Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
PEORIA – The Belleville West boys basketball team capped off a historic day for the Southwestern Conference by winning their second straight IHSA Class 4A championship with a 71-59 win over Evanston at Carver Arena in Peoria.
With the win, the Maroons gave the conference its second championship of the day, joining East St. Louis, who won the Class 3A title that afternoon with a 68-63 overtime win over Chicago Bogan. It makes the SWC the first non-Chicago Public League conference to have two state champions in the same season, and also gives the Metro-East area its first repeat champion since East St. Louis Lincoln won three straight from 1987-1989.
As in last year’s final against Chicago Whitney Young, West rallied from a halftime deficit to win the title.
“Our kids really responded well to the challenge Evanston put to us in the first half, the first quarter especially,” said Maroon coach Joe Muniz. “It was a battle of two wills out there. I was worried that our kids could not keep up with them because we’re so big and long and not nearly as quick as they are. They’re so quick, and they shoot the three like crazy. But our will is our strength. After the first quarter, we got our wits about us. I told them they were in the same position last year against Whitney Young, we had an unbelievable second quarter to go up going into halftime. I think one of the key plays of this game was us getting a turnover and going down and scoring right before half to take the deficit to six going into halftime.
“We corrected some things at halftime,” Muniz continued, “we started feeding E.J. (Liddell) the ball. When we’re able to do that, we compromise their defense. If you’re going to play him one-on-one, he’s going to score. If you’re going to put two and three on him, and our guys are going to move, E.J. is so unselfish, we’re going to have nice dunks like Will (Shumpert) had all night.”
The Wildkits came out ready to go, but having a 10-point lead that was cut to six at halftime gave the Maroons momentum going into the second half.
“I thought our guys did a nice job coming out ready to play,” said Evanston coach Mike Ellis. “We really came out strong, the middle didn’t hurt us as much as it did in the latter stages of the game. I think that turn at the end of the first half when we had a lead of 10 and it got cut to six, I think that brought them some momentum going into the locker room at halftime, and it carried over into the second half.
“Without question, we got hurt on the backsides of our rotations,” Ellis also said. “It’s not easy to defend dunks and layups.”
Ellis also felt that Liddell made a big difference in the second half.
“They did a nice job of running their offense through E.J. down on the block,” Ellis said. “In the first half, I don’t think they got it to him enough, and to me, that’s one of the adjustments they made. He got more touches on the interior of their offense.”
Evanston started the game with a 5-0 run on a free throw and basket from Jaheim Holden and a pair of free throws from Ryan Bost. Jaylin Mosby and Liddell hit back-to-back threes, sandwiched around a Holden layup, to make it 7-6, and after an exchange of baskets, the Wildkits went on a 9-0 run on consecutive threes from Louis Lesmond and Bost, and a free throw and basket from Blake Peters to make it 18-9. A Keith Randolph, Jr. jumper made it 18-11 at the end of the first.
Holden hit a three at the start of the second quarter to make it 21-11 for Evanston before a pair of baskets from Liddell cut the deficit to 21-15. The teams traded baskets before two more baskets from Holden brought the Evanston lead back to 27-17, forcing West to call time. The teams again exchanged baskets before a pair of free throws by Peters made it 31-19 for the Wildkits, then a pair of baskets from Mosby made it 31-23. A Lance Jones layup put the lead back to 10, followed by an exchange of baskets. A jumper by Marcellus Romious and a Tommie Williams layup with five seconds left in the half cut the Maroon deficit to 35-29 at halftime.
West opened the second half with a 7-3 run to cut the lead to 38-36. After a basket from Holden, baskets from Liddell and Shumpert tied the game at 40-40, before Jones gave Evanston the lead right back. A free throw and basket from Liddell gave the Maroons the lead 44-43, but the Wildkits took the lead right back on a pair of free throws from Jones. The teams exchanged baskets before a Shumpert dunk gave West the lead at 47-46 at the end of the third period.
The teams exchanged baskets to start the final period, before a free throw by Liddell and a basket from Jaylin Gibson tied the game at 50-50. The Maroons went on a 7-0 run, getting a dunk from Shumpert, a three from Mosby and a basket by Liddell to give West a 57-50 lead before a Lesmond three cut the lead to 57-53. A pair of Shumpert baskets made it 61-53 with 2:09 left, and with the game getting late, the Maroons hit six times from the free throw line, outscoring the Wildkits 10-6 to give them the 71-59 and their second consecutive championship.
Liddell led West with 24 points, while Shumpert had 21 and Mosby 15 to lead the Maroons, while Holden led Evanston with 20 points, Jones scoring 15 and Lesmond adding 12.
The Wildkits finished with a 32-5 record, and Ellis felt that his team missed too many easy shots, which made a huge difference.
“We just missed some easy shots,” Ellis said. “We missed some layups, we missed some threes, and those get compounded when they’re converting at the other end. It’s like going to a middle school game; the team that makes the more layups is going to win.”
The Maroons successfully defended their championship, winding up at 34-4, and Muniz gave tremendous credit to his players.
“What they had to do, and endure this year, to do it back-to-back,” Muniz said. “I don’t have any words for it. It’s unexplainable, but it’s a great feeling.”Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
