Boys basketball: Earlville breaks through late to top Flanagan-Cornell for title; Woodland third at Route 17

RURAL STREATOR – The Earlville Red Raiders trailed Flanagan-Cornell for the majority of Saturday’s Route 17 Thanksgiving Classic championship game.

Until, that is, it mattered most.

Oliver Munoz tied it with a layup at the midpoint of the fourth quarter, and Griffin Cook connected on a designed inbounds play with 3:04 remaining to give the Red Raiders their first lead since early in the second quarter.

It was one Earlville would not relinquish, surviving wave after wave of Flanagan-Cornell comeback attempts down the stretch — including a well-designed and executed 3-point attempt at the buzzer — of the Red Raiders’ 54-53 victory.

“I think we’re the type of team that’s going to be persistent,” Red Raiders coach Gerald Fruit said. “It’s going to take a lot, I believe, to knock us down. Like I keep telling them, ‘You’ve got to believe in yourself. You’ve got to trust your teammates, and we’ll win the game,’ and that’s what we did.

“We’ve got to just keep working hard.”

Cook finished with team highs in points scored (18), rebounds (10), steals (three) and assists (five) to lead the Red Raiders, who also received 15 points from Munoz, 11 courtesy of Ryan Browder and 10 points to go with eight rebounds from Adam Waite.

Waite’s bucket off Cook’s fifth assist of the night and a Browder free throw in the final minute provided Earlville (4-0) with just enough to hold on.

“It was just trust in our players,” Cook said of the comeback. “That we’ll battle back, we’ll get a stop, and we’ll get a score here and there. It’s a team effort. We all believed in each other until the end, and it worked out.”

“It’s a team effort. We all believed in each other until the end, and it worked out.”

—  Griffin Cook, Earlville senior

Kesler Collins — at times a one-man offensive show holding the comeback-minded Red Raiders at bay throughout the third quarter and halfway into the fourth — poured in 30 points to lead the Falcons (3-1), also adding six rebounds and three steals. Seth Jones tallied five assists and seven rebounds, Connor Reed scored 10 points and sixth-man Logan Ruddy scored eight points, all in the opening quarter, before fouling out in the game’s closing seconds.

Flanagan-Cornell’s Collins and Ruddy along with Earlville’s Cook, Browder and Waite were named to the 10-man all-tournament team.

After trading leads for much of the opening 10 minutes, the Falcons put together an 8-0 run in the second quarter to build an advantage they held for the next two quarters of game clock. Reed and Brennan Edens both canned 3s in the second quarter, though most of the damage came from Collins. Flanagan-Cornell’s big man scored eight points in the second and 11 more in the third, allowing the Falcons to maintain a 46-43 lead heading into the fourth.

That narrow advantage held pat until Munoz’s nice take with 3:58 remaining tied things at 49-49, followed by Cook’s inbounds bucket that put Earlville ahead for the remainder.

Third-place: Woodland 65, Dwight 55

The host Warriors trailed 34-30 at halftime but outscored the Trojans 35-21 from there to meet their preseason goal — at least so far — of bringing home hardware from every every tournament in which they compete.

“Obviously, we wanted the [plaque] that said first place, but you know what? These kids have been working hard for a long time, and we’ll take anything we can put in that trophy case,” Woodland coach Connor Kaminke said. “I’m really proud of how we responded when we came out after the half. ...

“That third quarter was the reason why we won that game. Credit to our guys for adjusting at halftime.”

Nick Plesko scored a game-high 26 points for Woodland, with fellow all-tournament selection Jonathan Moore putting in 11. Connor Dodge also scored 11 points, with Tucker Hill adding eight for the Warriors (3-1).

Luke Gallet was named all-tournament for Dwight (2-2).

Seventh-place: St. Bede 50, Momence 47

The Bruins (1-3) saw their eight-point halftime advantage shaved down to just one, 40-39, entering the fourth quarter, but held on to notch their first victory of the young season.

Halden Hueneburg dropped 20 points to led St. Bede, with Alex Ankiewicz close behind with 15. Mason Ross added six points in the victory.

Ridgeview won the fifth-place game over Grant Park 49-28.