Boys basketball: Third-quarter hot streak sends Rochelle past Sterling in 3A regional championship

ROCHELLE – The Sterling boys basketball team came out with guns blazing Friday night, building an 18-10 lead in the first quarter of its Class 3A Rochelle Regional championship game against Rochelle, but the Golden Warriors faltered late, ending their season in an 84-70 defeat.

JP Schilling was a spark plug for Sterling in the first quarter, scoring 10 of the team’s first 12 points. With back-to-back 3s in the first 1:02, he gave the Golden Warriors a 6-2 lead.

[ Photos from Friday night's 3A Rochelle Regional final between Sterling and the host Hubs ]

The positive momentum didn’t stop there.

Tyree Kelly expanded the lead to 8-2 with a driving layup off a nice drive-and-dish from Andre Klaver around the 5:30 mark, and Carter Chance stretched it to 15-7 about three minutes later with a left-corner 3 on a kick-out by Schilling.

With two Lucas Austin free throws and one Kelly free throw in the final two minutes, Sterling took an 18-10 lead.

“It’s very important [to start fast against Rochelle],” Sterling coach Ryan Vasquez said. “You want to try to control the game because they’ve done things very well here the second half of the season, and they’re a very dangerous ball club. And that just shows tonight.”

In the second quarter, foul trouble and turnovers allowed the Hubs to gain a slight advantage. With 12 free-throw attempts in the second quarter and eight forced turnovers in the first half, Rochelle was able to build a 32-30 halftime lead.

Schilling’s 15 first-half points and Kelly’s nine first-half rebounds helped keep Sterling (17-15) afloat during a tough second-quarter stretch.

“It was just about getting stops when we needed to get stops that first half,” Vasquez said. “Being down by two at half against those guys who were shooting lights out, the whole second half of the game we knew we had our hands full.”

“We were also getting to the line – I think we were almost in the bonus in the first quarter – so that kind of kept us up,” Schilling said. “We were getting stops, we were getting hands on their shots and playing good defense, stopping their transition offense.”

Early in the third quarter, the Golden Warriors were able to keep pace, but a pivotal two-possession stretch shifted the momentum completely. With back-to-back forced turnovers and consecutive Noah Brown 3s, Rochelle seized a 46-36 lead with 5:24 remaining.

“Once they got the momentum and shots started falling for them, it was tough playing catch-up there,” Vasquez said. “And then when we did try to play catch-up, it seemed like they still found a way to put the ball in the hoop. When you can’t get consecutive stops there to seal the deal in the third quarter, fourth quarter, it kind of hurts you.”

Schilling got a quick layup to fall on the next possession, temporarily cutting the deficit to eight points at 46-38, but Rochelle came right back with a Zach Sanford putback off a Brown missed 3 at the 4:48 mark for a 48-38 lead.

From there, the Hubs continued to roll. Adam Kemp buried a left-corner 3 for a 51-40 lead with 3:33 to go, Raul Aguirre dropped in a layup for a 53-40 lead just over a minute later, and Kemp hit a top-of-the-key 3 for a 58-40 lead at the 1:50 mark.

Lucas Austin hit a left-wing 3 with 34 seconds left to cut the margin to 58-43, and the Golden Warriors scored five straight points to close out the third, but still, they found themselves trailing 58-45 heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the hot shooting continued for the Hubs – and they made eight more trips to the free-throw line.

Brown made his fifth and final 3 of the game about 15 seconds in to grab a 61-45 lead, then Ryan Simmons drilled another 3 for a 73-52 lead with 4:04 to play.

Schilling scored 14 of 25 fourth-quarter points for the Golden Warriors to keep them within striking distance for a while, but it wasn’t enough. The Hubs simply had too much offensive firepower.

Schilling led the way with a game-high 36 points, five 3-pointers, five rebounds and three steals, Austin had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Kelly added eight points and 14 rebounds.

“We’re gonna be back,” Schilling said after the season-ending loss. “We’re gonna start as soon as we can to get back here and finish the job and be better for next year.”

Brown hit five 3s and scored 21 points, and Simmons had 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and a block for Rochelle. Kemp added 17 points and four assists, and Aguirre chipped in 17 points and five rebounds.

“Our guys fought all year long and they never looked for excuses. Every single day these guys came to work, and they were ready to go. So what the Golden Warriors did is they fought all the way to the end. It just wasn’t our night,” Vasquez said.

“I’m super proud of our team, and I’m super proud of the two seniors who led us, because all year long, they are the ones that were leading us. When you’ve got two seniors that are your leaders and the younger guys see how much it means to be that leader, hopefully they learned a lesson or two from those guys. Because Tyree and Carter Ryan have been unbelievable.”