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Marion downs East St. Louis in overtime to win Sectional

CENTRALIA - Down by 12 early in the fourth quarter, the Marion Wildcats boys basketball team showed once again they are capable of anything Friday night.

Marion erased that deficit despite two starters fouling out, forced overtime and then stunned East St. Louis when Cole Schafer drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 71-68 victory in the Centralia 3A Sectional championship game at Trout Arena.

"Our kids just continued to fight and claw," said Marion coach Gus Gillespie. "There were multiple times when we were done. We were in foul trouble, we were in disarray, but our kids never thought about losing that game. Once we got in overtime, I felt pretty good about it."

The Wildcats (22-11) advance to the Springfield Super-Sectional - that's the Elite Eight - and face Springfield Southeast (27-3) on Tuesday night. The winner of that game goes to the state semifinals in Peoria.

East St. Louis (16-11) had a 46-34 lead after a layup by Joe Reece early in the fourth period. But the Wildcats cranked up the defense and went on a 14-2 run - pretty close to how they beat Carbondale in the regional title game.

First, Terrell Henderson converted a three-point play. Then Justin Saddoris drove for a layup and hit a 3-pointer after Jashawn Anderson missed a bonus free throw. Anderson was fouled again and made two to give the Flyers a 48-42 lead.

Saddoris hit two fouls shots after a big rebound from Mitchell Jackson and Jaden Lacy and Saddoris put in layups and suddenly the game was tied with 4:38 left.

"We just made tough plays," Gillespie said. "The kids have a lot of fight in them."

Explained Lacy: "It was just 100 percent heart and not giving up."

East St. Louis got a pair of 3-pointers from Cornelius LeFlore and a huge dunk from Reece to offset baskets by Schafer and Lacy - then went ahead 60-55 with 1:13 remaining on two free throws by Terrence Hargrove Jr.

The margin was the same after Saddoris and Traevion Jones both split free throws, but Schafer knocked down a triple with 47.1 left and rather than foul the Wildcats played tough defense. Lacy stole a long pass and then threw a pass to Saddoris that got him clobbered and sent back to the foul line.

Saddoris, who had a game-high 20 points and four fouls at that point, not only missed the free throw but fouled out on the rebound with 25.1 seconds remaining.

But the Wildcats got another chance when LeFlore split the ensuing tosses and Jackson Connor scored with 17 seconds left on Marion's end. David Fletcher, who had just been swatted in the paint by Reece, stole the ball and got it to Boston Ziegler.

Ziegler's primary role in the game, along with Mitchell Jackson, was to play defense with the regulars in major foul trouble, then swap out when Marion had the ball. But Ziegler drew a foul with 9.1 seconds left after Fletcher's steal and calmly made the first free throw to tie the game at 62.

"That was a huge free throw to tie that sucker up," Gillespie said. "That was a big pressure free throw."

Ziegler missed the second and East St. Louis had a chance to win at the end of regulation but a 3-point shot by Hargrove missed along with a rebound shot by Rogers before time ran out.

The Wildcats went into the extra four-minute period without Henderson, who fouled out with 4:33 left, or Saddoris. Henderson had 11 points in his time while battling like a warrior against the much-bigger, scarier Flyers.

"They didn't intimidate me," Henderson said. "We watched them on film. I just knew we were going to have play really hard and play good defense."

Connor scored and drew a foul to start overtime but the Flyers tied it when Hargrove, who had left the court earlier with an injury, threw down a two-handed baseline slam. Connor went to work again and drew a foul with 3:01 left and split the free throws.

East St. Louis turned a miss into three points when Rogers converted a putback into a three-point play and added after Connor missed two free throws and Anderson split a pair of freebies.

Marion tied it at 68 when Lacy somehow bombed in a 3-pointer despite shooting from an angle behind the backboard in front of Marion's bench. And the Flyers helped after the shot when Rogers missed two free throws with 1:02 on the clock.

The Wildcats worked the clock down and called timeout with 10.5 left. Gillespie drew up a play that was supposed to go inside to Connor, but ended up with Lacy driving for a similar shot that gave Marion its win over Carbondale.

Lacy missed this time and Immunique Williams rebounded the ball but fell down and was called for traveling with 2.9 left.

Ziegler took the ball out of bounds and threw a pass to the left corner where Schafer drifted over after bouncing off a pair of screens. Schafer was wide open when he caught the pass, set his feet just behind the arc and knocked down the shot to send Marion's boisterous crowd into a boiled-over frenzy.

