Prep Hoops: Survive & Advance

There is no denying that the IHSA postseason - in any sport - is a little bit like Survivor.

For the Eldorado High School boys' basketball team, they had to outwit, outplay and outlast Hamilton County Monday night in the Class 2A Regional at Carmi-White County.

The Eagles survived 53-47 and will now advance to Wednesday night's semifinal matchup against No. 1 seeded Harrisburg at 6 p.m.

The regional win for Eldorado was the school's first since Greg Goodley gave up the reins in the 2007-08 season.

Current head coach Josh Bradley was just happy to escape McDougal-Evers Gymnasium with a win.

"It's been about six years since we won a regional game and this is something that we have talked about since Day 1. It's something that these guys wanted to do and it's the first step in changing your program around because the younger guys now know in a bigger game they can win. It's nice for these seniors, who have had three coaches in four years to come out and get a win in a regional game against a rival opponent.

"Now we get to go play Harrisburg and we have nothing to lose," Bradley added. "They are the No. 1 seed, they beat us twice this year and we get to go out relaxed and try to have fun."

The game featured nine lead changes and four ties, but it was Eldorado who virtually had the upper hand all night, due in large part to the Eagles' bench.

Ethan Partridge came off the pine and added 15 points, eight of which came in the second quarter when the Eagles were able to hold Hamilton County to 3-of-14 from the field and take a 21-20 halftime lead after outscoring the Foxes 13-8.

Eldorado then outscored Hamilton County 11-10 in the third period and built a 50-43 lead with 1:16 to play after Adam Ninness sunk a pair of free throws.

Things then got interesting as the Foxes capitalized on a pair of turnovers and in the span of 20 seconds found themselves up by only three as Hamilton County made a late run.

It was all for not as senior guard Richard Graceffa, who also came off the bench, drilled a pair off free throws with 23 seconds to play to give the Eagles enough space.

CARMI-WHITE COUNTY CLASS 2A REGIONAL

Eldorado 53

Hamilton Co. 47

2pt 3pt

Hamilton Co. (7-21) FG FG FT R A S PF TP

Kelly, g 3-3 0-1 0-2 0 0 0 5 6

Dial, g 3-7 2-9 0-1 2 4 1 2 12

Scattone, g 1-7 2-6 3-6 3 1 1 1 11

Craddock, f 0-4 0-0 3-6 10 1 1 3 3

T. Braden, f 2-7 0-1 4-6 5 1 0 2 8

Vaughan 1-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 3 2

Cravens 1-5 0-0 3-4 4 0 0 1 5

Total: 11-34 4-18 13-25 24 7 3 17 47

2pt 3pt

Eldorado (8-16) FG FG FT R A S PF TP

Ninness, g 0-0 1-4 2-5 4 1 2 2 5

Kaiser, g 1-2 0-1 1-4 4 3 1 4 3

Burnett, f 2-5 0-1 3-4 5 7 0 3 7

A. Partridge, f 0-2 0-0 0-0 4 3 1 1 0

Boulds, c 3-3 0-0 4-5 3 0 0 4 10

E. Partridge 7-9 0-0 1-4 5 0 1 5 15

Graceffa 1-2 0-1 3-3 1 0 1 0 5

Traxler 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 0 0 1 8

Total: 18-28 1-7 14-25 34 14 6 20 53

Turnovers: HamCo 10; Eld 17

Score by Quarters:

Hamilton County 12-08-10-17-47

Eldorado 08-13-11-21-53