BASKETBALL IS BACK! Flanagan-Cornell falls late in state’s (likely) first varsity hoops game of season

FLANAGAN – Barring the existence of an unpublicized small-school game somewhere in a remote southern portion of the state, Flanagan-Cornell and Midland met in Flanagan on Friday night for what is believed to be the first varsity basketball game played in the state of Illinois during this pandemic-delayed 2020-21 basketball season.

It was a good one.

The host Falcons scored the game’s initial 12 points and led for all but the final 42 seconds, but Brady Hattan’s last-minute bucket lifted the visiting Timberwolves to an exciting – albeit very unusual – 57-56 victory here in a fan-free Nest.

“It was about getting the kids back to doing what they love.”

—  Flanagan-Cornell boys basketball coach Brian Yoder

For the 15 young men who took the floor, though, it was about more than the final score.

“At this point we had basically given up on getting to play,” said Flanagan-Cornell point guard Sam Jones. “But Coach said to come and we decided to practice the last two weeks, still not thinking we’d get to play a game, but everybody showed up, and we’re just glad to be on the floor. ...

“The masks weren’t terrible. The quiet was probably the biggest thing. It’s hard to get after it when there’s limited energy on the floor.”

It was a game scheduled less than 24 hours prior, as the state’s recent relaxing of coronavirus-fueled restrictions to high school sports and a last-minute cancellation led Flanagan-Cornell basketball coach and AD Brian Yoder to pick up the phone and call a few miles northwest.

“We had another opponent, but it just didn’t work out,” Yoder said. “I worked at Midland 12, 13 years ago with Tim (Smith, Midland’s athletic director), so I called Tim last night when they were at practice, and I said, ‘Hey, do you want to play tomorrow?’ ...

“It was about getting the kids back to doing what they love.”

The opening inbounds pass – there was no game-opening jump ball, one fewer opportunity to spread COVID-19 in a game which featured everyone in the nearly-empty gym masked – took place more than a half-hour before the start of the state’s other widely-publicized varsity game Friday, Tuscola’s 58-43 home win over Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond.

“We kind of took this game as a last-minute thing, probably – like a lot of teams – not really prepared,” said Midland coach Allen Hattan. “But it let the guys get out and kind of get that feeling back that we’ve been missing the last three months.

“I think it was really, really good. ... At this point, for the boys, let’s get in what we can get in. Like I told the boys in the locker room, ‘Take every game this year like it’s your last game, because you never know when COVID or something else could stop us.’ ”

The Falcons (0-1) dominated the vast majority of the night. Their lead reached as high as 12-0 in the opening minutes, then 32-15 in the second quarter, and FCHS repelled a third-quarter Midland run by closing the period on a 10-0 spurt to carry a 50-38 advantage into the fourth.

There, though, the wings fell off for the Falcons, who saw the T-wolves (1-0) take control and close the contest on an 8-0 run to steal the victory.

“I don’t know. I think part of us was just happy to play,” said Yoder. “But I just told them, we’re still coaches, we’re still players. We still like to win.

“It’s good to get back to playing, but it was like two games. It was like I was watching Illinois-Northwestern.”

Hattan finished with 13 points, the game-winning final two coming off one of five assists from Will Meliska. Meliska also added seven steals and a game-high 21 points for the Timberwolves, who shot 38.9% from the field to overcome 27 turnovers.

Tyler Pfaff scored 20 points for the Falcons, who shot 35% from the field, including 15.6% from 3-point distance, and suffered 28 turnovers. JD Ruddy – the likely answer to the trivia question “Who scored the first points in the state during the IHSA’s 2020-21 varsity basketball season?” – put in 17 points and four steals, while Jones finished with seven points, six steals and a game-best 10 assists.

The Falcons plan to do it again Saturday, hosting large-school rival Pontiac for a 2:45 p.m. varsity non-tip.