West Hancock turns to defense to grind out victory over Illini West in regional semifinals

WARSAW, Ill. — The West Hancock boys basketball team could never quite find its shooting touch from the perimeter in the season’s rubber match against Illini West.

Fortunately, its defense showed up when it mattered most.

Hunter Froman’s steal and layup with five minutes remaining gave the Titans their first lead since late in the opening quarter and enabled the top seed to grind out a 44-39 victory over the Chargers on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Class 2A Warsaw Regional.

West Hancock forced a half-dozen turnovers and limited Illini West to just five points in the fourth period to erase a seven-point second-half deficit and advance to Friday night’s championship game against Pleasant Plains.

“We started flying around and that’s who we are,” Titans coach Jeff Dahl said of the late defensive effort. “We’re not individually great, but we’re good when we all fly around.”

West Hancock (22-7) hit only three perimeter shots on the night despite consistently getting open looks. Leading scorer Lewis Siegfried was able to connect on only two field goal tries, both driving layups, and scored just nine points.

Eighth-seeded Illini West rode the outside shooting of Reece Shoup in the first half. Shoup sank four 3-pointers to help stake the Chargers to a 22-18 halftime lead, which they stretched to seven on Ethan Carlisle’s long-range bucket seconds into the third period.

“I think it was first-game jitters, honestly,” Titans guard Gage Scott said. “None of us shot the ball very well. It was definitely getting a little tense in the second half.”

Scott’s two free throws and a 3-pointer from the right wing helped West Hancock twice pull within a point in the third quarter before Tre Neiderman buried a 3-pointer from the left corner to push the Illini West lead to 34-30 entering the final period.

Shoup penetrated the lane and found Hayden Ranklin for a layup with less than seven minutes left to give the Chargers a 36-31 cushion. However, that’s when turnovers and missed opportunities began to pile up.

“The key to the game for us was speeding them up,” Dahl said. “They like to go slow. So, we’re like, ‘No, we can’t let them go where they want. We have to speed them up.’ ”

Siegfried hit two free throws and Scott nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing to knot the score at 36-all with 5:45 to go. Froman’s steal and layup put the Titans ahead for the first time since they led 6-5.

Out of sync offensively, Illini West went cold from the field. Both teams came up empty on multiple occasions before 6-foot-6 Cooper Knowles converted a pass from Froman into a layup with 1:57 remaining to give West Hancock a 40-36 lead.

“You can’t go on a five- or six-possession spurt without a bucket in a game like that,” first-year Chargers coach Blaize Kimmel said. 

Carlisle finally ended the Chargers’ scoring drought with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 1:38 to go and Siegfried was called for traveling on a drive to the basket with 63 seconds left.

Colby Robertson then split the defense and drove through the lane for a layup try that would have put Illini West back in front. The contested shot bounced off the back iron and out, however.

“I’ll take my point guard on that kind of straight-away layup anytime,” Kimmel said. “Just a bad bounce. Monday night we got a tip-in with one second left to win the game (46-45 over Beardstown.)”

Gavin Grothaus sank two free throws for West Hancock with 22.5 seconds remaining and Siegfried added two more with 11.3 seconds to go. Illini West turned the ball over on its final two possessions.

Scott led the Titans with 15 points and Shoup’s 12 paced the Chargers, who finished with a 21-11 record.

West Hancock pulled away in the second half to win the first meeting 61-49 the opening week of the season before Illini West returned the favor in the Hancock County Tournament with a 59-56 victory.

So another close game was anticipated.

“When you get the one seed, everybody gives you their best game,” Dahl said. “So, it’s OK. We showed we can grind it out a little bit.”