WOODSTOCK – When his team is facing the final seconds of a close game, Prairie Ridge coach Ryan Smith has faith in any of his five players on the court to take the game-winning shot.

Thursday night, it was Drake Tomasiewicz’s turn.

The Wolves’ junior, after in-bounding the ball with six seconds to play, got a return pass, pump-faked his defender and calmly sank a 16-foot jumper as the final horn sounded giving Prairie Ridge a heart-stopping 54-52 victory over Woodstock North in the second semifinal of the Class 3A Woodstock Regional in Shipley Gymnasium at Woodstock High School.

The victory vaults the Wolves (13-18) to Friday night’s final against Rockford Boylan (21-11), which topped Crystal Lake Central, 67-44, in the night’s first contest.

Tomasiewicz’s heroics capped a wild comeback that saw Prairie Ridge overcome a 12–point (42-30) deficit with 7:38 left in the game and a 52-47 North lead with 38.1 seconds remaining. After scoring only 30 points through three quarters on 13-for-37 shooting, the Wolves tallied 24 points in the final eight minutes and outscored the Thunder, 24-10, during the period.

“We were just looking to get a good shot. Our first look was to (John) Fuery and then to James (Muse) going downhill toward the basket,” said Tomasiewicz, who said he had never before hit a game-winning shot. “But I had the first open look, so I took it.”

His shot wouldn’t have been possible without Muse drilling 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining to tie the game or the Wolves’ defense forcing a five-second call in the waning seconds.

“We kept stressing during our timeouts stop-score-stop, but (North) kept answering us back with shots of their own,” Smith said. “I have complete trust in my five guys to make the right decisions, to read the defense, to get the ball to the open man. They did that.”

Thunder coach Dale Jandron, who coached his last game Thursday, credited the Wolves’ incredible comeback but also realized his team’s lost opportunities.

“When you’re up 12, you just have to win the game. When you’re up five that late, you have to win that game,” Jandron said. “I probably should’ve called a timeout to set up a game winner, but we threw the ball away, we had the five-second call, we double-teamed and left (Tomasiewicz) open. Man, that was a tough finish.”

Ben Gablenz led the Wolves with 15 points and eight rebounds, followed by Muse, who scored 10 of his 13 points (including two huge three-pointers) in the final quarter. PR went 1-for-12 from the field in a miserable third quarter, but made 9 of 12 in the final stanza.

North was led by Cesar Ortiz’s 19 points, though he was held scoreless in the fourth quarter. Javi Rodriguez came off the bench to add 14 for the Thunder (16-15).

“We knew when we drew Woodstock North that we were going into battle,” Smith said. “Dale does a great job with his kids. They play really hard, and we feel lucky to come out on this end. We’ll have our hands full (Friday) night with Boylan. They’re athletic, they take care of the ball, and they execute very well. We’ll have to play our best game to beat them.”

Rockford Boylan 67, Crystal Lake Central 44: The Tigers played strong defensively and were within striking distance (45-34) after three quarters, but Boylan’s relentless pressure and a 17-6 scoring burst to open the fourth quarter put the game out of reach.

Jake Terlecki led the Tigers (5-26) with 18 points and Luke Spychala added 10. J’Mar Johnson’s 19 points sparked the Titans’ balanced attack that featured 10 players contributing to the scoring effort.

Central jumped to a 16-12 first quarter lead and held a 23-19 advantage midway through the second quarter before Boylan (21-11) used a 14-0 surge to establish a double-digit lead. The Tigers got back within 36-30, but Boylan used a 9-2 rush to keep CLC at arm’s length.