Coach Brad Beaty and his team, the number six-seed in the Sub-Sectional A, needed a big effort on Saturday to advance to the Final Four of the Woodlawn 1A Regional.

The Trojans came through with a strong first half, and an even better fourth quarter, to beat number-nine seed Okawville, 46-31 to improve to 16-14 on the season.

Six different players scored for Webber Township as they overcame a brief lapse in the third quarter to shut down the Rockets and move on to face Steeleville on Wednesday night at Woodlawn.

After leading 22-12 at the half, Webber Township surrendered seven consecutive points to the Rockets at the beginning of the third quarter, whittling the Trojans' advantage down to just three-points.

However the Webber defense clamped down on the Rockets for the rest of the quarter and the Trojans hit 8-of-10 free throws in final 4:10 of the contest to secure a spot in the semifinals.

Six-seven junior Hunter Danberry led the way with 14-points for the Trojans while 5-9 junior Wes Hails added 11.

Hails, with four of his five field goals coming on drives to the basket for jump shots, used an 'old school' approach against the Okawville defense.

Junior guard Elijah Marlow added 10-points, including four of the late free throws made by Webber Township.

Sophomore Josh Lewis scored just five-points but they all came in the fourth quarter as he canned a huge 3-pointer and added two important free throws.

Senior point guard Seth Hamerski scored four-points before fouling out with 5:23 left in the game and Aden Reed added a couple of free throws for two-points to round out the scoring.

However it was the defensive end of the floor that proved to be the difference for Webber Township.

“We played Cisne on Thursday night and gave up 35 in the first half and I told the guys you're not going to do anything in the postseason if that's how we're going to play defense. So we came out in the second half and locked them down to 12 points and went into overtime,” said Coach Beaty. “Today I thought our guys did a great job of communicating and not giving up too much. It was a good day of defense.”

Coach Ryan Heck, in his first season as head coach of the Rockets, saw his team's campaign end at 11-21.

Six-two junior Hayden Shubert led the Rockets with 13-points while junior guard Dillon Teter added eight.

Junior forward Joseph Jansen added five-points for the Okawville.

Jansen was the first player to put points in the book, canning a 3-pointer from up top to give the Rockets an early lead.

But it was Danberry on the inside who did the first quarter damage offensively.

The 6-7 center scored three times in the first frame, all near the basket.

Twice he took lob passes down on the blocks for scores and he secured a rebound for his third basket in the quarter.

Hails also added a couple of scores on drives into the lane for mid-range buckets as the first ended with Webber Township up 13-6.

After hitting their first shot in the first quarter, Okawville went 1-of-7 from the floor and committed four-turnovers as they fell behind.

It wasn't much better for the Rockets in the second quarter.

Coach Heck's club got just a pair of buckets from senior Cole Wiedwilt and Shubert (a 3-pointer) in the second quarter.

Hamerski stuck back a rebounded missed shot and Marlow added a basket on a fast break.

Hails connected again on a drive to the paint as Webber led 22-12 at the half.

The Rockets got going on both ends of the floor in the third quarter to make a game of it.

Junior guard Grant Schleifer scored his only two-points of the game to start the scoring on a cut to the basket for a lay in.

Shubert followed his second of three 3-pointers and a Jansen fast break off of a Webber turnover forced a Trojan timeout with 6:47 remaining in the third quarter.

Of its first five possessions, Webber produced a missed shot and four turnovers.

“We came out and got a couple of steals and got a couple of conversions on the other end and we had a shot to tie it rim out,” said Coach Heck. “But they came down a made a few more big plays than we did.”

The Trojans ended up with seven turnovers in the quarter but defensively they tightened down on Okawville the rest of the game.

The third quarter ended with Hails again scoring on drives to the basket and Hamerski added a basket for a 26-21 Webber lead.

Coach Beaty's club put the game away in the fourth quarter by making 5-of-8 field goal attempts and cashing in on their trips to the foul line.

Lewis hit his big 3-pointer early in the quarter and Danberry added two additional inside scores.

In spite of losing their point guard to fouls, the Trojans put together good possessions in the final minutes.

“We handled the adversity of losing our senior point guard with a lot of time left in the game (5:23) and we had some kids step up on the defensive end,” said Coach Beaty. “It's a great win over a great program.”

The lead reached its pinnacle when Danberry hit just 1-of-2 from the line but his second shot was rebounded by Lewis who got the ball back to Danberry for an inside score and a 43-28 advantage with 1:31 left.

Okawville was missing its top scorer, senior Ethan Riechmann, who was injured (knee) in the Rockets' senior night win over Carlyle last Tuesday night.

Riechmann got to close out his prep career with a brief appearance at the end of the game as the final horn sounded on the Webber win.

“Our best player (Reichmann) got hurt late in the game against Carlyle. He would have done anything to be out there today. It wasn't safe for him to play,” said Coach Heck.

After going 4-of-16 in the fourth quarter from the floor, Okawville's total was 12-of-43 overall, 6-of-22 from the arc.

Webber Township was much better as the damage was done inside.

The Trojans hit on 17-of-31 overall and 1-of-5 from the arc; the Lewis bomb in the fourth quarter.

Webber won the boards' battle 26-16 and despite seven third quarter turnovers, the Trojans ended up with just nine overall compared to 10 by Okawville.

The Trojans will now get a crack at state and ABV ranked Steeleville on Wednesday night at Woodlawn.

Steeleville took care of its first round opponent Grayville on Saturday at home.

Okawville (31) – Schleifer 1 0 0-0 2, Riechmann 0 0 0-0 0, Teter 1 2 0-0 8, Wiedwilt 1 0 1-3 3, Traub 0 0 0-0 0, Welch 0 0 0-0 0, Anderson 0 0 0-0 0, Savard 0 0 0-0 0, Shubert 2 3 0-0 13, Jansen 1 1 0-0 5, Miller 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-6, 3FG-6, FT-1-3, PF-16.
Webber Township (46) – Hamerski 2 0 0-0 4, Lewis 0 1 2-2 5, Danberry 6 0 2-4 14, Marlow 3 0 4-5 10, W. Hails 5 0 1-2 11, Reed 0 0 2-4 2.
2FG-16, 3FG-1, FT-11-17, PF-10.
Fouled Out – Hamerski - Webber Township.
Technical Fouls – None.

Grayville (27) – Leavens 1 0 1-2 3, Rowland 1 3 1-2 12, Grimm 0 0 0-0 0, Collins 3 0 0-2 6, Worley 1 0 0-0 2, Neeley 2 0 0-0 4, Caudo 0 0 0-0 0, Funkhouser 0 0 0-0 0, Morris 0 0 0-0 0, Phillips 0 0 0-0 0, Lee 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-3, FT-2-6 , PF-13.
Steeleville (69) – Rees 0 1 0-1 3, Reitz 0 0 0-0 0, Lazenby 1 2 0-0 8, Gross 1 2 2-4 10, Ersting 0 0 0-0 0, Milsap 0 0 0-0 0, Mevert 5 0 1-2 11, Wasson 3 0 0-0 6, Fiene 0 0 0-0 0, Harriss 6 0 2-4 14, Buch 3 0-0 6, Ruby 0 1 0-0 3, Newby 1 0 0-0 2, Sternberg 3 0 0-0 6, Ingles 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-23, 3FG-6, FT-5-11, PF-10.
Fouled Out – Caudo - Grayville.
Technical Fouls – None.