It’s not like Hoffman Estates hadn’t seen this kind of situation before.
The Hawks, who finished the season losing eight of 11 games after starting out 15-1, trailed most of the first half of their Hersey Class AA sectional opener against Prospect Tuesday night before rallying past Prospect 44-42 in overtime.
Chris Sigl (21 points, six rebounds) scored all of his team’s 10 third-quarter points as the Hawks battled back. Then, after Mike Wetter’s three-point play with 2 minutes 39 seconds remaining gave the Hawks a 36-35 lead, Jeff Schilling seemed to ice the contest by hitting two free throws with 4 seconds remaining to put his team up by three.
Hello, fate. Prospect’s Matt Walpole then hit a 22-foot bank-in three-pointer at the horn to tie it and force overtime.
With the way the second half of the season has been for Hoffman, it might as well have been the game-winner. But it wasn’t. Wetter scored four points in the extra period, including two free throws with 4 seconds left as the No. 4 seed Hawks (18-9) advanced to Friday’s regional title game.
Hoffman will play host to 12th seed Barrington, which upset fifth seed Buffalo Grove in other sectional action Tuesday.
“After a kid hits a shot like that, you can get down,” said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro. “I think (Prospect) thought they had it after that. It was interesting to see who was going to step up. For a half second out there, we had to decide if we were going to go out and play or be the victim of that three-pointer.”
The Hawks decided on the former. Prospect (12-14), the 13th seed, grabbed two early leads in overtime, the last at 42-40 with 1:43 remaining. A Sigl lay-in with 1:11 knotted the game and set the stage for the finale.
The Knights ran the clock down for a last shot and Walpole’s 15-footer banked off the rim. Wetter was fouled grabbing the rebound and hit both free throws on the other end of the court for the win.
Walpole (14 points) had a final chance at a 30-foot game-winner, but the shot was short at the horn.
“We obviously had all kinds of opportunities to win this game, especially in overtime,” said Prospect coach Glen Elms. “Matt had a good look at the last shot, but missed it. We didn’t get the rebound, fouled them and that was it.”
Both teams battled through a less than glamorous first half, with both teams combining for only 11 field goals. Prospect led by as much as seven in the second quarter, but Hoffman was able to trim the lead to 17-13 at intermission.
Sigl scored the first six points of the second half to give Hoffman its first lead at 19-17 with 4:43 left. Prospect’s Aaron Adams (18 points, nine rebounds), however, had four points in an 8-4 run as Prospect ended the quarter ahead 25-23.
Adams then scored six of his team’s first eight points of the fourth quarter and his lay-in with 4:13 left put the Knights ahead 33-29.
The rest was up to Wetter, Walpole and overtime.
“It was a little like a boxing match out there and we’re very fortunate,” said Wandro. “We had a couple of possessions at the end where the kids make some big plays offensively and defensively. The guys who are expected to win games for us won the game for us tonight.”
