If there was an iota of nitpicking to be had from host Kankakee’s first night on Friday, it was the sluggish start they had, trailing for a brief moment before storming past Chicago Agricultural Science.

In Saturday’s Maroon bracket semifinal against Richards, the Kays’ start was anything but slow.

After exploding for 36 points Friday, Lincoln Williams opened Saturday night by catching a perfectly-placed lob from Cedric Terrell III for a thunderous slam, the first of several highlight reel flushes from Williams on the night that set the tone for a no-doubt 83-57 win.

Williams paced the Kays (9-1) with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists to propel them to Sunday night’s 6:30 p.m. maroon championship game against Lincoln-Way Central.

“It set a great pace and made a great statement to start the game off,” Williams said of his opening alley oop, crediting Terrell III for the dish. “ … We start off slow most of the time and underestimate our opponents. Days like these are pretty good, just get them out of the way and get the young guys in."

The Kays scored the game’s first 10 points and led 20-4 after a quarter. They forced six of the Bulldogs’ 14 turnovers in that first stanza, yielding five points the other way and added the first five of their 13 second-chance points on the night in those eight minutes.

Williams tallied 18 of his game-high 28 points in the first half and was joined in double figures by EJ Hazelett (15 points, seven rebounds, two assists), Kenaz Jackson (15 points, five rebounds, two assists) and Myair Thompson (14 points, three rebounds, three assists).

Jackson, who praised the team’s chemistry and cohesiveness they displayed by having all five starters dish at least two dimes, also credited the fans who showed up to watch the Kays earn their seventh Maroon bracket title game appearance in the last eight tournaments (Editor’s note: there was no tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

“It means a lot,” Jackson said. “It’s our tournament, so we want to go out and win a championship for the people of Kankakee. They come out and support us.”

Kays coach Chris Pickett took over in 2017, the year they made the first of those title games. Although there might be more whispers in the stands about the ceiling of this year’s team being even higher with Williams, the state’s top-ranked senior recruit and Hazelett, an Indiana State signee, Pickett said the expectations haven’t changed – they’ve just remained sky high.

“For the casual fan, the expectations are high,” Pickett said. “For the people who have done the deep dive and know the details, they know we’ve had teams that could have gotten the job done in Champaign, we just haven’t done it. … From our standpoint, our expectations haven’t changed."

Clifton Central sees Christ the King pull away late in blue semifinals

Clifton Central was defeated 65-51 by Christ the King in Blue bracket semifinal action on Saturday. But Comets head coach Brandon Schoon knows that in a game in which they led early, tied early in the third quarter and were within three possessions for roughly 30 minutes, their quest for a title game appearance was much closer than that score reflected.

“Our effort and our intensity, I can’t be mad about it,” Schoon said. “It was a two-possession game for almost dang near the whole fourth quarter and then just got away from us. That was some of our inexperience there – we’ve got a bunch of juniors running around and then Blake (Chandler).

“But it’s a building moment,” he added. “We can take something and learn from it in the second half of the season, for sure.”

Chandler hit a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers, the second of which put the Comets (10-3) up 9-7 just over three minutes into the game. The Gladiators (10-2) responded with an 11-2 run and led until Derek Meier’s bucket knotted things at 28-28 90 seconds into the second half.

The Gladiators got a quick bucket the other way before Conner Unger went to the stripe and hit a pair of free throws to tie it at 30-30 a minute later, but that’s as close as the Comets would get to holding another lead.

The trailed 47-41 after three and spent most of the fourth within five points, cutting it to a one-possession game a few times, but the blue bracket’s top seed ended the game on an 11-2 run.

Meier had 15 points, four assists and four rebounds. Chandler tallied 14 points, three assists and two rebounds while Jake Thompson added nine points and eight boards and Mayson Mitchell had eight points and six boards.

While the Gladiators will prepare for Sunday’s 5 p.m. championship game against Manteno, the Comets will play River Valley Conference rival St. Anne at 2 p.m. for third place.

Manteno 50, St. Anne 48: The Panthers (7-5) are headed to their third straight KHT Blue bracket championship after holding off a late St. Anne (8-5) rally.

Braden Campbell led Manteno with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. Ramsey Owens added 13 points and two rebounds. Eric Eldridge chipped in eight points.

Jackson Hawkins led St. Anne with 14 points and three rebounds. He was followed by nine points from Jason Bleyle, eight points from Brandon Schoth and seven points from Raleigh Hays.

Momence 54, Grant Park 22: Momence (8-5) advanced to Sunday’s fifth-place Blue bracket game against Armstrong after getting 13 points from Erick Castillo and 10 points from Tommy Rounds.

Luis Maldonado led Grant Park (0-10) with 14 points. Ian Hamann added five points and 10 rebounds.

Armstrong 64, Peotone 57: The Blue Devils (6-6) trailed all game, cutting their deficit to three in the closing minutes before Armstrong prevailed, putting Peotone in Sunday’s seventh-place game against Grant Park.

Nick Cronin had 18 points, followed by 15 from Alex Chenoweth and 11 from Tyler Walker.