Jacob Marynowski knew there was a good chance his number would be called a lot in Tuesday’s Class 4A Bartlett Sectional semifinals.

With Glenbard East expecting Wheaton Warrenville South to hone in on its 3-point shooters, the 6-foot-3 forward was told he was one of three key guys who would be crucial inside the paint.

It turns out the Rams trusted the right guy.

“I just got the lucky end of the stick, I guess,” Marynowski said.

Marynowski shot 12 of 13 from the floor, dropping 28 points to lead the Rams to a 68-61 victory over the Tigers to advance to the sectional finals.

“I mean, he’s just a workhorse for us,” Rams coach Eric Kelly said. “He’s one of the best rebounders in the area. He really works his tail off, and we wouldn’t be where we are without him.”

With the win, the Rams (30-3) clinch their first 30-win season in program history. They’ll face the winner of No. 2 York and No. 3 Glenbard North in the sectional championship Friday with the chance to win their first sectional title since 2011.

“Coming into the season, we knew that this was going to be a special year for us,” Kelly said. “We brought back nine guys who got to this point last year and lost. But you’ve got to have good players to win, and it’s a privilege to coach these kids.”

Glenbard East made sure to establish its presence at the rim early with Marynowski. The senior finished the first half with 15 points, 11 coming in the first quarter alone, with a lot of help coming from senior Michael Nee, who finished the game with 10 points and 10 assists for a double-double.

“It really brought us some energy there, and I like to do that,” Marynowski said. “I’m more of a rebound guy that gets the putbacks, but in this game I was on the receiving end of a lot of those passes.”

But while the Rams were relying a lot on Marynowski, the Tigers (22-11) were feeding the rock to David Showman in the first half. The junior had 19 of his 28 points in the first half, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to knot the game at 30-30 heading into halftime.

“He really knows how to score some points for us,” Tigers coach Mike Healy said. “We were really good offensively there, but we just couldn’t get enough stops or rebounds in key moments to keep the momentum. It was certainly not from a lack of effort. They did all they could’ve done.”

The Rams didn’t start to pull away until the fourth quarter. After senior Danny Snyder (12 points) and Marynowski helped the Rams take a 42-38 lead into the final stanza, senior Norman Loechel came off the bench and hit three straight 3-pointers for the Rams, helping them to a 51-44 lead after his final bucket for the largest lead of the night.

“As the sixth man, I’m just kind of the spark guy,” Loechel said. “I can shoot, I know that I can. Some days I have it better than others, but I had it on in this game. I just found the open spots, and my teammates hit me.”

Once the lead opened up, the Tigers couldn’t get the spark play they needed. WW South cut the lead to 55-52 after a Showman 3-pointer midway through the quarter, but didn’t get any closer.

“We wanted them to leave it all out there,” Healy said. “Credit to Glenbard East, we tried to focus on the shooters a bit, and the other kids beat us up, they’re a great team. But our kids just kept battling and fighting and just couldn’t get the stops.”

Senior Zach Rogers added on 16 points and four steals, while sophomore AJ Rogers added 14 points before fouling out.

The Tigers finished the season as co-DuKane Conference champions while helping Healy to his 400th career win.

“They just persevered and worked every day and stuck with things,” Healy said. “They gave the program everything that they could possibly have, and they did it the right way. They are an unbelievable group, and they gave our basketball community a lot to be proud of and a ton of memories.”