Boys basketball: Hampshire upsets DeKalb in double-overtime regional title game

ST. CHARLES — Down late in regulation then down late in overtime, Hampshire kept fighting back against DeKalb on Friday in the Class 4A St. Charles North Regional championship game.

Scoring the first five points in the double-overtime, the Whip-Purs fought off the Barbs for a 53-50 win and a spot in the Jefferson Sectional.

“We lost a lot of games by one or two points, and that really set us up for this game, to really get over that hump,” said Hampshire senior Sam Ptak, who had a key 3-pointer late in regulation and four points in double-overtime. “It felt great to get over that hump and finally do it.

“We never gave up. It’s all about grit.”

“DeKalb is a good team, and at the end of the day that was a good high school game. That was fun.”

—  Hamphshire coach Mike Featherly

DeKalb’s biggest lead was five in the first quarter, while the Whip-Purs (17-16) led by as much as seven in the third. DeKalb (23-10) took a 43-40 lead with 2:01 remaining on a 3 by Sean Reynolds, one of just two the DeKalb sharpshooter made in the game.

But Ptak tied things up with a 3, then after freshman center Davon Grant gave the Barbs the lead back with a minute left, Aman Adeshina hit a layup in the final 25 seconds to tie things back up.

“I told the guys we’ve got an opportunity for another quarter, so let’s go out and take it,” Ptak said. “That’s what we did. We told each other let’s go get it. We’ve got an opportunity, let’s go get it.”

DeKalb had a chance to win it, but Nick Louis came up with a steal, and his half-court shot was just off at the buzzer.

“You give credit to them, they took us out of things,” DeKalb coach Mike Reynolds said. “It certainly wasn’t our best overall game, and you give them credit. They were pretty physical with some of our guys, and we weren’t able to get over the hump.”

Each team scored two points in the overtime, with the Barbs again having a chance to win it in the closing seconds. But again they came away empty-handed.

“That was huge,” Hampshire coach Mike Featherly said. “I thought guys stepped up and hit big shots. Sam hit one, Aman hit a nice layup to tie the game. But man, the defensive stands that we got, phenomenal. They had chances at the end of overtime and the end of the game to win the game, and we stopped them.”

Even after falling down five, the Barbs had multiple chances to tie or win late. Down 52-50, a Sean Reynolds 3 went in and out, but Grant grabbed the rebound. He kicked it out to Darrell Island, who missed a 3-pointer.

Gavin Khounnoraj grabbed the rebound, was immediately fouled and connected on one of his two free throws with 21.6 seconds left.

Sean Reynolds eventually got a 3-pointer off with 1 second remaining, but it missed, and the Whip-Purs escaped with the regional trophy.

“Our guys are winners. They want to win the game,” Mike Reynolds said. “We knew we were going to have a fight here tonight. ... We just simply didn’t get it done. We had some open looks, we had some defensive mistakes, I thought, when we got the lead. But I don’t fault our guys.

“We gave it everything we had. We just didn’t have enough today.”

The Barbs were without a pair of rotational players, Tyler Vilet and Eric Rosenow, and Reynolds said the lack of depth showed late. DeKalb only went seven deep Friday, with most of the minutes going to the starting five.

Grant had 23 points and 15 rebounds, while Island added 11 and Reynolds 10 for the Barbs.

“It was a growing year for our young guys,” Mike Reynolds said. “I thought our three seniors who played a lot did a nice job of trying to lead them. We had three sophomores and a freshman in our rotation, and three seniors in our rotation and a couple juniors. In theory, guys keep improving, we should be OK next year.

“But this one stings a little bit, because we thought we could make a good run.”

Ptak and Costabile scored 15 each for the Whip-Purs. Adeshina had 12 and a team-best 10 rebounds.

Hampshire will face Guilford at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“One of those goals is that grit, man,” Featherly said. “You’ve got to keep fighting with persistence, and we showed it tonight, man. DeKalb is a good team, and at the end of the day that was a good high school game. That was fun.”