Kuitim Heald hits game-winning 3 in Rock Falls regional title OT win

MANLIUS — After setting the Rock Falls single-season scoring record in his last game, Kuitim Heald was far from finished.

After the Rockets let a seven-point lead with 35 seconds left in regulation slip away to force overtime against Riverdale, Rock Falls had plenty of adversity to overcome in Thursday’s Class 2A Bureau Valley Regional championship.

But Heald and company rallied to avoid what would have been a heartbreaking collapse with the season on the line.

With the game tied with under five seconds to play in overtime, Rock Falls had an out-of-bounds play for Heald.

Swish.

Heald drilled a triple from the corner and Riverdale was unable to get a shot off with 1.5 seconds left following a timeout as Rock Falls escaped with a 61-58 overtime win.

It was also Heald’s sixth made 3-pointer as he set a new Rock Falls career mark at 256 in the win. Isaiah Johnson had the previous mark of 254 set in 2004.

Rock Falls will face Winnebago at 7 p.m. in Tuesday’s Marengo Sectional semifinals after the Indians upset top-seeded Rockford Christian 57-50. Rock Falls beat Winnebago twice during the regular season.

“Job’s not finished,” Heald said. “It was just a big play I guess, but I work day in, day out for this and I couldn’t not thank my teammates for that opportunity. Especially trusting me with the ball.”

Heald found space around a screen from 6-foot-8 Cole Mulnix, firing his shot after Christian Hernandez passed him the ball from the baseline.

Heald finished with 28 points.

“We will always fight,” Heald said. “We’ve been playing since fifth grade, so we don’t want to go out. We want to keep going.”

Mulnix finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win.

“We work together and we found ways to help each other and that’s why we came out with a win,” Mulnix said. “We just play together really well.”

The win was on track to be drama-free in regulation with the Rockets up 52-45 with 35 seconds left before Austin Castaneda was called for an additional technical after a foul.

Riverdale freshman Colton Clark made 3-of-4 free throws and hit two more after another RF foul to make it 52-50.

RF turned it over on a later possession and Jackson Tegeler tied the game with 14 seconds left. The Rams (21-10) even had a shot to win it at the buzzer but Mulnix, as he did frequently all night, came up with a key block.

Riverdale outscored Rock Falls 19-9 to force OT.

RF trailed by four in extra time before tying it to set up Heald’s game-winner.

“When Timmy hit that corner 3, the whole crowd just erupted with energy,” Castaneda said. “That was a great game. Credit to Riverdale, they’re a good team.”

Castaneda said the team has come to expect adversity.

“We kind of exposed ourselves at the end with a lack of discipline, but [coach Zach Sandrock] kind of got on us,” he said. “He said you’ve just got to battle back.”

It wasn’t easy, but the Rockets pulled it off to win their first regional title since 2023.

Heald’s shot will be one to remember.

“We drew that play up, we wanted that for him,” Castaneda said. “We’ve dreamed for moments like this since we were kids. We’ve all played together since middle school.”

“It feels great,” Mulnix said. “But the job ain’t finished and we’re going to keep going.

“If we play together as a team, it’s going to be hard to beat us.”

Aris Morgan led Riverdale with 22 points and Jacob Watson had 11.

“He hit a good shot at the end,” Riverdale coach Alex Kelly said of Heald’s game-winner. “I thought our defense was OK, we were a little bit behind him. But credit to him, he hit the shot.”

Sandrock said the game featured a “range of emotions.”

“We’ve got to stay disciplined, both mentally and in the game, we’ve got to take care of the ball,” he said. “We saw some adversity late. ... But the boys worked hard in that overtime.”

Having a player like Heald with the game on the line doesn’t hurt either.

“You don’t want anybody else shooting that shot,” Sandrock said. “I trust all my guys, but he has the hot hand and he’s been a pure shooter for the past four years. Nice open look at the end, you can’t ask for anything better.”

Coming out on top in a game like that provides more than one lesson for Rock Falls,

“It was a great showing of how life can go up and down at times,” Sandrock said. “And that we need to fight through the adversity. And if we fight through it with discipline, we’re going to come out on top.”

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Rock Falls’ Kuitim Heald puts up the three point shot that sealed the win for the Rockets in OT over Riverdale Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, during the Class 2A Regional final at Bureau Valley High School. (Alex T. Paschal)