Boys Basketball: Minooka's Upset Bid Falls Short

Minooka was heading toward a major upset of top-seed Normal Community during Wednesday's Class 4A Bradley-Bourbannais Regional, but then the fourth quarter rolled around. The Indians led by six points to start the quarter  but the Ironmen outscored the Indians, 20-9 to rally for a 53-48 victory.

"We were the better basketball team tonight, we really were," Minooka coach Scott Tanaka said. "We just didn't make enough plays in the fourth quarter to come away with the victory."

Normal Community (23-6) went on an 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter to erase a 41-33 deficit. The teams were knotted in ties on three occasions in the final quarter before the Ironmen first pulled ahead 47-45.

That basket came from inside by 6-foot-8-inch senior Parker Musselman with 1:40 left. Minooka (10-18) was plagued by turnovers, especially in the second half, and finished with 19 for the game compared to only nine by Normal Community.

"You keep on going to that magic word called 'youth' and we preach and I pray that our only turnover is a five-second turnover," Tanaka said. "But unfortunately, we continued to just throw the ball away."

Scott Heide buried a three-pointer from the top of the key with 1:18 left to pull the Indians back ahead 48-47 but they wouldn't score again.

"We had too many turnovers and needed to limit the turnovers to win," Minooka forward Lavell Dean said. "We worked hard and tried to do what we could to win but it didn't work out."

Musselman knocked down a pair of free throws for Normal Community to put the Ironmen ahead 49-48 with 1:05 left. Minooka turned the ball over on its next two possessions before Musselman extended the lead with two more free throws to make it 51-48 with 13.8 seconds left. The Indians had one more chance to tie the game, but turned it over once again. Musselman then sealed the contest by making his fifth and sixth consecutive free throws with 1.7 seconds remaining.

"I knew if we were going to win this basketball game, we would need to have a lead down the stretch," Tanaka said, "They shoot it unbelievably well from the free-throw line and we didn't finish and we turned the ball over too many times in the second half."

Minooka connected on five three-pointers in the first half as it carried over the confidence from Monday's 50-37 victory over regional host Bradley-Bourbannais. The Indians had jumped to a 11-0 lead against Bradley-Bourbonnais on Monday as Heide led the way with 24 points in that victory.

"We came out feeling great again tonight," Minooka forward Adam Reynolds said. "I think they underestimated us seeing the five seed in front of our name and I think we came out and almost shocked them."

Reynolds led the Indians with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Dean contributed 10 points and five rebounds, Jacob Hogen chipped in with eight points and Darrin Myers had seven points. Hogen and Myers were shutdown in the second half, as they did all their scoring in the first half.

"Minooka played a great game tonight and give them credit, we take pride in our defense and they put up 31 on us in the first half," Normal Community coach Dave Witzig said "They passed the ball around and found the open man. Fortunately for us our senior big guy made some big plays and made six straight free throws to win the game for us."

Stomaching what could've been might not be easy for the Indians, but the young team will only graduate a couple seniors, so nearly the entire team will be back next winter.

"We're so excited for next year already," Reynolds said. "It's tough we didn't pull this one out, but we still have a lot to look forward to."

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