Dyett 44, Leo 43; Class 2-A Sectional Final
at Simeon on Friday, March 7
A one-point game often comes down to a razor-thin difference between plays made and plays that weren’t made.
The stakes were high – a spot in Monday’s IHSA Class 2-A Supersectional at Joliet – as Leo and Dyett fell in line with that truism Friday night in the title game of a Class 2-A Julian Sectional that was played at Simeon because of an unsafe playing floor at Julian.
The Eagles (24-7) moved on to Joliet with a 44-43 victory, while the Lions closed the books on a 23-12 season.
“They made a few more plays than we did,” Leo Coach Jimalle Ridley conceded, “but I want our guys to walk out of here with their heads up. They started something. It was a heck of a season.”
Public League campaigner Dyett is not known for its three-point shooting, but the Eagles buried four from distance while building a 17-5 first-period lead over the flailing Lions, who shot 2-for-11 and committed four turnovers.
Ethan Jackson got hot and shot Leo back into it, tying the game at 31-all with a putback late in the third quarter. The Lions were awarded two free throws from the rebounding scrum that accompanied Jackson’s bucket, but missed both and failed to take their first lead of the game.
That failure proved costly when Aramis Brown and Devon Sheltton knocked down three-pointers on Dyett’s first two final-period possessions for a six-point lead that Leo couldn’t quite erase.
The Lions got within two (42-40) on Jackson’s two free throws with 23.8 seconds left, and Jaden McKinnon obliged them by missing two free throws when he was fouled after a timeout.
“I should have had a ‘big’ in the game to get that rebound,” Ridley said. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Brian Kizer rebounds well for a 6-foot-1 guard, but he was literally pulled to the floor as McKinnon’s second free throw glanced off the rim. The ball wound up Rickey Coleman’s hands. Leo fouled him, and the poised senior knocked down both free throws for a 44-40 lead that survived Jackson’s three-pointer at the buzzer.
Jackson finished with a game-high 16 points and Kizer scored 11. Ridley was astonished that Shelton’s team-high 10 points included three three-pointers.
‘I watched tape of at least five of their games and 20 (Shelton) did not have a single three-pointer. Tonight he comes out and drops three on us. Unbelievable.
“But this is just the beginning. We’ll be back. Leo basketball is back on the map, and this team will be remembered as the group that brought us back.
“I love these guys.”
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