Crimsons win in OT

The Centralia Orphans kept trying to get away. But Jacksonville High’s Chaser Todd stayed in hot pursuit.

That’s how it went Friday night as things turned raucous and tense at the JHS Bowl. Todd made a shot nobody is supposed to make, then carried the Crimsons to a victory they weren’t supposed to get — scoring all of Jacksonville’s last 13 points in a 46-44 overtime thriller over Centralia at the Westown Ford-Passavant Area Hospital Crimson Classic.

“The win tonight probably beats any baseball win I could ever imagine, at least up to this point in my life,” said Todd, an All-Central State Eight first-team baseball standout. “This was the most exciting night ever. It was just unbelievable.”

Todd led the Crimsons with five steals, and led all scorers Friday with 21 points. But he only had eight when he heaved a one-handed, half-court prayer toward the net as the regulation buzzer sounded. Incredibly, the shot found its mark and the three-pointer sent the Crimsons (3-0) and the Orphans (2-1) into overtime, tied at 36-36.

“What a terrific game,” said JHS head coach J.R. Dugan. “What a great game for the kids. They responded.”

In a game marked by sudden reversals, bizarre officiating and grueling defense, Centralia had a 28-21 lead early in the third quarter before Jacksonville made a slow, torturous, 8-0 climb to overtake the visitors, 29-28 early in the fourth period. Then the two sides battled back and forth until it looked like the Crimsons were doomed. With JHS trailing 34-33 with 6.9 seconds to go, junior Blake Burgess drew a foul but missed both free throws, then fouled the Orphans’ Keith Johnson after the inbounds. Johnson went to the line and sank both free throws with 2.8 seconds to play, increasing Centralia’s lead to 36-33.

Then the inbounds went in to Todd, who barely eluded one defender before throwing up a 44-foot prayer and giving the Crimsons new life.

“I thought we did a great job down the stretch,” said Dugan. “We got down, but then Chaser hit that unbelievable half-court shot, and then the whole place woke up.”

 Todd scored the first points of the overtime on a nice driving layup, to make it 38-36 for JHS, but then the Orphans responded with seven consecutive points over the next two-and-a-half minutes, with three coming from Johnson and four coming from leading scorer Devan Wells. But in the last 47 seconds of the OT, Jacksonville and Todd rose up again. The Crimson defense forced Centralia into four rapid turnovers in the final minute (including one on which the kid inbounding the ball for Centralia after a JHS turnover turned the ball over himself after apparently stepping over the line before passing the ball in), and the Orphans kept fouling Todd and sending him to the line, where he went 8-of-9 for the game and 6-for-6 in those final seconds.

“Honestly, I think that’s just being in the right spot at the right time,” said Todd. “I wasn’t feeling it at all out there. I was just finding open spots, and my teammates are always gonna look for me. Even though we weren’t shooting well (14-of-41 from the field), we found a way to win against a pretty good team. That says a lot about us.”

With the game tied at 44-44 and 1.7 seconds to play, Todd dropped in two more to give JHS its margin of victory.

Senior Jacob Mills, who’d blocked back-to-back shots on a key Orphans possession moments earlier, stole the long inbounds pass to cinch the win.

“I just like to get after it,” said Mills. “We’ve got a great group of guys working hard here. I came in off the football season and worked hard for two weeks.”

As fans stormed the court to rejoice with the elated Crimsons players, JHS’ Dugan and Centralia head coach Lee Bennett were seen barking at each other instead of shaking hands, before Dugan, clearly upset, turned and walked away. He did not comment on the exchange afterward.

“Nothing, nothing,” said Dugan. “Nothing happened after the game.”

Bennett also would not give a specific reason for the heated exchange, except to say that he was frustrated in the outcome “from two standpoints.”

What was the first standpoint?

“The cerebral discipline with which we played,” Bennett said. “Just trying to execute stuff.  We’re still doing the same silly things we’ve been doing all week, and we’re not gonna figure it out because we can’t practice when we’re playing a game every night. That’s frustrating.”

And the second standpoint?

“That would be quite obvious to anyone who understands basketball at all,” Bennett said. When pressed for specifics, Bennett only repeated the same phrase two mores times, adding finally, “It’s unfortunate for young people.”

What moment in the game bothered Bennett the most?

“There were several,” Bennett answered. “There were several.”

Turnovers probably had something to do with it — though Bennett couldn’t have agreed with all of them. The Orphans dominated the boards Friday, outrebounding the Crimsons, 27-12, but that was severely offset by Centralia committing 27 turnovers, to just 12 by Jacksonville.

“I’m so proud of our kids, so proud of them,” said Dugan. “I thought everybody played well tonight. This is a huge win for us. It ranks up there with the best of them.”

Today, Jacksonville can win its Crimson Classic by winning both of its games against Mahomet Seymour (2-1) at 1 p.m. and then against Collinsville at 8 p.m. In the right circumstances, a split today can also give JHS the title.

“We gotta get these next two games,” Dugan said. “We’re gonna take them one at a time and do the best we can do.”