BOYS BASKETBALL: Moline wins regional crown in Freeman's return to BBCHS

Harding had 14 of his game-high 26 points in the first quarter, including six of the Maroons’ first 10 points on their game-opening 10-0 run. In a hostile environment against a Boilers team hungry for a state-shocking upset on their home floor, Freeman credited Harding’s hot start for allowing the Maroons to get the early separation they needed to control the game.

“Holy cow, he was deadly from the jump,” Freeman said. “He’s the best point guard in the state, and we trust in him, and he got us going.”

The Boilers were able to get going themselves after the early Harding haymaker, essentially playing the Maroons stride-for-stride after the 10-0 run to take a 36-24 deficit into halftime. But the Maroons got off to an equally hot start to open the second half, scoring six points in the first 90 seconds of the third quarter on their way to a 10-2 run to start the half.

“Down 12 at the half, I wasn’t too disappointed,” Boilers coach Ryan Kemp said. “We were trying to get it under 10 and were one possession away from that — we just stubbed our toe out of halftime, and that 12[-point deficit] went to 18 just like that.”

The Maroons never again let their lead get any closer than 14 after that, with Freeman helping put the exclamation point on the victory with a ferocious one-handed slam through a defending Nick Allen that resulted in a successful dunk and Allen foul that shook the gym and was the culmination of several high-flying dunks between the two teams’ athletic, 6-foot-10 centers.

“I kind of let my emotions out a little bit after that,” Freeman said. “But I was just hoping it went in and didn’t even see what happened.”

Freeman said before the game that he was looking to treat Friday night just like any other game. But once the lights shined down on a Turner Gym crowd that saw both student sections full within mere minutes of the 6 p.m. gym opening and the entire gym at a standing-room-only capacity by tipoff, it took longer than he expected to mentally and emotionally settle in. He was held scoreless in the first quarter but scored eight second-quarter points — the Maroons’ first eight points of the frame — on his way to a 15-point night.

“It was weird at first, especially because I’m used to shooting on the other side of this gym first,” Freeman said. “It was weird, especially with the crowd.

“They had those signs and were against me, and it was weird, but I loved it.”

While the Western Big 6 Conference champions improved to 30-3 and advanced to Wednesday’s Moline Sectional semifinal against Normal Community, the Boilers saw their season end with an 18-11 record.

After winning their second straight Southwest Suburban Conference Red Division championship this season, the next goal for Kemp and the Boilers was to win a regional, something the Boilers haven’t done in boys hoops since 1998-99. And while they fell a game short of that goal, Kemp knows his team, which will return all but two seniors next year (Brayden Long and Ben Maki), is better off for the experience of Friday night.

“You can’t duplicate what happened tonight, not that we’d ever want to duplicate the outcome,” Kemp said. “But the experience for the kids — everyone talking all day about playing the No. 2 team in the state, two radio groups here — they learn from that, and quite frankly our two goals were to win a conference championship and win a regional championship.

“We won our conference, but to win a regional, we have to beat a team like that in these types of conditions,” he added. “If you can get there and know what that feels like, you’re winning in that area.”

While Long’s prep career ended with Friday’s loss, the mark he left in his lone season at Bradley-Bourbonnais will be felt after he graduates. A transfer from Yorkville Christian, Long won an IHSA Class 1A State championship last year and also was named an honorable mention on the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class 1A All-State team last year.

He reached the 1,000-career point mark this year, despite battling injury issues over his career, and left a mark as both a player and leader on the Boilers program in Kemp’s eyes.

“I think Brayden showed our guys how to be as locked in as you can be at practice, film situations and, obviously, game situations,” Kemp said. “We appreciate that, and bringing that winning pedigree in, along with [assistant] coach [Eric] Long.

“Without those two, we’re not as good. We’re so much better with those two in our program.”

STAT BOOK

Freeman had 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, four steals and two blocks. Harding tallied 26 points, four rebounds and four assists. Grant Welche (13 points) and Jasper Ogburn (10 points) were also in double figures for the Maroons.

Allen led the Boilers with 14 points and six rebounds. Anthony Kemp had eight points, a rebound, two assists and two steals. Long had six points, a rebound and an assist.