Boys basketball: Sterling surges past Ottawa to win 3A regional title

DIXON – The Ottawa Pirates hung tough for as long as they could Friday night, but the Sterling Golden Warriors were too much down the stretch.

The Warriors used a fourth-quarter run to turn an eight-point lead into a 22-point cushion and pulled away to top the Pirates 74-56 in the Class 3A Dixon Regional championship at Lancaster Gym.

[ Photos from Sterling vs. Ottawa boys basketball ]

It’s the 37th regional or district title in SHS history, and the first since 2018. Sterling also tied the program record with its 24th win, becoming the sixth Warriors squad to reach that mark. The last time was in 2007-8; before that, it was 1989-90.

“It’s definitely feels nice. It’s a great thing,” senior point guard JP Schilling said. “It’s the first one since 2018, and we’re also the first team in a while to have 24 wins at SHS, so it’s a pretty big accomplishment – but we want more.”

Sterling (24-8) advances to the 3A Galesburg Sectional, where it will face Metamora in the semifinals on Wednesday. The Redbirds beat East Peoria 60-44 to win the Washington Regional.

Trailing 13-12 late in the first quarter, the Warriors took the lead for good with an 18-5 run. Schilling scored back-to-back baskets, then Andre Klaver scored twice inside – the first basket was a runout off a long pass from Schilling – before nailing a 3-pointer for a 23-15 lead with 1:20 left in the first quarter.

Schilling scored in the post, then Klaver drove the baseline for a layup and Lucas Austin buried a deep 3 for a 30-18 margin with 5:35 left before halftime.

“The key really was just playing for each other. I thought we had a couple of selfish shots early, but once we moved the ball and let our defense turn into offense, it turned into a bigger lead for us,” said Klaver, who finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. “Paint touches were the key. Getting in there and then either scoring or finding the open man allowed for us to open up a lot of stuff.”

Trailing 41-29 at halftime, Ottawa came out of the lock room on a roll. Levi Sheehan hit back-to-back 3-pointers, then Aiden Mucci drove to the basket before Cooper Knoll scored twice down low and Sheehan drove the baseline to cap a 14-6 run and cut the deficit to 47-43 with 3:02 left in the third period.

“We battled, just played hard. We played at the same intensity as them,” said Sheehan, who led the Pirates with 13 points and six assists to go with three rebounds. “We shared the ball, we cut hard. They were switching everything, and we were cutting hard and getting good open looks. We thought the momentum was going our way, and we were just trying to come back.

“But it’s a game of runs, and they’re a good team. They can shoot, they can do everything.”

Sterling answered with baskets from Austin and Klaver and a 3 from Schilling, but Payton Knoll hit a 3 off a kick-out pass from Cooper Knoll to make it 54-46 with 36 seconds left in the third.

That’s when the Warriors put the pedal down for the final time. Austin scored to close the third quarter, then Klaver and Austin scored to start the fourth before Schilling took over. The 6-foot guard drove the ball to the blocks repeatedly, either scoring with an array of moves around the basket or dishing to cutting teammates for layups.

His long pass to Klaver for a fast-break layup off an Ottawa turnover closed the 16-2 surge and made it 70-48 with 4:09 remaining. Both teams emptied their benches soon after.

“We pushed the tempo and we locked in more on defense. We got more stops at the end. That was the biggest thing, we settled down and played our game,” said Schilling, who almost had a triple-double with 19 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, three steals and a blocked shot. “We didn’t start off slow, really, but the rhythm wasn’t there early on. But I think in the second half we really got into our rhythm, went inside-out. That was beneficial for us.”

“Schilling in the post really hurt us,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “We just had a difficult time with him, and we needed to be a little better being able to double him in the post and get it out of his hands. But he’s really good, and we didn’t do a very good job on him.”

Austin scored 18 points for Sterling, and Kael Ryan added seven points, three steals and two assists. Carter Chance also had two assists, Kyle Billings had two points and four rebounds, and Cameron O’Brien finished with four points in the final minutes for the Warriors, who only committed four turnovers while forcing 14. They also scored 17 second-chance points on 14 offensive rebounds.

“It takes the pressure off of everyone, really, to know that you can trust the person next to you to make plays,” Klaver said. “I feel like that’s a big jump from last year; all of us can really do stuff with the ball in our hands, find open teammates and score.”

Cooper Knoll finished with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists for Ottawa, while Payton Knoll added eight points and five rebounds. Conner Price had seven points and two blocks, Huston Hart had five points and three rebounds, Jonathan Cooper also scored five points in the final minutes, and Mucci chipped in four points, two rebounds and an assist for the Pirates.

“The biggest thing tonight was we needed to make them dribble the ball up the floor. If Sterling gets out and they make that second pass past half-court, there’s no possible way we can deal with them. I felt for the most part tonight we did a good job with that, and we hung in there for three quarters,” coach Cooper said. “We’re not disappointed in our effort, I thought our guys stayed together tonight, and we gave ourselves an opportunity. But there’s a reason why, in my opinion, this is as good of a Sterling team as I’ve seen in my 30 years here.”