Wednesday, March 4
Class 3A Waterloo Sectional
WATERLOO ⚊ The 1-2 pairing of Jamison White and Alex Johnson combined for 55 points, and top-seeded East St. Louis racked up an 82-50 victory over No. 2 seed Jacksonville in the Class 3A Waterloo Sectional semifinals on Wednesday, March 4.
The Flyers (29-4) will play No. 2 sub-sectional seed Centralia for the sectional championship on Friday at 7 p.m. Centralia (32-1) defeated No. 1 Troy Triad 58-38 in the semifinals on Tuesday.
After Jacksonville forward Troy DeFrates scored on a baseline dunk to get the Crimsons within 12-10, East St. Louis displayed its quick strike offense and closed the quarter on a 10-0 run to lead 22-10 heading into the second stanza. White and Phillip Jones both made a 3-pointer during the spurt, and the Flyers were off and running.
Jacksonville trailed by 21 points midway through the second period and made a slight push when Masen Johnson had a 3-pointer and scored five points to go with a bucket each by Greyson Prevett and Latrell Hemphill.
East St. Louis settled for a 41-26 halftime lead and distanced itself further by starting the second half on a 7-0 run. The Flyers finished with 12 3-pointers. White buried five 3s and led all scorers with 28 points. Johnson hit four shots from long distance and compiled 27, while Jones ended with nine.
Jacksonville finished 23-9. The Crimsons won their first regional championship since the 1999-2000 season.
DeFrates, a 6-foot-7 senior, scored 12 second-half points and concluded with a team-high 18. Hemphill made a 3-pointer and scored nine points, and Johnson nailed a pair of 3s and shared eight points with Wyatt Moore.
Tuesday, March 3
Class 1A Nokomis Sectional
NOKOMIS ― Adam Abell made shots all over the floor and teammate Brady Turner did his damage on the interior block as top-seeded Jacksonville Routt ran away and defeated No. 3 seed Bunker Hill 67-50 in the Class 1A Nokomis Sectional semifinals on Tuesday, March 3.
Jacksonville Routt (28-4) plays either No. 1 Hardin Calhoun or No. 3 Mount Sterling Brown County for the sectional championship at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Abell, a 6-foot-7 senior, was locked in from the opening tip when he scored the first four points of the game. His 3-pointer gave the Rockets a 10-9 lead as both teams traded shots in the first period. Turner came along late in the quarter, and he and Abell both had seven points by the quarter’s end with Routt leading 18-16.
Routt took the lead for good when Abell nailed a 3-pointer to give the Rockets a 29-26 advantage late in the second period. He knocked down two 3s in the quarter and scored 10 to finish with 17 points in the first half. Routt led 31-28 and forced seven key Bunker Hill turnovers at halftime.
The Rockets’ execution on the offensive end, combined with their defensive pressure, wore down the Minutemen in the second half. Abell’s fourth and final 3-pointer lifted Routt to its biggest lead at that point, a 38-30 margin with 4 minutes, 40 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Bunker Hill, which finished 24-8, made one final run, an 8-2 spurt after Bryce Yates scored to cut the deficit to 40-38. But Turner, who had eight points in the third, went back to work in the post with a pair of baskets, and senior guard Bryson Mossman added a 3-pointer and helped push the lead to 47-39 after three quarters.
Abell then opened the final quarter with two buckets, and Routt grabbed a 12-point lead to put on the final touches. Abell finished with a game-best 26 points with an additional five rebounds. Turner, a 6-5 senior, delivered 17 points and seven rebounds. Mossman added 12 points as Routt shot 51.9% (27-for-52) from the floor and committed just two turnovers after halftime.
Bunker Hill made 19 of 45 (42.2%) shots and finished with 14 turnovers. Peter Jarden led the Minutemen with 13 points and Bryce Yates and Cole Yates added 11 apiece.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: East St. Louis routs Jacksonville in boys basketball sectionals
Reporting by Trevor Lawrence, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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