Titans trade salvos with top-ranked Rams, prove they belong in conversation among Class 2A’s best

ABINGDON, Ill. — The West Hancock boys basketball team proved something to Titans coach Jeff Dahl and the rest of Illinois on Saturday.

The Titans belong in the upper echelon of Class 2A.

“This game should inspire them to think that we can get to the top,” Dahl said.

The Titans went toe-to-toe with Peoria Manual, the unanimous No. 1 team in Class 2A in the latest Associated Press state rankings, in a 70-57 loss at the Great Western Shootout at Abingdon-Avon High School. 

Titans junior forward Cooper Knowles said the game was not as lopsided as the final score may indicate.

“I think it was a lot closer,” Knowles said.

The Titans’ play for the first three quarters and change supports Knowles’ claim. The Titans took the lead three different times in the third quarter after trailing 31-27 at halftime. A Jordan Crowley putback off his own miss gave the Titans their largest lead at 38-35 with 4:53 to go.

Peoria Manual coach Marvin Jordan called a timeout after that bucket, and the Rams found their groove again. They regained the lead just over a minute later and stretched it to 53-47 on a Davion McClendon jumper at the third quarter buzzer. 

Again, the Titans responded by scoring the first four points of the fourth quarter. A Lewis Siegfried driving layup following a pump fake at the 3-point line trimmed the Rams’ lead to 53-51 with 6:59 left.

“Our guys kept taking punches and punching back,” said Dahl, whose team is ranked eighth in Class 2A. “I was really proud of them.”

The Titans were just missing that knockout blow. Peoria Manual went on a 9-0 run over the next 3:30, and the Rams outscored West Hancock 17-6 the rest of the game.

“We just couldn’t make shots,” said Siegfried, who had nine points in the first half and finished with 13. “We were getting a lot of open looks. We just couldn’t get them to fall.”

The Titans threw their first counterpunch after the Rams jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Dahl called a timeout at the 4:57 mark to calm his troops.

“I called that timeout and I told them, ‘Listen, it is just a game. We just have to do what we do. We don’t have to do what they want us to do. We just have to hit our spots, don’t rush,’” Dahl said. “We were rushing, like missing layups. We were going so fast and out of control.”

Just 21 seconds later, Siegfried drained a 3-pointer. Thirty seconds after that, Hunter Froman knocked down a three of his own, and the Titans got as close as 12-9 in the opening frame on a Knowles and-one layup.

The Titans tied the game twice in the final 3:22 of the first half while Froman was sidelined after taking a shot to the nose with six minutes left in the second quarter. West Hancock outscored the Rams 11-8 in Froman’s absence.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, OK, good job guys,’” Dahl said.

Even more notably absent from the West Hancock lineup was senior Gavin Grothaus, the Titans’ point guard, second leading scorer and leading rebounder, who sat out with an ankle injury.

“Gavin’s worth more than 13 points,” Dahl said. “He’s our best rebounder. He handles the ball. We wouldn’t have had as many turnovers. If we get more rebounds and have fewer turnovers, that means more shots. I like our chances with him.”

If the Titans needed further evidence to show whether or not they proved their mettle, Peoria Manual’s Dietrich Richardson, a Bradley University commit, was questionable to suit up on Saturday. He played all four quarters, and the Titans held him to 11 points and scoreless in the second half.

“I’m glad he (played) because it showed that with him in and us down one, we still competed,” Dahl said.

Knowles, who led the Titans with 17 points and had seven blocks, feels the confidence that Dahl hoped his players would have after hanging right with the No. 1 ranked team in their class.

“We proved that we can be the top team in 2A,” Knowles said. “They’re the No. 1 team, and we went back and forth with them.”

Siegfried believes the Titans No. 8 ranking may be a little low.

“I feel like we can be higher,” Siegfried said. “People are going to judge us off of it now that we lost, but they’re the unanimous No. 1 team, and we were missing our second leading scorer. We’re definitely up there.”