03-11-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA - Within a matter of seconds, the euphoric feeling of success turned into the bitter taste of defeat for the Woodlawn Cardinals.

Rallying in the fourth quarter, the Cards' senior guard Ross Owen drilled a 3-pointer with :26 left that gave Woodlawn a 45-44 lead in their 1A semifinal game against Chicago Leo.

However with plenty of time left, Leo point guard Darius Branch worked the ball to Mykel Hampton who launched a 3-point shot that missed fired.

Teammate Darias Oliver grabbed an offensive rebound but his shot with :05 left also missed the mark.

Oliver's teammate Jamil Green corralled the rebound and his stick-back with :03 left sealed a 46-45 defeat for Woodlawn.

The thing that stood out the most on the stat sheet was part of the problem that Coach Shane Witzel's club faced in those final seconds and through out the entire game.

The Cardinals couldn't keep the athletic Lions off of the offensive glass as the Green rebound was the clubs' 15th second chance board of the game.

Leo out-rebounded the Cardinals overall 35-21 and it proved to be the final difference as the Cardinals fell into the third place game against Liberty on Saturday afternoon.

“That was an outstanding high school basketball game. The boys stuck to our game plan, even to the last play, we were very disciplined. We crashed the weak side board and just that little thing,” said Leo head coach Shawn Frison “I just wanted my boys to be resilient and to fight; to stay disciplined.”

Owens finished the game leading Woodlawn (29-4) win 18-points as no other Cardinal player hit double-figures.

Austin Ballard ended up with eight-points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Garret Minks added seven points while Brett Harris and Blake Wollerman added seven and four points in the low scoring battle that suited the Cardinals just fine.

“I've never been more proud of a team and how they dealt with the adversity at the end of that game,” said Coach Witzel. “We had to make a lot of adjustments and they (our kids) were locked in and focused and battled through. You come down to the last possession with the lead and we're just one rebound away from going to the state championship. That's one that will stick forever.”

Not wanting to get into a track meet with the Lions, Woodlawn was on the verge of being blown out of the gym a couple of times during the game but rallied each time.

Leo went on a 15-0 run in the first quarter to take a 15-5 advantage.

The Lions were led by Branch with 18-points as the 5-foot-8 senior point guard netted 18-points and he nailed 10-of-12 free throws in the contest.

He opened the big first quarter barrage with six of his points and Oliver hit a pair of big shots in the run.

Oliver closed the run with a two-handed dunk on a fast break for a 10-point lead.

But as they did the entire game, Woodlawn battled back as senior led clubs do.

Wollerman closed the quarter with a 3-pointer off of one of Owens' four assists that beat the horn to make it 15-8.

Leo's biggest advantage came after a free throw from forward Corielle Robinson and 3-pointer by Mykel Hampton for a 19-8 spread.

But the best run of the game from Woodlawn got the Cardinals tied at halftime.

Senior forward Harris scored on a pair of drives to the goal and Owens with three consecutive scores.

Two 3-pointers sandwiched around a nice drive to the basket that resulted in goal tending.

When he canned the second of his four trifectas, the teams headed to the intermission dead-even at 20-20.

Minks got a couple of shots to fall in the third quarter on a drive to the basket and a back door cut for a score on another Owens' assist.

Minks added 1-of-2 free throws that closed a close frame at 31-30 Woodlawn.

Leo scored the first six points of the fourth quarter for a 36-31 spread with Branch scoring on a reverse lay in and Oliver grabbing a rebound of his own missed shot for a basket.

In fact the Lions hit 18-of-24 free throws, including 10-of-13 in the fourth.

But Woodlawn produced a final run that got them the lead.

Ballard scored twice, including a 3-pointer from the left corner, and made a steal and a fast break that cut the Leo lead to just 43-40 with just 43.7 remaining.

A made free throw by Leo pushed the lead to four-points before Woodlawn took one final lead.

Sophomore reserve Trey Isaac scored his only points of the game and following a Leo turnover, Woodlawn worked a nice offensive set that got Owens squared up for a 3-point try from the left corner.

His 20-footer found the mark as the Cards were in position to advance to the championship game.

Coach Witzel's club needed one stop and one defensive rebounds.

Unfortunately they got the stop but not the board.

Green's put back sent the Lions to the title game instead.

“The situation of where we were at in the game, being down. We were in scramble mode,” said Coach Witzel. “We got some steals and some key stops and ran some good stuff at the end, got some real good looks. We did everything we could possibly do on our end.”

Woodlawn will face Liberty, who lost to LeRoy 48-32 in the first semifinal of the day.

The Cardinals' defensive effort was strong as they forced the Lions into a 13-of-43 shooting performance (30.2 percent) and they got the Chicago team to commit 12-turnovers.

But the offensive boards, especially the final one, doomed the Cards.

Woodlawn hit 17-of-41 from the floor and were 6-of-12 from the arc with Owens hitting his four long range shots.

Normally they are able to punish teams from the foul line but they managed just a 5-of-7 from the stripe..

Leo (24-8) will move on to the title game for the first time since winning the 3A championship back in 2007.

“Sometimes when you meet adversity, you try to go back to things that are natural,” said Coach Frison. “It's natural for my boys to get out and run, get the ball up and down the court. In order to be effective, you sometimes have to use the clock. They stay disciplined in that.”