Boys basketball: Hometown hero Reapers upset Marmion, make Plano Christmas Classic title game

PLANO – Ronald Reagan had just won the presidential election when Plano last appeared in the championship game of its annual Christmas Classic.

For the first time in 43 years, the Reapers will be playing for the title at their own tournament after beating Marmion 55-52 in Friday night’s late semifinal in the 60th annual Plano Christmas Classic.

Plano (8-7) will face Kaneland (12-3) at 8 p.m. Saturday. The Knights defeated the Reapers 79-68 on Dec. 15 in a nonconference game in Maple Park.

The Reapers have never won their own tournament. The Knights have won it three times, but haven’t since 2009.

“We’re a confident group right now,” Reapers coach Kyle Kee said. “We beat a good Morris team. We beat Burlington Central and now Marmion. It’s been a pretty special road to get here unranked. I’m so happy for our guys.

“Everyone is talking about how 1980 was the last time we’ve been here. I don’t think they can grasp how long that is. It’s awesome for them. They’re going to remember this run win or lose tomorrow, so I’m blessed to be a part of it. I’m just pointing them in the right direction.”

Waleed Johnson’s 3-pointer and a free throw from Isaiah Martinez allowed the Reapers to close out the third quarter with a 9-2 run to take a 41-31 lead.

Marmion (7-8) clawed its way back, tying the game 47-47 with 3:53 remaining on a baseline layup from James Kennedy. Ta’ron McGowan followed with a 3-pointer for the Reapers, the junior getting a nice bounce off the back of the rim up high and down with 2:36 left for a 50-47 advantage.

Timely 3-pointers would prove key for the Reapers all night long.

After a nice move from Logan Hubble inside pulled the Cadets to within 52-50, Davione Stamps answered the other way, burying a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:15 remaining.

“I was looking at AJ [Johnson], because he’ll usually make that pass to me,” Stamps said. “I just got the ball, released it, and it looked good, and I hit it. It felt great. That was a great pass from AJ.”

Johnson was outstanding in leading the offense, avoiding the turnover column while dishing out four assists and leading the Reapers with 16 points.

“AJ was under control and getting to the free-throw line, and you can see the difference now that Christ [Keleba] is back,” Kee said. “The guys played their butts off. Marmion really gets after you with their half-court defense, and we finally started to trust our left hands a little bit.”

Stamps and McGowan each scored 11 points, while Keleba had seven points and 12 rebounds for the Reapers.

“My goal coming back [from injury] was to get back and help my team win,” Keleba said. “We want to keep on winning to win this tournament.”

Evan Stumm scored nine of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Cadets in the game. Hubble added eight points for the Cadets, who will play Streator for third place at 6:30 p.m. Last year, the Cadets were the tournament runner-up to Burlington Central.

It took the teams a while to get going at the start, with Keleba scoring on an inbounds play nearly two minutes into the first quarter for the game’s first points.

Plano took the lead at 9-6 after a 3-pointer from Johnson with 1:37 left in the first quarter. The Reapers would maintain the lead until the Cadets tied the game midway through the third quarter.

Marmion got a pair of 3-pointers from Stumm in the second quarter while limiting the Reapers to any lengthy scoring runs, pulling to within 23-21 after Jack Regan’s 3-pointer from the corner with a just under a minute left in the half.

Martinez’s fadeaway with 34 seconds left in the half provided the Reapers with a 25-21 advantage at the break.

Martinez had seven rebounds and five points.