of fighting through the pain."

Peterson pumped his fist at the end of the first half. So did Moran. So did the Jacobs fans.

"Moran took over. He's a special kid with the basketball," Gators coach Dan DeBruycker said.

That's a fact not even a nagging hip injury can disguise.