Rockford Lutheran 44, Rockford Christian 42: Justin Miller couldn’t turn in any direction without a Lutheran fan hugging him Friday.

“This is the most hugs I’ve ever gotten in my life,” said Miller, who tossed in a shot just before the final buzzer to lift Lutheran to a 44-42 regional final victory over Rockford Christian.

Lutheran advances to play Elgin St. Edward in the sectional semifinals Wednesday at Plano.

After building a 22-19 halftime lead, Rockford Christian pulled ahead by 10 with 1:53 left in the third quarter.

Lutheran scored the final five points of the period to trail 33-28 at the start of the fourth quarter.

“We had to stay composed,” Lutheran coach Devin Smith said.

“It was so emotional. It is such a rivalry between these two schools. We just were trying to overcome some of their runs.”

The Crusaders quickly tied the game at 33-all on the first of Nathan Green’s two fourth-quarter 3s.

“We had good ball movement, and that was the biggest thing. Just working as a team and moving the ball,” said Green, who finished with 11 points and hit 3 of 6 3-point attempts. “It’s not a one-man show with this team. That’s for sure.”

The lead changed hands three times until Lutheran went up 41-40 with 4:01 left.

Both teams turned up their defense and not a point was scored until Lutheran’s Andrew Wieting hit a free throw with 16.8 seconds left.

Rockford Christian’s Drew Anderson then tied the game at 42-all on two free throws with 9.7 seconds remaining.

After a timeout with 4.4 seconds left, Lutheran inbounded from its own baseline to Earl Grigsby, who drove to the basket and shot. His jumper was tipped by a defender and came up short of the rim. Miller, who was standing near the bottom of the lane, grabbed the ball out of the air and threw it in just before the buzzer.

“It’s a tough loss, very emotional,” Rockford Christian coach Cedric Jones said. “My kids played their hearts out tonight. ... (Lutheran) played good defense and hit key shots at the right time. We just couldn’t buy a bucket down the stretch.”

Rockford Christian’s Brayden Teuscher scored a game-high 14. Lutheran’s collapsing defense limited Anderson, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, to 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. He had 17 points in the teams’ earlier meeting, won by Lutheran in overtime 56-50.

Smith credited his 6-foot-3 senior center, Jordan Countryman, for a strong defensive effort against Anderson.

“He just got it done,” Smith said.

- Doug Goodman, rrstar.com.