"We ran that play earlier in the game and it didn't go in then but it went in when it mattered," Schafer said. "So that's all you can ask for."

Right before the inbound, Gillespie called Lacy over and whispered to him the final play that the Wildcats ran to textbook perfection.

"What a shot at the end," Gillespie said. "He deserves it. I'm so happy for him. He's been shooting the ball well and he got a good look."

In what has become somewhat typical, the Wildcats were forced into an early hole but dug out of it. East St. Louis led 17-7 in the first quarter after a 3-pointer by Jabril Olivera, and were up 27-18 at the half thanks to LeFlore hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Flyers were ahead 33-20 after two layups by Jones in the third quarter and Jones had consecutive buckets again at the end of the period to send East St. Louis into the fourth with a 44-34 lead - an advantage that grew on Reece's layup before Marion's big run.

"All week people kept asking, 'How are you going to play with them?,'" Schafer said. "We just dug deep and played good defense."

The Flyers had four players in double figures led by Hargrove with 16, followed by LeFlore (15), Jones (11) and Reece (10). Rogers added nine and Williams had seven.

Saddoris led all scorers with 20 points, Lacy had 16 and Connor put in 14, while Henderson also hit double figures with 11 and Schafer finished with nine. The other point came on Ziegler's crucial free throw.

Jackson and Fletcher were scoreless but a huge part of the victory defensively.

"We just stayed in our trap most of the game and then they turned the ball over at the end," Fletcher said. "It feels great. It hasn't been done in so long and we just want to keep winning."

Indeed, the last sectional title for the Marion program was in 1990, when the super-sectional round was the Sweet 16 before the two-class state quarterfinals. That year, Marion lost to East St. Louis in overtime in the super-sectional at SIU.

The current Wildcats will have to travel a bit farther - to the Bank of Springfield Center in the state capital for Tuesday night's game - but aren't ready for their ride to stop now.

"It feels amazing," Lacy said. "Nothing like I've ever felt before."

Marion's opponent, Springfield Southeast, defeated rival Springfield Lanphier for the Decatur Eisenhower Sectional title. Terrion Murdix, Anthony Fairlee and Michael Tyler all had double figures for the Spartans.

The winning shot. Justin Walker Photo
The winning shot. Justin Walker Photo
The winning shot. Justin Walker Photo
The winning shot. Justin Walker Photo
The winning shot. Justin Walker Photo
Jaden Lacy, Terrell Henderson and Jackson Connor celebrate with their fellow students. Justin Walker Photo
Terrell Henderson picks up Cole Schafer after the winning shot. Justin Walker Photo
Sectional champs. Justin Walker Photo
Sectional champs. Justin Walker Photo
Sectional champs. Justin Walker Photo
Sectional champs. Justin Walker Photo
Sectional champs. Justin Walker Photo
Marion's seniors pose with coaches Gus Gillespie and Scott McKenty. Justin Walker Photo
Jaden Lacy Justin Walker Photo
Jaden Lacy Justin Walker Photo
Marion Maniacs Justin Walker Photo
Justin Saddoris Justin Walker Photo
Justin Saddoris Justin Walker Photo
Justin Saddoris Justin Walker Photo
Terrell Henderson and Terrence Hargrove Jr. Justin Walker Photo
Cole Schafer Justin Walker Photo
Justin Saddoris Justin Walker Photo
Jackson Connor Justin Walker Photo
Jackson Connor Justin Walker Photo
Jaden Lacy Justin Walker Photo
Jaden Lacy Justin Walker Photo
Joe Reece and Jackson Connor Justin Walker Photo
Terrell Henderson fouls out. Justin Walker Photo
Terrence Hargrove Jr. and Cole Schafer Justin Walker Photo
Eric Rogers Justin Walker Photo
Joe Reece Justin Walker Photo
Joe Reece Justin Walker Photo
Joe Reece Justin Walker Photo
Boston Ziegler ties it at 62 with 9.1 seconds left in regulation. Justin Walker Photo
Jackson Connor scores the first points of overtime. Justin Walker Photo
Gus Gillespie Justin Walker Photo
Terrence Hargrove Jr. Justin Walker Photo
Terrence Hargrove Jr. Justin Walker Photo
Jackson Connor and Immunique Williams Justin Walker Photo
Jaden Lacy hits a 3-pointer in overtime. Justin Walker Photo
Immunique Williams Justin Walker Photo