Jayden Riley’s midrange game is exquisite.

It is one of the elements in the Yorkville Christian senior’s game that separates him from other point guards. Riley’s always had it in the bag, and kept it even as he’s added layers.

With his career on the line, Riley went to the well.

He caught a pass on the left wing from Tray Alford. Riley got a down screen from Blake Wells, and drove into the center of the lane.

Riley stopped on a dime, and rose for a tie-breaking jumper just inside the free-throw line with 46 seconds left.

Yorkville Christian never looked back, gutting out a 50-44 win over Pontiac in Wednesday’s Class 2A Seneca Sectional semifinal.

“When I got the ball in the lane, I work on that every day,” Riley said. “It’s something I work on every day ... go in the gym every morning, every day.”

Riley, an SIU-Edwardsville recruit, had 28 points, seven rebounds and three assists. He rebounded two Pontiac 3-point misses after his go-ahead shot, the first an Indians’ shot for the lead, and was 4 for 4 from the free-throw line in the final seconds.

The pressure was on after Pontiac’s Ben Melchers drilled a tying 3-pointer to make it 44-44 with 1:48 left after Yorkville Christian had led by five.

Riley didn’t mind it a bit.

“It’s a great feeling. I love pressure,” Riley said. “I’ve been dealing with this since I was little, especially with the coaching staff, Coach Alford, Coach Ray, since I was little he always just told me that I got to make a play. Even if I missed it and we lost the game, or made it, he always gave me the confidence.”

Pontiac had employed an amoeba-like zone defense for much of the game, in large part to contain Riley’s penetration. Yorkville Christian shot 3 for 19 from 3-point range against it in the first half.

But Pontiac (21-9) switched to man-to-man when it got down in the fourth quarter, and never went back to zone.

And Yorkville Christian coach Aaron Sovern will take Riley against anyone, man-on-man.

“We needed the best player in the state to be the best player in the state,” Sovern said. “And I’m biased, but we needed him to make plays. There’s not a whole lot that I can draw up. We needed big players to make big plays, and he did.”

Yorkville Christian (23-10) is in a sectional final for the third time in school history – first since winning the Class 1A state championship in 2022. The Mustangs play Bishop McNamara Friday night.

And they overcame deficits of seven points in the second quarter and five in the third to get there.

The Mustangs had two starters with three fouls and Riley with two at halftime, a big free-throw disparity at half and cold shooting.

But they closed the third quarter on a 9-2 run, Riley’s runner sending Yorkville Christian into the fourth ahead 34-32.

“Our boys played with poise down the stretch,” Sovern said. “We’ve been in a lot of tough situations this year. It was nice to see a little bit of growth as far as that goes. We’re just happy to still be playing. We don’t take that for granted.”

Jordan Purvis scored 11 points and Kayden Maxwell had 12 rebounds for Yorkville Christian.

Purvis missed four of his first five 3-point attempts, but hit back-to-back 3s from the right wing for a 40-34 lead two minutes into the fourth.

“It helps that I have the best point guard in the state. He’s always finding me in the right spots, he draws so much attention,” Purvis said. “I just live in the gym – mornings, nights, middle of the day, shooting. That’s where it comes from."

Riley scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half. He appeared frustrated at times with a lack of calls for contact on drives, and Pontiac’s zone kept the pace more to its liking.

But Riley picked up his pace in the second half – and found his spots.

“They were hawking him a little bit, and he was trying to get guys involved,” Sovern said. “We were setting the ball screen on the high guy and we said at halftime, ‘JR, you’re the best midrange shooter in the area, get to your hit spot and hit that.’ He made good reads and made plays.”

Pontiac’s Caden Masching scored 17 points, but missed a clean 3-point look for the lead after Riley’s go-ahead shot. Masching scored 11 in the second quarter to give his team a 24-20 halftime lead.

“We came in at the half and said look guys, you’re taking their best punch, we have crazy foul trouble and hadn’t made a shot and we’re chasing four points,” Sovern said. “We were fine, we had seen worse. Our kids just battled and found a way.”