Northern Illinois Sports Beat: Winnebago Falls in Game of Previous Unbeatens

By Cody Cutter, NISB Publisher
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PEORIA (Mar. 14) � Both Winnebago and Marshall entered the Class 2A State Tournament with unbeaten records. One team had to start a streak of their own.

Winnebago led most of the state's third place game until Taylor Duncan and Marshall took over in the second half. The Lions outscored Winnebago 23-11 in the fourth quarter en route to a 66-55 Indian loss.

With his team down 44-43, Duncan scored the first four points of the quarter. The first two came off free throws, and the next bucket came off of a steal from Winnebago's Jake Doty. Duncan showed his defensive prowess soon after, taking a charge call from Seth Gustafson.

�I think anything you get on defense really rolls over onto your offense,� said Duncan. �It motivates the players and gets the crowd into it. It's really a big couple plays there.�

Then came the real turning point of the game. The turnover led to a Lucas Eitel three-pointer that brought the Lions (32-1) up 50-44. Eitel made his shot just after getting his own offensive rebound.

Winnebago would narrow the lead to 56-51 after a three-pointer by Brad Reinke, but Marshall went on a 10-0 run to seal the deal.

�At the end it was all the little things that were helping us make those shots,� said Eitel. �Making the putbacks and the defensive rebounding, we did all we could to win this game.�

Chuck Misuraca started the scoring with a bucket forty-five seconds in. After a Trey Brashear bucket, Reinke hit his first three of the game, which was followed by one from Misuraca. That shot started a 7-1 run for the Indians, with the rest of the points coming from Chas Cross jumpers which gave them a seven-point lead. They would have that lead at the end of one quarter at 18-11.

Things were going okay for Winnebago until midway through the second quarter. Having a lead as big as nine points (25-16), Marshall went on a 10-2 run toward the end of the half with Logan Eitel scoring night points in the span. At the end of the half, Marshall narrowed the lead to three at 29-26.

Being down 43-38 in the final minute of the fourth quarter, Winnebago clicked from behind the arc. Threes from Cross and Jeff Sartorius gave their team a one-point lead going into the fourth quarter before Marshall came roaring back.

Winnebago found it harder to regroup, although both teams were coming off of their first blemishes.

�I was hoping the momentum would change and we would kick it up a notch,� said Winnebago coach Joe Murphy. �But coming into the game, from the mental preparation part of things, I knew we were struggling. Those shots gave us a lift, but weren't moving our feet very well and we were getting lost on our man a little bit.�

Despite being in foul trouble early on once again, Cross led the Indians with 14 points and six rebounds. Reinke had 11 points, Misuraca nine, AJ Thomas seven and Sartorius six. Gustafson, Russel Fiori, Brandon Clinite and Joe Bronkema each chipped in two points.

Both Logan and Lucas Eitel and Duncan combined for all but for of the Lions' points. Lucas Eitel had a double-double with 10 rebounds.

�I kind of refer to them as the big three,� said Marshall coach Tom Brannan. �When we talk as a team we say 'the big three's got to to this and that.' They really stepped up tonight. These guys stepped up and made shots, played with a lot of heart tonight. They really wanted to end on a positive note, and they did.�

This season marked the first since 1992 that Winnebago had a perfect regular season. They did so with only three of 15 players being seniors. Misuraca, Doty and Fiori graduate this summer.

�With all these young people, these guys didn't have much experience,� said Murphy.�We thought we were going to struggle a lot. But these guys have been great leaders for us. They came ready to play every night. Russ did a great job off the bench. Chuck and Jake started for us and they were awful solid.�

The seniors were junior high up-and-comers when Devan Bawinkel and company led the Indians to back-to-back second place finishes in Class A in 2004 and 2005.

�It's a good accomplishment being here,� said Misuraca. �It's kind of upset that we lost, but a couple weeks later we'll hold our heads up high at getting to state. That was our goal all year.�

�I don't think anybody expected us to have this great of a season, in the regular season and in the state tournament,� said Doty. �I'm really proud of all my teammates. I have the utmost respect for them. I love all of them. It's been a great season, but we proved everybody wrong by showing it. This team has been a family to me. We played our butts off every game. It's tough to go out this way, but it's been a heck of a year if you ask me.