Boys basketball: Griffin Cook, Earlville dash Hinckley-Big Rock upset bid

SOMONAUK – Hinckley-Big Rock had Earlville and senior Griffin Cook in unfamiliar spots in Thursday’s Little Ten Conference Tournament semifinal.

The Royals were not only leading the Red Raiders by double digits early, but they kept Cook scoreless in the first half.

But Earlville’s leading scorer wouldn’t be held down for long, dominating with 28 second-half points to lead the Red Raiders to a 71-65 double-overtime win.

“They punched us in the mouth in the first quarter,” Cook said. “We tied it up at halftime, and we showed we can climb back from it. We’re not easily defeated.”

Cook made plays throughout the second half to keep the Red Raiders (23-1) in the game. The Royals took the lead on a 3-pointer by Tyler Smith – his sixth and final one of the game – with 2:19 left. But in the final minute Cook answered with a steal and layup to knot the score at 51. Neither team scored again in regulation.

The Royals scored the first four points of the first overtime, including a steal and layup by Smith, who had a team-best 23 points. This time, it was Ryan Browder’s turn to step up for Earlville, as his layup with 31.6 seconds left tied the score at 57 after Cook scored the Red Raiders’ first four points of the extra period.

Cook and Browder were the only Earlville players to score in the first or second overtime. The Royals were up 57-53 in the final minute of the first overtime but couldn’t hold on.

“We haven’t really been down a lot to a team, it’s only our second or third time,” Earlville coach Gerald Fruit said. “They showed they were resilient and never gave up.”

Hinckley had a chance to take the lead with 10 seconds left in the first overtime, but Alex Casanas missed both his free throws. Down 62-61 in the double overtime, Austin Albus missed a pair of free throws for the Royals, then after another Cook layup – he scored the first seven for the Red Raiders in the second overtime – Roop missed a pair of free throws with 1:07 left.

Hinckley fouled the rest of the way, and Browder and Cook made enough to seal the victory.

The Royals finished 10 of 26 from the free-throw line in the loss.

“I think we ended up with six or seven misses in a row there to end the game,” Hinckley-Big Rock coach Seth Sanderson said. “Part of that is legs, and I got to make sure we’re keeping guys fresh and all that. But it’s just one of those things in high school basketball where shooting is contagious and you get hot and sometimes shooting is contagious when you’re cold and it just spreads.”

Earlville won an early January meeting between the teams 44-30 in a game they led by 16 at halftime. This time around, the Royals led 17-6 in the first quarter and 25-13 in the second after a layup by Landon Roop, who finished with 19.

But between the second and third quarters, the Red Raiders scored the next 16 points to take the lead, the last four by Cook to start the third.

“At times in the past we’ve struggled a little bit with that response,” Sanderson said. “So that was big for us. I was really happy with that part of it. But we also had the lead at the end of regulation with under a minute and at the end of overtime with under a minute and it’s tough to walk out of both those situations with a tie.”

For the Royals, Smith had eight rebounds and was 6 for 9 from long range. Roop had 19 points, and Martin Ledbetter had 14 points and 19 rebounds. The Royals will face Somonauk for third place, while Earlville faces Serena for the title in a battle of one-loss teams.

Cook finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds. Browder, who had one field goal and five points in the first half, finished with 19 points and eight boards. Adam Waite added 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Fruit said he wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Cook’s performance in the second half and that he knew he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“We had a slow first half that wasn’t really the greatest,” Cook said. “But we kept battling and battling, got it to the overtime and never quit. We always hustle, board, rebound do everything we can do to win.”