Titans unable to gain measure of revenge, fall to Cardinals in regional championship

PLEASANT PLAINS, Ill. — Same opponent, same circumstance, different venue.

Yet, it was still the same result for the West Hancock boys basketball team.

Facing Pleasant Plains in the Class 2A regional championship for the second straight year — last year it happened in Warsaw, this time in Pleasant Plains — the Titans struggled offensively, scoring just five first-quarter points and trailing throughout in a 48-41 loss.

West Hancock, which entered the postseason ranked 10th in the final Associated Press Class 2A state poll and hoped to avenge last year’s 64-60 loss to Pleasant Plains, finished its season with a 28-5 record.

The Titans trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, but they pulled within 18-16 when Cooper Knowles dunked a lob from Lewis Siegfried with two minutes remaining in the second quarter. However, the Cardinals’ Grady Grisham buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Pleasant Plains a 21-16 halftime lead.

West Hancock pulled within a basket again in the third quarter as Siegfried’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter made it 23-21. However, Pleasant Plain’ Owen Johnson scored the only field goal the remainder of the quarter — a 3-pointer from the left corner with 3:10 to go — as the Cardinals took a five-point lead to the fourth quarter.

The advantage grew to 31-21 before the Titans chiseled it back to a three-point game with three minutes to play. The Cardinals responded by scoring on nine consecutive possessions to maintain a the advantage.

Gavin Grothaus led West Hancock with 12 points and Knowles finished with 10. The Titans, who averaged 6.5 made 3-pointers per game, managed to make only two from beyond the arc.