Looking to hold on for a third win this season against Pecatonica, it was unsurprisingly a defensive play that helped seal a 48-41 Eastland victory in Friday night’s Class 1A Orion Sectional final.

Up five with 30 seconds left, Eastland junior Wyatt Carroll picked off a Pecatonica pass, sprinting down for an uncontested layup to make it 48-41.

“Coach Craig [Hechman] said I should be stealing that pass the whole game,” Carroll said. “I finally took his advice, and I got it, and I guess it was just wraps from there.”

It was the second straight year the Cougars beat the Indians to advance to the Elite Eight. Eastland will face Tremont at 7 p.m. in Monday’s Macomb Supersectional at Western Illinois University’s Western Hall.

Parker Krogman led Eastland (29-5) with 13 points, Carroll had 12 and Braden Anderson had 11. Zy Haverland scored six while playing key defense inside against Pec’s Zion Braihmah (22 points).

Eastland trailed 24-23 at halftime before creating some distance with a 15-9 run in the third quarter.

The Indians (22-14), coming off a 70-66 overtime win over Newman, had chances to come back in the fourth quarter, but Eastland continued to answer on defense with stops, steals or key rebounds.

The Cougars were 0 of 6 at the line before Carroll sunk a pair make it 46-41 with 32 seconds left. His key steal came on the ensuing Pec possession as he scored six of Eastland’s 10 points in the fourth quarter.

“I practice every day,” he said of his free throws. “Before school, after school, the hard work really paid off in that moment.”

While Braimah was big inside for Pec, Connor Berg was their second highest scorer with just 10 points. Karter Degner scored six and Izaiah Braimah had three.

With Haverland picking up two fouls, he sat for most of the second quarter. The Cougars were still able to limit Zion to two points in the frame. He had 34 in the win over Newman.

“That was huge,” Haverland said. “Obviously Zion’s a great player on the inside. He can score at will. So to have the guys step up on defense and only be down one at halftime, that kind of put us in position to come back in that third and fourth quarter.

“We knew if we kept them in the 50s or lower that we had a good chance of winning. And that’s what the guys did when I was off the court.”

Anderson scored nine of his 11 points in the third quarter.

For the game, Pecatonica had 14 turnovers while Eastland had eight.

“We knew it was going to be tough with Zion and their shooters,” Eastland coach Tyler Zumdahl said. “[I] didn’t think we quite had the intensity or the edge we needed to in the first half, but give the guys credit, they really stepped up in the second half to get some stops and get some turnovers.”

Despite losing three seniors from last year’s state runner-up, the Cougars came out on top of a tough sectional once again.

“I don’t know if anybody really thought with what we lost we lost last year we’d be able to get back to this point,” Zumdahl said. “Our guys never cared about that. They set this goal, they believed it, they worked. Everybody stepped up in their new roles, really came together and we’re playing some of our best, grittiest basketball at the right time.”

Krogman said it takes consistency to beat a team like Pecatonica three times in one season. It has resulted in accomplishing a goal of getting back to the Elite Eight.

“To come out here and take care of business again, it feels pretty good,” he said. “I think it’s a great opportunity. Get to the Elite Eight, and go from there.”