PRINCETON — The calendar has yet to turn to March, but Fieldcrest High School's 53-51 overtime win over Port Byron Riverdale and Monmouth-Roseville's come-from-behind 68-56 win over Peoria Christian in the 2A boys Princeton Sectional semifinals were maddening nonetheless.
Fieldcrest took a 53-50 lead after senior Zak Schwiderski split a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left, but a last-second three-point attempt from Riverdale's Jared Richmond stuck between the side of the rim and the backboard as the final horn sounded.
The game officials put two seconds back on the clock, allowing Riverdale one more chance. Riverdale got the ball into the hands of senior guard Wes DeClercq, who recently went over the 2,000-point career scoring mark. He was immediately fouled before he could fire off a three-point-attempt from the right corner, putting him on the line for a pair of free throws.
DeClercq hit the first attempt but was called for a lane violation when he intentionally missed the second, sending Fieldcrest (28-2) into Friday's 7:30 p.m. championship game with its first sectional win in school history.
"It feels good to be playing on a Friday in sectional week," Fieldcrest coach Matt Winkler said. "Fieldcrest is 20 years old, and every year I go into the season thinking we're going to keep playing all the time, like other coaches do. It's been an abrupt ending, so to be playing on Friday night is going to be special.
"Our goal is to come up here and win a championship, not to just come up here and win the first game."
Monmouth-Roseville (25-4) had an equally exciting victory Wednesday, rallying from a 34-24 halftime deficit to go up by as much as 15 late in the fourth quarter. The Titans' win sets up an exciting championship game Friday night against two of the hottest teams in 2A.
"We've had to play Matt (Fieldcrest coach Winker's Knights) a few times over the years in the Peoria Shootout and they're a great program. It might be the best sectional around in the state," Mon-Rose coach Chuck Grant said. "It's going to be two teams that are playing really well right now and are legitimate final four teams. I hope they can't fit all the people in here Friday night."
Fieldcrest 53, Riverdale 51: The Knights (28-2) led by as much as 42-33 late in the fourth quarter, but Riverdale charged back. Richmond and DeClercq hit two deep three-pointers and Richmond tied the game at 44 with a basket on the break with 1:08 remaining. Fieldcrest's Brady Sanders drove the baseline and shot at the buzzer, his shot blocked by Caleb Maraden.
Schwiderski made six of eight free throws in overtime, his last to put them up 53-50 with 10 seconds left. Then came Richmond's shot at the buzzer that stuck in the rim and DeClercq's attempt for a desperation shot.
It was pure madness before March, and Riverdale coach Jason Hendrix said he had never seen anything like it before.
"When you add our comeback, and Sanders being fouled with no time left (in regulation) and not calling it, and the shot here (by Richmond), and my guy (DeClercq) getting fouled in the corner with no time left, I don't think I'll ever see anything like that again," he said.
Fieldcrest senior Matthew Baxter was just glad the Knights were able to move on. "I wish it wasn't that crazy, but we came away with the win. That's the most important thing," he said. "I thought the clock ran out and thought it was supposed to be 0.2. More time than I wanted, but we got the stop at the end."
Hendrix said the officials may have been a little gracious on putting two seconds up the clock after the Richmond shot got stuck in the rim. He wasn't sure if Fieldcrest planned to foul DeClercq, but said "it ended up being the right call for them."
"Yes, it was planned. We were going to foul him. If they had any timeouts left, probably would say no, play tough D," Winkler said. "(It was a) good call by the official. We got him way before (he shot). We wanted to get him before he got the ball, but it worked out better that they inbounded and we got him on the ground with 0.3, because if DeClercq gets (a shot), he probably gets all three.
"Winning in overtime was a tribute to them. They've got a lot of heart and a lot of pride, they found a way to win tonight."
Sanders led Fieldcrest with 16 points and Trent Hartzler added 13.
DeClercq led all scorers with 22 points on seven of 16 shooting from the field (5-10 on threes) and finished his career with 2,057 career points.
Monmouth-Roseville 68, Peoria Christian 56: The Titans outscored the Chargers 12-2 to start the second half to tie the game at 36. Trayvon Smith and Jordan Shelton each had 8 points to lead the Titans out to a 47-43 lead.
PC momentarily slowed down the Titans' assault with five straight points to end the third quarter and the first point of the fourth quarter to regain a 49-47 edge. The Chargers missed their first nine shots of the fourth quarter and Mon-Rose took advantage. The Titans scored seven straight to go up 56-49 and went on a 9-0 run to put the game away.
"We had to play catch-up for most of the first three quarters and we haven't had to do that very much," Grant said. "Two things we talked about at halftime. We had to stop dribble penetration and we had to punch the ball inside and we were able to do both things effectively second half. I felt the kids played pretty well with the lead an held their composure pretty well."
Sophomore Martell Hunter led the Titans with 17 points, Shelton had 14 and Smith added 11. For Peoria Christian 21-11), Ricky Carter had 15 points and Jamil Stapleton added 12.
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