PEKIN – A soggy two-hour basketball bus ride not withstanding, Yorkville made itself right at home Wednesday night.

Not only that, but while comfortably settling in to the not-always-friendly confines of Dawson Hawkins Gymnasium, the Foxes matched an historical milestone in the process.

Senior forward LeBaron Lee netted 17 points, and 6-10 junior Jason Jakstys added 11 points and nine rebounds as Yorkville tied a program record for single-season victories by routing host Pekin 51-27 in a Class 4A regional semifinal.

“When you have a long trip like that, there’s always a concern about being ready to play,” third-year Yorkville coach John Holakovsky admitted. “But those last 10-15 minutes [on the bus] coming down here, you could see the kids were excited to play. We were ready to go.”

A No. 2 sectional seed, Yorkville (26-5) joined the 2004-05 regional championship squad (26-2) of then coach Jerry Farber in the school record book for most wins in a season, and advanced to Friday’s 7 p.m. championship against fifth-seeded Normal Community (19-13).

“Playoff basketball is a whole new level, and I think our kids are anxious to prove themselves,” Holakovsky said about a program that’s had seven losing seasons in the last nine prior to this turnaround. “I thought it was kind of slow and sloppy at the start, but our effort was there right off the bat "

With a suffocating man-to-man defense that limited seventh-seeded Pekin (12-17) to 28.1% shooting (9 for 32), Yorkville never trailed, and turned 7-5 and 18-11 quarter leads into a full-blown romp at 31-17 on a Jakstys three-point play with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Foxes went on another 12-2 run punctuated by Lee’s thunderous breakaway slam to make it 45-22 as the benches emptied.

“The second half we came out with a spark,” said Lee, who is headed to Illinois State on a baseball scholarship. “We’re not really a very verbal team, but you could feel it when we came back on the court.”

The Foxes cashed in 50% of their field-goal attempts and got an additional 13 points between Dayvion Johnson (7) and reserve Michael Dunn (6). Jory Boley (3), Bryce Salek (3), Kaevian Johnson (2) and Jacob Homerding (2) rounded out the Yorkville scoring.

“The team around here they remind me most of is [AP No. 1 3A] Metamora,” noted second-year Pekin coach Jeremy Crouch. “Their length and athleticism, we haven’t seen anything like it. They don’t give you any good looks.”

Junior guard and season scoring leader Matthew Juergens led Pekin with nine points, but no other Dragon teammate had more than four.

“Defense is just about effort,” Lee said, “and that’s something we take pride in.”

And the school’s first regional title opportunity since 2005 means another two-hour trip downstate in 48 hours.

“I thought we were heading to Iowa,” joked Holakovsky. “Then I saw on the map, [Pekin] was down by Peoria. That’s OK. We just want to still be playing.”