Rochelle 62, Wheaton Academy 57: Shortly after clamoring out from beneath the celebration scrum that had developed at midcourt Tuesday night, senior Andy Wilkinson’s head began to shake back and forth.
“I’m stunned,” he said, staring up at the rafters of the Rochelle gymnasium just minutes after the Hubs, still below .500 on the season, shockingly advanced to the sectional finals with a 62-57 win over Wheaton Academy. “I can’t believe it. We believed in ourselves, but this ... this is amazing.”
Rochelle (14-16) stormed past Sterling and Freeport in the regional bracket, and continued their surprising postseason run by holding off Wheaton Academy (17-9), and its 6-foot-8 big man who started out very hot. Junior Tim Rusthoven finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots, but did most of his damage (18 points, six rebounds and five blocks) in the first half as the Hubs came together down the stretch.
“They knew what we were going to do, and we knew what they were going to do,” said Rusthoven, who was 10-for-22 from the field and 9-for-13 from the free-throw line. “I guess the pressure got to us — not their pressure defense, but just the pressure of being in a close game in the sectional semis. They hit some big shots, and we couldn’t.”
The Hubs fell behind 15-8 in the first quarter as Rusthoven got into a groove quickly, hitting his first three shots and four of his first five from the line. The hosts then found themselves in a 27-20 hole midway through the second quarter, but a late 3-pointer from Wilkinson kept the game tight, with the Warriors up four at the break.
The visitors drained 58 percent (14-for-24) of their first-half shots, while the Hubs shot just 32 percent (10-for-31). However, Rochelle bumped that up to 46 percent (10-for-22) in the second half while Wheaton Academy dipped to 35 percent (8-for-23) down the stretch.
“I guess you could say we got hot at the right time,” said forward Ben Schwartz, who also had a stunned look on his face after the game. “We got hot at the right time tonight, and we got hot at the right time in the postseason. It’s all about making big shots at big times.”
Schwartz and Wilkinson have been making a living off of that since the end of the regular season, and the two seniors came through again in the sectional semis. Schwartz’s flying-layup on a fast break gave the rowdy Hub fans something to cheer about early on in the third quarter, and Wilkinson — who was 4-for-7 from 3-point range, compared with Wheaton Academy’s 0-for-5 — buried back-to-back treys to give the Hubs their first lead (39-37) since early in the second quarter (20-19), and only their second of the night.
There were three ties and three lead changes in the fourth quarter, but none after Schwartz’s lone 3 of the night swished through with 3:28 left. The 6-2 power forward then went 4-for-5 from the free-throw line in the game’s final 24 seconds to seal the deal for the Hubs.
“How that kid hit all those free throws at a time like that, I’ll never know. What big free throws those were,” said Rochelle’s 11th-year head coach Russ Zick, who had just locked down his 200th victory. “This team, you just couldn’t be more scrappy than we were tonight. They just have no fear.”
Schwartz closed out the night with 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals, while Wilkinson led the way with 24 points, hitting 6 of 7 from the line. The Hubs had just eight turnovers in the high-pressure game.
Rochelle, taking aim at its first sectional title in 90 years, will now take on the winner of tonight’s Belvidere North-Oswego game Friday in the Rochelle Sectional final starting at 7:30 p.m.
- Jay Taft, rrstar.com
