PEORIA, Ill. — Those who live by the defensive pressure can sometimes die by the defensive pressure.
It happened to top-ranked Hales Franciscan on Friday night in Carver Arena, and it happened again to second-ranked Peoria Manual on Saturday as eighth-ranked Robinson — worst ranking of the Illinois Class 2A finals — won another one from the foul line, this one for the state championship.
The Maroons hit 35 of 43 free throws in their 76-68 overtime victory, 18 of them in 20 attempts by Derek Hannahs, and scored 14 of their 16 overtime points at the stripe — 10 by Hannahs, of course.
The game was basically a carbon copy of the semifinal game a night earlier. Robinson struggled early against a terrific defensive team, learned to withstand the pressure to draw fouls, and won going away — after surviving a last-second shot in regulation time by the Rams.
Again the Maroons trailed most of the time, although never by much. They were eight points down in the first quarter, in fact, only to get back in the game on a steal and layup by Ben Jones and a 3-pointer — a 55-foot, buzzer-beating 3-pointer — by Meyers Leonard that cut the first stop lead to 19-16.
Robinson tied the game once in the second quarter, only to see Manual pull away with a 6-1 run for a 31-26 halftime lead.
The Maroons scored the first seven points of the third quarter to take the lead, but Manual went on an 8-2 run. Jones scored twice in a row to tie the score, and the lead changed hands four times in the last minute of the third quarter that ended with Manual back on top 44-43.
With Robinson trailing 56-52, Leonard was whistled for his fourth foul while fighting for position in the post, and all-stater Lawrence Alexander took advantage of that with a drive to the basket to put the Maroons down by six.
But just as they had a night earlier, the Maroons went on a streak at the best possible time. Jones scored with an offensive rebound, Hannahs hit two free throws, and steals by Austin Siler and Hannahs set up four free throws by Jones that put Robinson ahead 60-58.
Alexander tied the score with a basket at 1:16, but Jones appeared to be heading for a three-point play at the other end — until he was called for charging instead, his fifth foul.
“I thought, ‘No way [was that a foul],’” coach Bob Coffman of the Maroons said after the game. “I thought that was a game-changing call.”
“I was a little nervous,” said Jones, who didn’t agree with the call either, “but I knew [my teammates] had my back.”
Manual elected to work for the last shot, knowing that Robinson — which used basically a six-player rotation in its two Peoria games — might not be best suited for an overtime period. But Alexander waited until the very last second and threw up an off-balance shot that missed.
And in the overtime, Leonard got the tip and Robinson never trailed, Hannahs scoring the first four points in the first 40 seconds of the four-minute extra period.
“Getting a chance to play the overtime was huge,” Hannahs said after the game.
“I’m glad my guys pulled through for us,” said Jones. “Derek Hannahs is a clutch free throw shooter.”
“Things didn’t work our way all the time,” said Coffman, “but you’ve got to be able to work through it — and did we ever.”
Hannahs led all scorers with 28 points, including 18-for-20 free throw shooting. Jones scored 22 and Leonard had a triple-double with 16 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.
Andrew Jordan had 25 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks for the Rams, while Alexander scored 20 and Jeff Stokes 12.
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