Boys basketball: Heyworth tops Fieldcrest in Matt Winkler’s final home game

MINONK – The Fieldcrest boys basketball team was looking to make coach Matt Winkler’s final career home game a winning one.

However, after the Knights held a five-point lead at halftime, Heyworth changed to a 1-2-2 half-court trapping defense to begin the second half, which forced the hosts into 11 of their 15 turnovers on the night.

The Hornets used the miscues to grab the lead at the end of the third quarter, then made good on six free throws in the final minute before surviving a potential game-tying 3-pointer by the Knights at the buzzer to post a 64-61 Heart of Illinois Conference victory in front of a nearly full house.

“We should have won, we could have won, but we didn’t,” said Winkler, who was honored before the game for his 30 years of teaching and coaching at FHS. “This is a young team, but we’ve been preaching the same things over and over. We’ve been in every game this season but one, but tonight to see the same mistakes we’ve been making ... it was difficult. We have to learn how to play solid basketball for 32 minutes. It’s my fault, maybe I didn’t prepare them like I should have.”

Landon Modro led Fieldcrest (6-15, 3-7 HOIC) with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Koltin Kearfott added 12 points. Ed Lorton (three assists, three steals) and Jozia Johnson (two steals) netted nine points each and Connor Reichman popped in eight points – all in the fourth quarter – to keep his team close.

Heyworth (14-13, 6-6) received 20 points and 21 rebounds from 6-foot-7 sophomore Nich Feather, and Alex Maas posted 18 points and six rebounds.

“Heyworth did a great job of changing up their defense in the second half to a 1-2-2 trap,” Winkler said. “They are tall, they are fast, and they are long, especially for us. We had too many unforced error against it, and they made us pay for them.”

Fieldcrest, which shot 60% from the field in the first half, trailed by four early in the second quarter but used a 14-0 run – with Modro scoring nine points and Lorton five – to help it to a 31-26 advantage.

The Knights committed six turnovers in the third to go along with only 3-of-13 shooting, while Heyworth used a 7-0 burst to finish the quarter leading, 41-39.

The teams exchanged the lead six times in the opening six minutes of the fourth. With the scored tied at 56, Maas’s rebound basket with 1:30 left put the Hornets ahead to stay.

Fieldcrest stayed within striking distance with a rebound basket by Johnson with 48 seconds left and a drive by Reichman with 8.4 seconds remaining to make it a three-point contest.

But after the Hornets missed a pair of free throws and Fieldcrest grabbed the rebound, a 35-footer from the right wing fell short.

“It means the world to me to see all of the people, including a ton of former players, tonight that drove miles and miles to support me,” Winkler said.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the effort my players tonight gave because they played hard. I’m just disappointed that we didn’t handle Heyworth’s pressure, and it’s the kind of pressure that we have faced all season long. We’ve been in tight games before, but we didn’t take care of the ball well enough to win in the final couple minutes, and that’s on me. I have to get this group better prepared for next week and regionals.”

Fieldcrest has remaining regular-season games Tuesday at Eureka and Friday at Fisher before opening the Class 2A Wilmington Regional on Saturday at Seneca.