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SOMONAUK – For the first quarter and a half against No. 1 seed Ida Crown in a Class 1A Somonauk Sectional semifinal, nothing went right for No. 2 Hinckley-Big Rock.
The Royals' top two players combined for two first-quarter points. None of their shots were falling, and the Aces weren’t missing much as H-BR fell down 10.
But once Martin Ledbetter got things going inside with a couple quick layups on his way to a 32-point performance, the Royals rolled to a 72-52 win
“The whole entire team showed effort and played their hearts out,” Ledbetter said. “We just kept our heads down and kept digging. I knew our team had it the whole time. No one lost confidence in themselves.”
Ledbetter had two points in the first quarter, while Max Hintzsche didn’t until the final two minutes of the second quarter. Hintzche ended with 19 points.
Luke Badal was the only Royal scoring consistently early, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the game before halftime.
H-BR coach Seth Sanderson said Badal has come on strong late in the year, becoming more and more of a consistent scoring threat. He said when teams put two defenders on Ledbetter and two on Hintzsche, someone needs to make them pay for that.
“It’s tough at some points, but it’s good to know I’m there for them,” Badal said. “If they’re kind of cold, it helps them get going. It did kind of get rough there in the first quarter but we picked it up. And when it comes to me, I’m just ready to score.”
The Aces (18-5) opened up a 23-13 lead on a 3-pointer by Ayden Mishkin, who was one of four players for Ida Crown in double figures.
“Getting down 10, it was kind of tough,” Badal said. “But we got the energy and effort back, we moved the ball, we were pushing in transition to just get those easy buckets and score.”
The Royals (26-8) responded with back-to-back buckets by Ledbetter.
They took their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Hintzsche in the final minute of the first half. He hit another one in the final 10 seconds to send the Royals into the break with a 31-29 lead.
Sanderson said it took the Royals about a quarter and a half to adjust to the game flow.
“Then we started taking control of the tempo, getting up in pressure and all that stuff,” Sanderson said. “The biggest thing is we started running a little bit which got them a little worn down. And when they got in foul trouble and had to switch to the 1-3-1, they just had no answer on the inside.”
Judah Well hit a layup to start the third quarter to tie things up for the Aces, but the Royals scored the next nine points and never trailed again.
Hintzsche and Ledbetter combined to score 33 of the Royals' first 35 points in the second half.
“Once we saw the holes in their defense we could really start getting it going down low,” Ledbetter said. “And we had size over them so we took that to our advantage.”
Well finished with 11 points for the Aces, Avi Okner had 13 and six rebounds, Avi Meyer had 10 points and two steals, and Mishkin had 10 points.
Ledbetter also had eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Hintzche had six boards and Badal had four.
The Royals will face Aurora Christian for the sectional championship at 7 p.m. Friday, with the winner earning a spot in the Class 1A DeKalb Supersectional at 6 p.m. Monday at the NIU Convocation Center. It’s the first meeting between the teams this season. The last time the Royals won a sectional was in the 1983-1984 season, according to IHSA records.
The win was the most lopsided for the Royals in the postseason so far, opening with a seven-point win against Marquette then beating Serena by four for a regional crown.
“These guys have really grown over the year,” Sanderson said. “We were down to Lena-Winslow in January in a shootout and came back and won. We were down against Marquette last week and came back, were down against Serena and came back. Throughout the year you learn you don’t have to start to panic when you’re down eight or 10 points.”