Jayden Riley is the antithesis of the shoot-first point guard. The Yorkville Christian senior and SIU-Edwardsville recruit lets the game come to him, and is quite content to set up his teammates.

Riley does, though, seem to possess the internal clock to know when it is go time.

That time came late Monday. Riley and the Mustangs were getting a fierce challenge from Plano on the Reapers’ home court.

Riley hit two free throws, made a basket and two key defensive plays in a little over a minute’s time.

With the help of Tray Alford and Jayden Alford, it turned away Plano in Yorkville Christian’s 69-59 win in the semifinals of the 62nd Plano Christmas Classic.

Yorkville Christian (10-2) advanced to face Kaneland Tuesday night in a rematch of last year’s championship game won by Kaneland.

Leading the way is Riley, who had 26 points, five assists, eight steals and seven rebounds Monday.

“I let the team go, I’m a pass first point guard, but if I see that nobody else has anything going it’s my time to go, I have to lead the team,” Riley said. “It can be scoring, it can be playing defense or just supporting them.”

Yorkville Christian was nursing a 56-53 lead when Riley hit two free throws. Evan Taxis, who scored a team-high 19 points for Plano, answered with a basket, but Riley came back with a tough fadeaway.

He deflected a pass that led to a Plano turnover at the other end, and after a Yorkville Christian missed the shot Riley stole the ball to set up two Kayden Maxwell free throws to get the margin back to seven.

Those kind of winning plays are nothing new to Yorkville Christian coach Aaron Sovern, who continues to bang the table for his senior guard as the best player in Illinois.

“He’s doing everything,” Sovern said. “People laugh when I say he’s the best player in the state because he’s my guy, but I’ve seen him for the last three years. It’s great to have him there. When things get tough, situations get tough, he’s going to make the right play. He’s amazing.”

Tray Alford added 18 points and freshman Jayden Alford added 12 for Yorkville Christian. Alan Contreras had 11 points and six rebounds and Cooper Beaty 10 points and 10 rebounds for Plano (7-6).

The Reapers trailed 37-28 at halftime and 51-45 after three quarters, but closed to 54-53 with 4:04 left on back-to-back Martinez baskets on feeds from Contreras.

Plano had two ensuing possessions for the lead end in turnovers. But the small, scrappy Reapers, whose tallest player is the 6-foot-3 Martinez, kept coming.

“We’re playing out there with two sophomores and two juniors and we struggle with consistency. But man we were getting after it tonight,” Plano coach Kyle Kee said. “This is how big games are. Got to make plays down the stretch. But the kids are playing hard. We don’t quit.”

Martinez scored 13 of his 14 in the second half to spark Plano’s comeback, but fouled out with 2:50 left and Plano down 56-53.

“The big hit was when Kevin fouled out,” Kee said. “We were taking advantage of them in pick and roll.”

Riley missed four of his first five shots Monday. But he turned it up and caught fire in the second quarter with 14 of his 26 points, sending Yorkville Christian into halftime up nine.

“We’ve been getting punched in the mouth first a lot,” Riley said. “We had to claw back.”

Yorkville Christian shot just 7-for-30 from 3-point range. But Tray Alford and Jayden Alford combined for nine points in the fourth quarter to complement Riley.

“Jayden Alford has been huge the last two games, changing the dynamic of everything off the bench. Those two drove the bus and Tray did a good job finishing, he’s a good Robin to Jayden [Riley’s] Batman,” Sovern said.

“We didn’t shoot it that well tonight, hopefully saved a lot up for tomorrow. Hats off to Plano. We knew they’d play hard. But I love our guys. It’s not the old Yorkville Christian. We don’t just make 18 threes, if we have to grind it out we can.”