Aiming for a third straight regional title, the Macomb High boys basketball team saw its mission ended Wednesday night.
Making the 110-mile trip to McLean County, a second half rally fell short for the Bombers as they lost to Bloomington Central Catholic 52-43 Wednesday evening at Tri-Valley High School in Downs.
The contest was an Illinois High School Association Class 2A Regional semifinal. BCC entered as the No. 4 sub-sectional seed, while MHS was seeded fifth.
“I was really proud of how our guys competed against a really quality team after a two-hour bus ride,” said MHS coach Jeremy Anderson.
Trailing 9-8 after the opening eight minutes, a 3-pointer by Isaac Leinbach from the top of the key gave Macomb an 11-9 advantage 50 seconds into the second period.
But the Bombers scored just four points the rest of the quarter, a layup by Drew Watson at the 5:43 mark and a basket by Carter Havens at the 4:32 mark that gave MHS a 15-14 lead.
Meanwhile, Central Catholic’s Keshaun Manney took over. He scored 15 of BCC’s 18 points in the period. The Saints finished the half with a 13-0 run in taking a 27-15 halftime advantage.
Macomb worked its way back into the contest in the third quarter.
Trailing 33-24, the Bombers went on a 6-0 run that started with a Cooper Hobson basket. Nick Elbe added a free throw before Watson knocked down his first trey of the night, bringing MHS within 33-30 with just under three minutes to go in the period.
But Gavin Slayback’s putback with 1:25 left in the period gave the Saints a 35-30 leading entering the final frame.
And try as they might, the Bombers were unable to narrow the gap any closer as the Saints maintained control during the final eight minutes.
“We made a nice run in the third quarter,” said Anderson. “We just couldn’t get enough baskets to keep up the rest of the way.”
After scoring just two points in the third quarter, Manney helped seal the deal for the Saints in the final minutes, scoring nine points. BCC was able to maintain control down the stretch by also sinking nine of its 12 free throw attempts.
Watson topped Macomb with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.
Havens added eight points for MHS, including a pair of 3s, while Kellen Martin also added a pair of treys for six points.
Leinbach added five points for the Bombers, followed by Nolan Hoge with four, Elbe with three and Hobson with two.
Macomb finished the contest with eight 3-point baskets and seven 2-point baskets.
Manney topped all scorers with 31 points.
Crayton Schnierle added seven points for BCC, followed by Slayback with six, Cale Vogel with five and Eoin Kohn with three.
BCC finished 11-of-17 from the free throw line, compared to 5-of-8 for Macomb.
The Saints also finished with 19 baskets, including three 3-pointers.
Wednesday’s first semifinal saw top-seeded Peoria Manual escape past host Tri-Valley 46-43.
Tri-Valley, the No. 9 seed, had toppled No. 8 seed Peoria Christian 57-39 in Monday’s opening round.
Tri-Valley finished its season with a final record of 15-14, while Peoria Christian had a final record of 20-8.
Manual (19-9) will face Central Catholic (20-12) in Friday’s title contest.
The winner advances to sectional play next week at Chillicothe.
Nolan Hoge drive
