Winnebago 58, Rockford Lutheran 38: The Indians turned a full-court, back-and-forth battle in Friday’s Class 2A Plano Sectional championship game into a blowout, and the Crusaders never saw it coming.

Winnebago (30-0), up just 26-25 at halftime, wore down Rockford Lutheran (19-9), worked itself into position with an 11-2 third-quarter run, and pulled away for a 58-38 win. The Indians earned their third sectional title — but their first since 2006 — and posted their third
30-win season in the past six years. The Crusaders, who looked stunned throughout the second half, haven’t won a sectional crown since 1995.

“We knew if we kept the heat on, and kept it going, we could wear them down. We took advantage of it, and the score ballooned a little,” Winnebago coach Joe Murphy said. “They played us so hard in that first half, though.”

The Crusaders made four of their first five shots and bolted out to an 8-2 lead as Jordan Countryman scored four of his five points right out of the gate. Lutheran’s Earl Grigsby also had all of his team-high 10 points in the first half, and the Crusaders held the lead for most of it.

However, although the temperature in the Plano gym was turned up all night, the Indians — and their dominating 6-foot-7 center Chas Cross — didn’t heat up until the second half.

“It was so hot in there, and we knew we would start to wear on them if we kept at it,” said Cross (15 points, nine rebounds and five blocks), one of six juniors to get ample playing time Friday. “We kept the tempo up, stayed all over them on defense, and here we are. Wow.”

Cross had just five points at halftime, but sparked a 32-13 second-half domination by hitting all four of his third- and fourth-quarter shots.

Winnebago advanced to take on Princeton in Tuesday’s 8 p.m. DeKalb Supersectional at NIU.

Crusader coach Devin Smith did not make himself or his players available for comment after the game.

- Jay Taft, rrstar.com.