Entering Friday night’s contest against Tremont with “house money” the West Prairie High School boys basketball team nearly hit “blackjack.”
Instead, the Cyclones ended up going “bust” as the host Turks escaped with a 76-70 victory in capturing an Illinois High School Association Class 1A Regional title.
West Prairie saw its record-setting season end with a final record of 26-7. Tremont improved to 23-10 in winning its first regional title since 2019.
The action from the contest featuring the Nos. 2 and 3 sub-sectional seeds heated up from the get-go.
Miller Reynolds connected on a 3-pointer to start the game for Tremont. That basket allowed him to surpass the 1,000-point mark in his high school career.
But he was just getting warmed up. The senior knocked down four treys in the opening eight minutes. He scored 14 of his team’s 25 points as the Turks flew out to a 25-15 lead.
Tremont finished the period with six 3-pointers. “We knew they had quite a few shooters and that we had to focus in on them,” said West Prairie coach Ian Conkling of Tremont. “Our rotations weren’t as good as they needed to be to start the game.”
“I felt they got a little better as the game went on,” he added.
The scoring pace slowed in the second quarter, but Tremont remained in control as Josh Papenhause tallied seven of his team’s 15 points as the Turks went into halftime with a 40-24 lead.
Braden Coplan scored 15 points in the opening half for West Prairie.
“We had to be able to weather the storm,” said Conkling. “They were hitting shots at a pretty high clip.”
The Cyclones battled back into contention in the third period.
Matt Whitman opened the quarter by scoring the first eight points for the Cyclones, including a pair of threes.
West Prairie still trailed 49-34 at the 3:34 mark following a Tremont timeout.
The Cyclones responded with an 8-0 run that included a pair of baskets by Braden Coplan, along with baskets by Whitman and Holden Coplan.
A Griffin Meeker trey stopped the run, building the Turk lead back to 52-42. But Braden Coplan scored the game’s next six points that included a layup and a pair of free throws that closed the deficit to 52-48.
Brandon Tennon’s traditional three-point play made it 55-48, but Eli DeCounter’s buzzer-beating trey gave the Cyclones the momentum as they entered the final eight minutes trailing 55-51.
“We talked at halftime and we said what was going to bring (West Prairie) back was the 3-point shot,” said Tremont coach Brian Emich. “You saw (Braden Coplan) and he went unconscious on us and made a lot of shots.”
“We were just trying to break the game down to increments,” said Conkling. “Two to three minutes, try to win those 2-3 minutes. Don’t look at the score. Try to chip away.”
A Tennon basket gave Tremont a 57-51 lead before Braden Coplan’s trey and a traditional three-point play by younger brother Holden knotted the contest at 57-57. And when Braden Coplan scored on West Prairie’s next possession, the Cyclones had their first lead of the game at 59-57 with 5:50 to go.
But Meeker answered with a three from the top of the key. “We were crashing down a little too much leaving (Griffin) Meeker open,” said Conkling. “He got hot in the second half.”
Graham Emich followed with a traditional three-point play that gave the home team a 63-59 lead.
But the Cyclones weren’t done yet. Braden Coplan and Meeker traded treys before Coplan hit a second three that made it 66-65.
Tennon gave the Turks a 68-65 lead before Braden Coplan’s third straight three tied the contest at 68-68 with 1:38 remaining.
But Reynolds, who hadn’t scored since the opening quarter, responded with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Tremont the lead for good with 1:27 to go.
“That was a big shot,” said Emich of Reynolds’s trey. “(West Prairie) would push and we absorbed it.”
West Prairie’s final two points came on a pair of free throws by DeCounter with 57 seconds left that made it 72-70.
But a layup by Tennon and a pair of free throws by Emich in the final seconds sealed the victory for the hosts.
“It was a little bit of a shootout in that second half,” said Conkling. “But that’s a testament to our team and our guys and their never give up mentality.”
“Even though we’re undersized and we may not be the most athletic team, our fight is obviously top-notch,” he added.
Braden Coplan topped West Prairie with 39 points, surpassing the 1,900-point mark in his career.
Whitman added 13 points, followed by Holden Coplan and DeCounter with seven points each.
Ryan Clark and Gannon Shipman rounded out the Cyclones scoring with two points apiece.
Reynolds topped Tremont with 19 points, followed by Meeker with 18 points, 13 coming in the second half.
Papenhause and Tennon added 11 points each, followed by Emich with nine and Andrew Dawson with eight.
“It was a complete team effort which you’ve got to have,” said Coach Emich of his squad. “They’re a good group of boys. They really love each other and they play hard. They’ve really bought into how we’re trying to play basketball and really what our culture is.”
“We just kept fighting and kept fighting,” said Conkling of his squad. “That’s a testament to the group and everything they’ve done this year and how much they care about one another.”
“We’re always in the fight. We’re never out of it,” he added. “Unfortunately, it just didn’t go our way.”
“We’re not going to hang our heads,” said Conkling. “We had a great season. We’ll be back.”
Tremont moves on to Class 1A Sectional play starting Tuesday at Monmouth United. The Turks will face Illini Bluffs (13-18), a No. 9 sub-sectional seed, in Tuesday’s semifinal.
The Tigers upset No. 8 Princeville, No. 1 Abingdon- Avon and No. 4 Galva in winning the regional title at Galva.
Wednesday semifinal will have top-seed Deer Creek-Mackinaw (25-6) facing No. 2 seed Brimfield (25-7).
The championship game is slated for Mar. 6.
The sectional winner advances to super-sectional play Mar. 9 at Western Hall on the Western Illinois University campus in Macomb.
