Westminster Christian coach Bruce Firchau said the scare Mendota gave his Warriors in Wednesday’s regional semifinal at Plano might work to their advantage come Friday.
Last season the Warriors entered a Class 1A regional as hosts, expecting to win, only to be stunned when Chicagoland Jewish pulled off the upset in the regional championship game in Elgin.
Playing for the first time in a Class 2A regional 21 victories later, the Warriors watched the 10-point lead they had pieced together midway through the third quarter evaporate more quickly than snow in late-winter sunlight. However, they regrouped, continued to play good defense and hit key shots late to survive with a 43-37 victory.
No. 1 Westminster Christian (22-5) advances to Friday’s regional title game against No. 2 Genoa-Kingston (12-15), which defeated host Plano 61-57 in Wednesday’s second semifinal. The Warriors seek the second boys basketball regional title in school history.
“In one sense maybe this is the best thing that could happen to us tonight, that we would have a real intense opening game that was tight, no breather,” Firchau said. “Maybe that will relax us for Friday night to play like we’re capable of.
“I think there was no doubt that our memory served us in a bad way from last year’s regional upset.”
No. 4 Mendota (10-21), which had been limited to 3-of-21 shooting in the first half, sank 6-of-10 shots in the third quarter and finished the period on a 12-1 run to take a 26-25 lead to the fourth quarter.
Junior Drake O’Donnell came off the bench to hit a pair of 3-pointers, and 6-foot-3 senior Zach Lewis sank a pair of free throws to stake Mendota to its first lead since early in the second quarter.
But the Warriors opened the fourth quarter with a pair of inside buckets from 6-9 senior center Ian Dutcher to take a 29-26 lead.
Dutcher scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter to go with 11 rebounds.
“The whole game I was trying to get open,” Dutcher said. “I don’t know what happened, but in the fourth quarter I was just finding the right spots to get in. They were getting me the ball in wide-open spots.”
Senior guard Brandon Cork sank a clutch 3-pointer from the corner to give the Warriors a 34-30 lead with 3:20 left, and Luke Carani later spotted Dutcher behind Mendota’s half-court trap for an easy layup and a 38-32 advantage with 1:32 to play.
“Anytime you see Ian under the basket your eyes light up because he can just put it in every time, basically,” Carani said.
However, pesky Mendota didn’t go away quietly. The Trojans pulled within 38-35 on a 3-pointer by Ross Arteaga with 58 seconds left.
“Down by 10 any team could have given up,” Mendota coach Jan Thompson said of the third-quarter deficit. “It shows a lot of heart and pride in an adverse situation. We battled through and were able to pull back within a few points and made it a ballgame. I’m real proud of our kids.”
Westminster Christian sank 5-of-8 free throws in the final minute to fend off the Trojans, who missed their final 2 shots to finish 13 of 42 from the field (31 percent).
Carani finished with 9 points and Cork added 7 for Westminster Christian, which defeated Genoa-Kingston 53-39 on Dec. 11. The Warriors intend to shrug off Wednesday’s slow start and come out firing.
“I think we just came out a little bit nervous being our first regional game,” Cork said of the semifinal victory. “It’s nice to have that at the start of the tournament. I’m pretty sure we’ll bounce back.”
by Daily Herald writer Jerry Fitzpatrick
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