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Boys Basketball: Plano knocks out Aurora Christian
Updated: February 23, 2012 12:03AM
Ever since the seeds came out for the Class 2A Somonauk Regional, Plano was focused on knocking out top-seeded Aurora Christian.
The Reapers saw their hard work pay off Wednesday, taking the lead for good with 2:37 left in the fourth quarter and pulling away for a 65-57 win to advance to Friday’s regional championship game.
“Coach (Brett Moore) has been bugging us since the rankings came out,” Plano senior Devin Haws said. “He knew we would have a chance with these guys. We just wanted to show what we’ve got. We’re capable of beating anybody.”
If Haws is as big an offensive force as he was Wednesday, he may be right. Haws poured in a game-high 29 points, hitting a number of key shots in a close game. He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, including a three-pointer from the wing that tied the game at 52-52 with 4:08 left in the fourth.
“Every time they hit a big shot, it seemed like Devin Haws hit a three,” Moore said. “When Devin gets a guy close to him, he’s going to go past him. He’s quick. He’ll pull up and hit the mid-range jumper. When he’s hitting the three like he did tonight, he’s pretty tough.”
His shooting kept Plano (19-10) in the game. But it was two assists that he dished out when Aurora Christian’s defense collapsed on him that proved to be the key plays in the win. He set up Jose Martinez’s three-pointer with 2:37 left that gave the Reapers the lead for good. He then followed that up with a dish to Joseph Jones (13 points, all in the second half), that pushed the lead to 57-54.
Plano then hit their final eight free throws as a team to pull away in the final minutes.
Aurora Christian (18-8) figured to be in good shape early in the fourth quarter. Two free throws from Johnathan Harrell to start the period staked the Eagles to a 43-38 lead. They held a lead of four points and three leads of three points before Plano started to pull away. CJ Schutt led the Eagles with 19 points in the loss. Ryan Suttle added 14 and Harrell scored 11.
“They made it hard,” Aurora Christian coach Steve Hanson said. “They made a lot of tough shots. I thought once we took the lead we might be able to force them into some things that they didn’t want to do. They stuck to their plan and stayed patient. We had a big turnover there with the lead and Jones had the dunk and that got the fans back into it.”
The crowd was still buzzing about Jones’ thunderous dunk after the game, even though it didn’t give Plano the lead. He stole the ball and threw down a one-handed hammer to tie the game at 45-45 with six minutes left.
“I thought maybe the backboard was going to come out of the ceiling,” Moore said. “That’s about as hard as I’ve ever seen anybody in high school dunk it, especially with one hand. That rim was down below the bottom of the backboard. That does get us going.”
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