Down nine with 56 seconds to play, West Hancock throws scare at Pleasant Plains before losing in regional final

WARSAW, Ill. — The West Hancock boys basketball team was facing near-certain defeat when it trailed by nine points with 56 seconds remaining.

Thirty-six seconds later, the Titans had a chance at a miracle.

Pleasant Plains’ Owen Johnson missed two free throws with 33.8 seconds, and the Wildcats had the ball trailing 60-57. Gavin Grothaus eventually got the ball and drove along the baseline to the basket, but the Cardinals’ Grady Grisham cut off his path. Grothaus then whipped the ball to the 3-point arc to a wide-open Nolan Hurt with 20 seconds to play.

Hurt’s potential game-tying 3-pointer hit the back of the rim and caromed out, and the Cardinals’ Cooper Schallenberg made four free throws in the final 13 seconds to secure a 64-60 victory in the championship game of the Class 2A regional on Friday night at Warsaw High School.

“Gavin got me open and threw me the ball,” Hurt said afterward. “I was just focused on the rim. Just a little bit too strong.”

The victory sends Pleasant Plains (18-14) to the sectional in Beardstown, where it will play Tuesday against Alton Marquette (25-8), a 48-43 winner over Roxana in the regional title game at Roxana. West Hancock ends its season with a 22-8 record.

“I had no problem at all with (Hurt) taking the shot,” Titans coach Jeff Dahl said. “It was a great play. We are driving it, and we’re going to kick it out or get a layup.

“Who knows what happens (if Hurt makes it)? You know, you just don’t know.”

Cardinals coach Kyle Weber could only breathe a huge sigh of relief afterward.

“What a crazy game,” he said. “Great environment. I mean, these people love basketball over here. We knew we were coming into a hostile environment. This is what high school basketball is about, playing in environments like this.”

West Hancock spent most of the second half playing from behind because of a four-minute stretch in the second quarter when it was outscored 14-1. After a driving layup by Lewis Siegfried gave the hosts a 20-13 lead, the Titans had three missed shots and three turnovers, scoring just one point on a free throw by Hurt. 

In the meantime, Pleasant Plains closed the half with four 3-pointers — the last two coming from Schallenberg — and led 27-21.

“We didn’t follow our gameplan, and that really hurt us,” Dahl said of the last half of the second quarter. “We just had a lapse.”

“They call a timeout and got their team settled down, and we just came out flat,” Hurt said. “We’ve got to come out a lot stronger than that. We didn’t come out with our mindset to keep attacking them.”

The Cardinals appeared to be on the verge of breaking the game open when Liam Hatfield stole the ball and went in for a layup, capping a 13-4 run to put them ahead 40-25 with 2:10 left in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, West Hancock was in the midst of a drought of 11 consecutive misses from beyond the 3-point arc. 

“I think it might have been their defense a little bit,” Hurt said of the perimeter problems. “We’ve kind of been struggling here lately.”

The lead was at least nine points for most of the fourth quarter, and two free throws by Grady Grisham with 1:57 to play put Pleasant Plains ahead 55-46. Gage Scott made a three for the Titans with 1:34 to play, but after Schallenberg made two free throws, Scott was called for an offensive foul. Trager Shultz made a free throw at the 1:15 mark to make the score 58-49.

Grothaus hit a driving layup with 51 seconds left, and he was fouled on the play. He missed the free throw, but Siegfried grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled while making the putback. His free throw made the score 58-54.

Schallenberg then made two free throws, but Grothaus made another driving layup and was fouled with 37.7 seconds remaining. His free throw made the score 60-57, and Johnson was fouled four seconds later.

“We talked about the volatility of West Hancock just because of their ability to shoot threes,” Weber said. “They come in waves. No lead is safe. No deficit is too much to overcome. Hats off to them. I mean, those kids didn’t quit. We’re lucky in the end to survive.”

Schallenberg led Pleasant Plains with 21 points, making all eight of his free throws in the final 75 seconds. Grothaus led West Hancock with 22 points, and Siegfried added 16.

“After all is said and done, we gave ourselves a chance to tie it,” Dahl said. “We kind of didn’t get urgent early enough.”