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Prep Sports | Illinois Valley

Hot-shooting Rockridge upsets Hall in regional quarterfinal

Hall's Jacob Andracke sprints down the court against Rockridge's Rylan Daly during the Class 2A Regional quarterfinal game on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026 at Hall High School.

When Hall boys basketball coach Mike Filippini scouted Rockridge, the Rockets were not a strong outside shooting team.

The Rockets did not come into Monday’s Class 2A Rockridge Regional quarterfinal with a game plan of shooting a lot of 3-point shots.

“The game plan was getting the ball in the post and kill there, but we just started hitting 3s and we stuck to it,” Rockridge senior Wade Richhart said.

The No. 10-seeded Rockets buried 10 long-range shots in a 68-58 upset of the No. 7 Red Devils in Spring Valley.

“They shot the ball better than we did,” Filippini said. “We had them for 61% (23 of 38) from the field. We shot 38% (21 of 56). That’s the difference in the game.

“We told our players their attitudes have been great all year, the effort has been great all year. Again tonight it was the same thing, those kids never gave up. It sucks to lose this time of year when you face a team that’s hot and Rockridge was hot today.”

The Rockets entered the game with just four wins and on a 12-game losing streak with their last win coming Dec. 29.

“We played really well,” Richhart said. “We hit big-time shots and just finished and made good plays down the stretch.

“It means a lot to us (to get a postseason win).”

Hall's Noah Plym lets go of a three point basket over Rockridge's Kameron Wilkerson during the Class 2A Regional quarterfinal game on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026 at Hall High School.

Rockridge (5-23) now returns home to play No. 2 Riverdale (22-8) in a semifinal at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The Rams won both meetings this season, defeating the Rockets 81-64 on Dec. 9 and 57-55 on Jan. 30.

“We expect a good game,” Richhart said. “The second time we played them, we lost by only a couple points. We’re looking to get back at them.”

The Rockets were hot from the beginning from behind the arc.

Lukas McKay hit a 3 on Rockridge’s first possession and Rylan Daly drained one the next time down the court. Richhart hit two 3s in the first quarter.

Hall’s Braden Curran hit a trio of 3s himself in the first to keep Hall close down 14-12 after the opening quarter.

The Rockets hit two more 3s in the second quarter as they took a 28-19 halftime lead and drained four more in the third quarter to take a 48-35 lead into the final eight minutes.

Rockridge was 10-of-20 from 3-point range with five different Rockets connecting on a long-range shot.

Despite Rockridge’s hot shooting, the Red Devils managed to claw back into the game with full-court pressure, pestering the Rockets into 13 second half turnovers and 20 in the game.

“We were just playing hard, getting tips and getting some steals,” Filippini said. “The problem is you can’t do that the whole time. I knew we were kind of pushing our luck doing it as much as we did. We dug ourselves a hole. We got it to four at one time. It’s tough to press. We basically pressed the entire second half.”

Hall scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to pull within 48-42.

Back-to-back 3s by Luke Bryant and Noah Plym got the Red Devils within 56-52 with 3:11 left.

But the Rockets scored several layups after breaking the press and made 8 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold off Hall’s comeback attempt.

“We handled the pressure,” Richhart said. “We bent a little bit bit, we didn’t break and we came back from it.

“We stayed composed, made the right play, got open layups and open shots and it worked out.”

Richhart scored a game-high 29 points for Rockridge, while McKay finished with 13 points and Daniel Bell added 12.

Curran led the Red Devils (13-18) with 23 points, while Plym had 11 points and Chace Sterling returned from a 12-game absence due to injury to contribute seven points.

“We started the season well,” Filippini said. “We had some major injuries that we just never recovered from. January killed us. Chace and Ben Giachetto got hurt within like a game of each other. We didn’t have Hunter (Edgcomb) for two weeks.

“I told them, ‘You can be disappointed the season’s over, but I’ll take that effort and attitude every game.’ They play so hard.”

Monday’s game ended the Hall careers for seniors Braden and Jack Curran, Bickett, Edgcomb, Chase Burkart and Clayton Fusinetti.

“I thought they kind of changed the culture of Hall basketball where they put a ton of work in at the beginning of the season and in the offseason,” Filippini said. “Hopefully, that really sets the tone for the younger kids. They were a great example and showed great leadership.”