Andy Amey
The Tribune-Star
PEORIA, Ill. — Harassed and outquicked all night by Illinois’ top-ranked Class 2A high school basketball team, Robinson used its rebounding, its free throw shooting and — most of all — mental toughness to upset Hales Franciscan late Friday night and earn a spot in the state championship game.
The Maroons trailed most of the way, but scored 10 straight points in the fourth quarter — the last eight at the foul line — to overtake the talented Spartans 64-61.
Hales Franciscan had 21 steals for the game, keeping the ball away from 7-footer Meyers Leonard in the Robinson post by swatting away the lob passes that had been successful for the Maroons all season.
But Ben Jones took up the scoring slack early for Robinson, Derek Hannahs provided some acrobatic shots and plenty of court leadership and Austin Siler, Devan Dirks and Cody Chamblin played their unselfish roles perfectly.
Leonard? Not getting the ball often bothered the University of Illinois recruit only a little. Despite getting just five field goal attempts, he scored 19 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked five shots and made the “overrated” chants from the Chicago crowd look a little silly in retrospect.
Hales Franciscan took over the lead near the midpoint of the first quarter and held it the rest of the half, although never by more than six points. Robinson would come close, only to have the Spartans get a steal and run-out — they scored 28 points off turnovers — to pull back ahead.
An 8-2 run early in the third quarter put Robinson ahead 38-37, the Maroons’ first lead since 7-6, but all-stater Patrick Miller immediately scored five points in a row for the Spartans. Robinson got within two points once, Hales Franciscan led by six twice, and it was 48-44 entering the final period.
Robinson’s first fourth-quarter led came on two Leonard free throws with 4:28 left for a 54-52 score, a play set up by a Chamblin deflection. Hales Franciscan scored the next six.
But Hannahs hit a leaner to stop that streak, cutting the lead to 58-56, and Leonard hit two free throws after being fouled on a post feed that tied the score with 2:12 to go.
A traveling call against the Spartans at 1:58 gave the ball back to Robinson, and Jones drove the lane and was fouled. He hit two for the lead at 1:36.
The Spartans got three shots, but hit none of them and the ball went out of bounds to the Maroons with less than a minute to go. Jones and Hannahs hit one free throw each, Leonard two clinchers with 5.6 seconds left, and a Miller 3-pointer in the final second of the game was meaningless.
“I don’t know if I have a lot of words,” coach Bob Coffman of Robinson said afterward. “These kids showed their perseverance and they fought through tough times. We handled [the defensive pressure] better as the game progressed.”
Jones led the winners with 21 points, while Hannahs scored 14. Miller had 22, fellow all-state guard Jamie Adams 13 and Aaric Armstead 12 for Hales Franciscan.
“We’re pleased, but we’re not done,” Coffman said, looking toward today’s state championship game against another defensive powerhouse in Peoria Manual. “The key [today] is to take care of the ball.”
