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PRINCETON – The Hall Red Devils beat the Bureau Valley Storm on a controversial 3-pointer at the buzzer in the team’s first meeting of the year in Spring Valley.
They almost did it to the Storm again, but a potential game-tying 3-point shot by senior Chance Resetich hit the back of the rim, and the Storm held on for a thrilling 63-60 victory in front of a packed crowd for the all-Bureau County battle for the Princeton 2A Regional championship.
“We knew coming in it was going to be tough. We split with them 1-1. We just had to come out and value every possession,” said BV senior Kale Barnett, who scored a game-high 27 points.
The Storm’s repeat regional championships are their first back-to-back titles since the 2004 and 2005 seasons, and their 12th title overall.
“It means a lot, especially for the guys who graduated last year. Get another one back-to-back. It’s been awhile since we’ve done back to back,” Barnett said.
The Storm (19-10) advance to the 2A Port Byron Sectional to play Orion at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Chargers won their own regional, defeating TRAC West rival Fulton 41-39.
“We went to sectional last year at our place. Now we’re just looking to take it a little bit farther,” BV senior Tyler Gustafson said.
Neither Storm coach Jason Marquis or Barnett said they knew anything about sectionals, because they had their focus on Hall.
“Haven’t looked at it. Don’t even know when we play,” Marquis said. “Coach Johnson talked about scouting, and I said I don’t even know where you’d send them and I don’t even know who we’re playing. We’re going to celebrate, enjoy it, and we’ll figure it out in the morning.
“I just feel fortunate for our kids they got to experience this feeling again, and have the opportunity to move on and play some more basketball.”
The fourth quarter, like most of the game, was a back-and-forth tussle.
The Storm took a 47-44 lead on a steal and layup by Barnett at the 6:12 mark.
Hall got two free throws by Trez Rybarczyk and a drive by James Mautino to go back up 48-47.
After ties at 51 and 53, the Storm went ahead 58-53 on a 3-pointer by Nate Paup and a steal and layup by Barnett.
BV stretched its lead to 62-57 with 16.9 seconds left after a bucket by Ben Shipp and a free throw by Barnett.
Cole Wozniak buried a deep 3-pointer to bring Hall within 62-60 with 9.5 seconds left.
Paup (11 points) hit the first of a double bonus to put the Storm up by three at 63-60, and Resetich rushed the ball up the floor for a last-second shot, but couldn’t get it to drop.
“It was a good game. We just lost by a basket at the end,” Hall coach Mike Filippini said.
Devan Janssen led Hall with 14 points, while Rybarczyk and DeAngelo added 12 each.
It looked the Red Devils (20-7), who lost in the regional finals for the second straight year, were going to blow away the Storm early, taking 11-2 and 16-5 leads to start the game.
The Storm battled back to take a lead late in the second quarter, settling for a 24-23 lead at the half.
Paup and Noah Johnson hit back to back 3s to open the third quarter for a 32-27 Storm lead. BV led 40-37 on a three-point play by Barnett with 2:49 left in the quarter, but Hall regained a 42-40 edge at quarter’s end.