Titans earn chance for revenge, dispatch Bombers in regional semifinals to get shot at Raiders

QUINCY — Eight nights ago, Gavin Grothaus walked off the floor at The Pit with a bitter taste in his mouth.

“That one kind of hurt,” the West Hancock sophomore said of the Titans’ 17-point loss to Quincy Notre Dame on Valentine’s Day at The Pit.

Grothaus made sure he wouldn’t feel the same disappointment Wednesday night.

He came off the bench to score a game-high 16 points, knocking down four 3-pointers, in the 65-42 victory over Macomb in the Class 2A QND Regional semifinals. Now, the Titans (24-8) get a rematch with QND at 7 p.m. Friday in the regional championship.

“My teammates drove and made my (defender) help, got me the ball, and I was just feeling it,” Grothaus said.

West Hancock coach Jeff Dahl largely plays a seven-man rotation and says any of those players can start on any given night. The postseason opener just so happened to be Grothaus’s night to shine.

“When Gavin is focused like that he’s really, really good,” Dahl said.

Titans senior Luke Jacquot had a front row seat as Grothaus made four 3-pointers, including a pair of treys during a 16-4 run to end the third quarter that gave West Hancock a 53-34 lead entering the final quarter.

“Gavin was amazing,” Jacquot said. “He was making threes from the corner. It was just awesome.”

Jacquot and fellow senior Alec Hymes did most of the Titans’ heavy lifting in the paint. Jacquot finished with 12 points and six rebounds, while Hymes had eight points, six boards, and six assists.

“I told them at halftime not to be comfortable and satisfied,” Dahl said following the first half which saw the Titans build a 37-24 lead. 

The Bombers started the second half scoring six consecutive points to trim the deficit to 37-30. That’s as close as they got.

“Defensively (Macomb) came out aggressive and we came out less aggressive,” Dahl said. “We called a timeout and we kind of rotated a little bit to make sure we had better ball control. Alec had a steal, went full court, and laid it in, that was big, and then we made two threes after that, and that was really big. When our defense started playing again is when we made the run.”

West Hancock junior Gage Scott also was a spark off the bench, scoring in all four quarters and finishing with 11 points. 

Macomb (25-7) was led by Connor Watson and Jack Duncan with 10 points apiece. The Titans’ victory was the second in three tries against the Bombers this season.

Dahl also was pleased with his team’s effort on the glass. The Titans finished with 23 rebounds.

“Ever since we played (at QND last week) we’ve been talking about that because our rebounding effort was not good at all,” he said. “It was more like let people bump us out of the way and then let them get the boards. We talked about being stronger and ripping it with authority instead of tipping the ball around and hoping it comes to us.”

Now West Hancock gets its shot to avenge a lackluster regular season loss at The Pit and Dahl anticipates an atmosphere he could only describe with one word.

“Crazy, I hope,” he said. “Because I like crazy.”