The Kewanee Boilers (22-9) bounced back from a sluggish first quarter Wednesday night, but expended a lot of energy in the process and succumbed to Sherrard (22-7) in the final five minutes of the 2A Farmington Regional semifinal, losing 55-45.
Sherrard will now play second-seeded Macomb, a 59-48 winner over Farmington (8), at 7 p.m. Friday in the regional championship game.
Sherrard 55, Kewanee 45
Kewanee’s open looks were limited in the first quarter, but they weren’t able to capitalize on the shots they did take, missing their first four.
Sherrard, on the other hand, used their good ball movement to their advantage and opened up an 8-0 lead after finding Ryan Carton open for a 3-pointer.
A trey by Holland Anderson would open up a 13-1 Sherrard lead with two minutes left in the frame. A Braden Clark drive-in bucket would be Kewanee’s first 2-pointer of the game and his bonus free throw would make the score 15-4 with one minute left in the quarter.
Anderson and Carton combined to score 12 first quarter points for Sherrard.
The Boilers forged a valiant second quarter comeback, spearheaded by their floor leader Braden Clark. He made a pair of free throws before senior Blake Johnston made a rebound bucket for a score of 19-8.
Kewanee’s defensive effort picked up as well and their tight 2-3 zone started to get Sherrard flustered. Junior forward Kashen Ellerbrock then entered the game and sank a big 3-pointer and Clark scored down low to bring the Boilers within seven at 23-16.
Clark then had a steal and fought his way through traffic for an acrobatic layup, which was soon followed by a Clark trey to bring the Boilers within two at 23-21. Sherrard then made a layup and Lewis closed out the quarter with a free throw for a halftime score of 25-22.
Clark had 12 second quarter points and 16 at the half for Kewanee. Leading the way for Sherrard was Anderson with 10 points.
Each team scored 11 points in the third quarter and Sherrard maintained a 3-point lead of 36-33 with one quarter left in the semifinal game. Ryan Carton scored six for the Tigers.
Things were looking up for the Boilers when senior point guard Blaise Lewis launched a long 3-point bomb to tie the score at 36 at the onset of the fourth quarter.
Clark later scored on an inbounds play and made good on the 3-point play, but the Boilers trailed 42-39 with five minutes left to play. Clark then banked one off the glass in the lane for a score of 44-41. That, however, would be as close as Kewanee would get.
Noah Fender scored down low and Anderson had a steal and layup for the 48-41 Sherrard advantage with 3:30 left to play. The Tigers then started spreading the floor and playing keep away. Not deterred, Johnston tipped a pass and Kewanee had an opportunity to score, but missed the shot.
While Sherrard was spreading the court, Kewanee had a player trapped along the baseline, but the ball made its way into a wide open Anderson at the top of the key for a gut punch that gave the Tigers a 10-point advantage (51-41) with two minutes left to play.
“I’m proud of our guys, they had a really good season, accomplished a couple of our season goals but just came up short in this game,” said Kewanee Coach Matt Clark.
“Falling behind 14-1 in the first quarter put us in a hole that takes much more energy to climb out of. I liked how we battled back and took the lead in the second half but credit to Sherrard and Coach Johnson, they made the plays that were needed to win,” added Clark.
Braden Clark ended his acclaimed Boilermakers career with a game-high 23 points and fellow senior Blaise Lewis closed out his impressive varsity career with nine points.
Sherrard was led by Holland Anderson with 19 points and Ryan Carton followed with 17. James Blackwell added eight on the night.
“I’d like to give a thank you to our seniors,” said Matt Clark. “Each one of them have grown as a player and as a person these past four years. They’ve given a lot to the program and I’m excited to see them succeed after high school.”
