FULTON – As the Fulton Steamers broke the huddle to start the fourth quarter, they did so with an eerie sense of calm as they walked out onto Stan Borgman Court. After all, they had been here before.

“Our coach told us we had this and reminded that we had been in situations like this before,” junior forward Baylen Damhoff said. “We played a tough schedule against lots of good teams, so we knew how to react.”

Even though they had given away an eight-point lead in the final minute of the third quarter, there was no panic.

Damhoff and his teammates proceeded to score the next ten points, and held off one more late charge from Eastland before pulling out a 48-38 win over the Cougars and earning a spot in Saturday’s regional title game. The win also was the 1,500th in program history.

“We talked a little about and the history of it,” senior Kole Schipper said. “Now that we were able to get it, it’s a pretty cool thing to be a part of.”

Second-seeded Fulton (24-9) moves into Saturday’s regional final against No. 7 seed East Dubuque, a 45-37 upset winner Thursday over third-seeded Galena.

“When we are playing at our best, we can play at a high level,” Fulton coach RJ Coffey said. “From here on out, it’s about one at a time and going out, playing for two hours each night and advancing – and that’s what we did tonight.”

Eastland (15-15) scored the last seven points of the third quarter, which included a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Peyton Spears (8 points) to close within 29-27 at the start of the fourth.

Much like it did all evening, Fulton answered.

A 3-pointer by Schipper (9 points) ignited a run of 10 straight for a 39-27 lead with 4:15 to play.

“Once we got out on that run and got ahead, we could play and dictate the game,” Coffey said. “Kole made some big shots for us tonight.”

The Schipper long-ball also led to more looks for Damhoff. Though he finished with 13 points, he was held scoreless in the first half by an Eastland defense that was determined to not let him get started.

“I just try and get my teammates as much of an opportunity as possible,” said Damhoff, who also hauled in 11 rebounds. “When that happens, usually things start to open up for me. I just try not to force it and I just try and play my game.”

The Cougars didn’t roll over after the Fulton run took the lead to 39-27. A 3-pointer from Parker Krogman and another from Spears pulled Eastland within 39-33 with 3:03 left. And when Carsen Heeren drained a 3 with :54 seconds left, the Cougars were close again.

“We made a nice run at the end of the third quarter, and got ourselves in position,” Eastland coach Tyler Zumdahl said. “They went on that 10-0 run and that took a little wind out of our sails, but we got back and cut it down again – but we were always fighting to get back into it, and we struggled to get over the hump.”

“[Eastland] just kept coming at us all night, and we expected that,” Coffey said. “But our guys did a great job of responding.”

A putback by Damhoff extended the lead, and his steal and subsequent assist to Ethan Price (10 points) sealed the win for the Steamers.

Krogman scored 14 points, and Trevor Janssen had 13 to lead the Cougars, who lose some key seniors like Heeren and Max McCullough, but bring back Janssen (a junior), Spears (a sophomore) and Krogman (a freshman) next season as a strong core with varsity experience.

“I definitely thought some of our younger guys really stepped up this season,” Zumdahl said. “It’s a big change going from JV to varsity – for Parker, going from eighth grade to varsity – and we had some ups and downs, which is to be expected in that situation. But these guys work hard and they want to do well, so the future looks bright for us.”