The first three meetings between Herscher and Reed-Custer this season were decided by an average of just five points per game.

That trend held once again for the season’s fourth meeting between these Illinois Central Eight Conference rivals in Monday’s Class 2A Herscher Regional quarterfinal hosted by Reed-Custer.

After three ties and a pair of lead changes in the opening minutes, No. 10 Herscher (14-18) managed to successfully defend a narrow lead through the final three quarters and held on for a 56-51 win over the No. 8 Comets (15-16).

Tigers will head home for at least one more game Wednesday when they host No. 1 Bishop McNamara in a regional semifinal.

“I think as a team we played great,” junior forward Tyler Lundberg said. “We were able to play great defense and crash the glass hard.

“It feels great to win. We’re moving on to regional, and it means we get to go against our rivals at home.”

Lundberg scored six of his 18 points in the first quarter, including a basket to tie the score 6 and another to give the Tigers an 8-6 lead.

Herscher would not trail again after that.

After never leading by more than three in the first half, the Tigers managed to grow their lead as much as nine points at 36-27 midway through the third quarter.

But Reed-Custer wouldn’t go away, going on a 10-4 run to close the third quarter, bringing the score to 40-37.

Consecutive baskets from Tanner Jones and Lundberg to open the fourth gave Herscher a bit more breathing room, and although the Comets managed to get back within 52-49 with just over a minute to play, Herscher held on.

The Tigers shot 8 of 10 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and also limited second-chance opportunities by beating the Comets to the boards, with Jones grabbing a rebound and getting fouled with 10 seconds left to seal the game after a Reed-Custer miss.

Alek Draper, who was 5 of 6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and finished with 14 points in the game, said the team’s preparation leading up to the contest helped them execute down the stretch.

“I feel like we had a good couple practices,” Draper said. “We watched film, knew what they were going to do and tried to stop it, and that’s what we did. We were able to grab rebounds, but hit free throws as well, and that’s big late in the game.”

Herscher coach Drew Boudreau, in his second season, picked up his first postseason win Monday.

It was also the Tigers’ sixth win in their last nine games, their best nine-game stretch of the season, with one of those losses a 36-34 heartbreaker to ICE champion Streator.

“I told them about two weeks ago that right now, right before the end of the season, [they want] to be playing their best basketball no matter what,” he said. “I think we are. We’re doing the little things we’ve been talking about all year long, and some other guys are starting to step up and hit shots and find their rhythm right now.

“As a group, it’s all coming together at the right time.”

Austin Buckley had nine points for the Tigers, while Gavin Hull had eight and Jones had seven.

Reed-Custer was led by sophomores Chase Isaac and Kaiden Klein with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Jesse Tresouthick had nine points, Eddie Bryan scored eight and Matthew Kuban finished with seven.

The Comets had plenty of youth and inexperience this season, with just two seniors in Colton Waldvogel and Vinny Bollino and six sophomores.

With such a young core, they managed to tie their second-highest win total in the last 10 years and finish third in a competitive conference.

“It’s the fourth time playing them, and we knew it was going to be a dog fight,” Reed-Custer coach Tyler Schoonover said. “We had no experience coming in [to the season], and we knew it was going to be a bit of a roller coaster and learning curve.

“I’m just extremely proud of our guys. Fifteen wins, third-place in the conference, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”