Logan Ruddy’s tying 3 at the buzzer sends Flanagan-Cornell to OT win over Woodland

RURAL STREATOR – It’s been 13 ⅔ long years since the Woodland Warriors have beaten co-op partner and old rival Flanagan-Cornell on the basketball court.

Logan Ruddy made certain Wednesday evening that streak continued, and in doing so sent the Falcons to Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. championship game of the Route 17 Classic.

With two Warriors in his face, Ruddy sank a nearly half-court heave at the buzzer of regulation to force overtime. Then in that extra four-minute period, the junior came through with another landmark play – an all-effort offensive rebound of teammate Seth Jones’ free-throw miss that forced the Warriors to foul him, leading to his making both tries and making it a two-possession game with 29.seconds left – as Flanagan-Cornell stunned Woodland 63-60 and sent the Warriors to Saturday’s third-place contest.

“[Woodland’s defenders] were in front of me, and I just had to throw it up there,” Ruddy said of his game-saving 3. “And then I was just excited. We don’t lose to Woodland.”

In Wednesday’s early game, St. Bede Academy had a fourth-quarter lead of its own go south, with Ridgeview pulling out a 51-45 triumph.

Flanagan-Cornell 63, Woodland 60 (OT): The host Warriors led 23-21 at halftime thanks to Connor Dodge’s own buzzer-beating 3 just past the timeline and didn’t trail a single second of the second half.

Woodland – led by Dodge’s 17 points and six rebounds, 10 points off the bench from Jaron Follmer, eight points apiece courtesy of Nolan Price and Quentin Porter, and a seven-point, 10-rebound, five-assist performance on a rare rough shooting night (2-of-15) for Nick Plesko – couldn’t shake the Falcons, however.

Missed free throws late opened the door for Ruddy’s improbable 3-point heave off a long inbounds from Jones as regulation expired, sending the Falcons backers in the packed Warrior Dome into a frenzy.

“Logan had a look in his eye when we were down five, and I actually said, ‘He’s going to hit a 3 to tie it,’” Flanagan-Cornell coach Brian Yoder said. “Don’t ask me how that happened, but it did happen. He made a heck of a shot, and Seth on the throw.

“Those things, you just have to be lucky, and it’s good to be lucky at Thanksgiving.”

In the overtime Ruddy’s shot forced, the rivals traded leads until Ruddy’s aforementioned offensive rebound and ensuing free throws extended the Flanagan-Cornell lead to four, 62-58. The Warriors kept fighting, getting their own 3-point try at the buzzer to tie, but it bounced off harmlessly into the hands of – who else? – Ruddy as time expired.

“You can battle for 31 minutes and 58 seconds, and sometimes all it takes is two seconds for a gut-punch to change everything,” Woodland coach Connor Kaminke said.

“But as big of a game as this is for us – a rivalry game and for the right to go to the championship – at the end of the day, it’s the third game of the season. ... All we can do is learn from this, grow from it. These are situations we haven’t been in a whole lot.”

Ruddy finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, aided by 15 points from Jones, 12 courtesy of Mason Rich, eight points and a key late steal by Rudra Patel and a three-point, six-rebound, seven-assist night from Connor Reed. Flanagan-Cornell was outrebounded 31-24 and outshot 47.8%-36.2% by Woodland, but won the forced turnover battle 15-9 – including 4-1 in the fourth quarter and overtime – and was 20-of-33 from the free-throw line compared to the Warriors’ 12-of-17.

The Falcons (3-0) win the Woodland Pool of the Route 17 Classic and head to Dwight to face the Dwight Pool’s champion, Momence, a 42-40 winner over Dwight on Wednesday.

Woodland (2-1) will play prior to the championship, facing their tournament co-hosts in the 5 p.m. third-place game Saturday.

Ridgeview 51, St. Bede 45: Before the 2-0 vs. 2-0 showdown, the Woodland Pool’s two winless teams met for the right to play for fifth Saturday in Dwight. St. Bede took the lead on a Carson Riva corner 3-pointer early in the second quarter and held that advantage until just 1:35 remaining in the game, but saw the Mustangs (1-2) close on a 14-2 run to claim the 51-45 win and the right to play for fifth at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Dwight.

St. Bede (0-3) – which shot 33.3% to Ridgeview’s 31.3% and outrebounded the Mustangs 35-29, but committed eight more turnovers including seven in the fourth quarter alone – will play in the seventh-place game at 2 p.m.

“We had a lead late in the game,” St. Bede coach Brian Hanson said, “and we just quit making plays. We have to get comfortable in those situations and hope the next time we learn a little bit from this.”

Jake Migliorini’s 13-point, 12-rebound double-double paced the Bedans, who led 28-23 at halftime, 38-36 through three quarters and 43-37 with 5:15 to play in the fourth. Twelve points from Riva and identical five-point, six-rebound games from Kaden Neuman and Gino Ferrari also helped St. Bede hold the lead for the majority of the contest.

Ridgeview had four players score in double figures – Tanner Maupin with 13 points and Cole Kennedy, Carter Beck and Noah Hastings with 10 apiece.