Auburn upended No. 5-ranked, and last year’s Class 4A state runner-up, Warren Township to kickstart a busy night of sectional semifinal action Tuesday for six Rockford-area boys basketball squads.
That upset was followed by Guilford’s handling of Waukegan to close out the 4A Hononegah Sectional semifinals, setting up a matchup of two of the NIC-10’s top teams in Friday’s sectional championship.
And they weren’t alone when it came to the dramatic on March 3.
“When you make it this far,” Lutheran head coach Tom Guse said shortly before his team went out and notched a 69-67 win in overtime over Oregon in Tuesday’s 2A Mendota Sectional semi, “nobody wants to be done yet.”
Lutheran advanced to Friday’s 2A sectional finals with that exciting win in OT; Auburn and Guilford made it; and surprise contender Pecatonica stayed alive in 1A. But despite four 3-pointers and 23 points from senior guard Brian Harper, Jr., East fell 64-44 to Kaneland in the 3A Woodstock North sectional semi.
Auburn, Guilford set up Round 3
But Auburn and Guilford held serve. The two teams will play for the third time this year at 7 p.m. Friday. Guilford won the first two meetings ― the first time in overtime, the second time by six.
Friday’s matchup wouldn’t have materialized had it not been for Amir Danforth’s heroics as Auburn (26-8) jumped all over Warren Township (30-4) early on, and never let up during an 84-76 victory.
In a rare game that pitted two 2,000-point scorers against each other, the action was constant.
But Auburn held Warren’s star, Jaxson Davis, to nine points on 1-of-13 shooting while Danforth lit it up for 30 points to spark the Knights. Auburn shot nearly 64 percent from the floor as a team, with Danforth making 8 of his 18 shots, and all 11 of his free throws.
Mikwan Marshall’s 8-for-10 effort during an 18-point game was key for Auburn, as was Champ Parker, who went 4-of-5 from the field and had eight points and five assists. Darian Royal came off the bench and was 5-for-5 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range while scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
Warren’s Braylon Walker did score 33 points and Davis had nine assists, but they were chasing the Knights most of the game.
Guilford hung on for a 63-57 win over Waukegan, but the Vikings led the whole way. Guilford (25-7) was 0-for-10 from 3-point land, but the Vikings got 21 points from Branden Chatman and 15 from Ricky Woods, Jr., off the bench, and never trailed in this one.
Who were the other stars?
Pecatonica hauled in the second biggest upset of the night, knocking off No. 1-seed and highly ranked Sterling Newman 70-66 in the first 1A Orion Sectional semifinal. Dakota takes on Eastland at 7 p.m. Wednesday to see who earns the right to take on Pec in the 7 p.m. Friday sectional championship showdown
Pecatonica (22-13) was led by Zion Braimah’s 34-point night, while Cooper Hamilton added 14. Newman (33-2) senior George Jungerman tallied 22 points.
Mason Keller scored 23 points to spark Lutheran (19-15) and Brady Lindsay added 15 as they staved off the Hawks. Benny Olade tallied 17 points and Tucker O’Brien added 15 in the season finale for Oregon (24-10).
That was Lutheran’s only overtime game of the season, and Lutheran had lost by 13 to Oregon earlier in the season.
Now, the Crusaders will wait to see who they take on in Friday’s Mendota Sectional final as Johnsburg faces Aurora Christian on Wednesday night.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Find out which 4 of 6 Rockford-area boys basketball teams stayed alive
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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