A new mindset and a commitment to defense were what fueled the Rochelle Hub varsity basketball team’s IHSA 3A Regional Semifinal win over Woodstock on Wednesday.
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ROCKFORD — A new mindset and a commitment to defense were what fueled the Rochelle Hub varsity basketball team’s IHSA 3A Regional Semifinal win over Woodstock on Wednesday.
Rochelle didn’t let its six-game losing streak get in the way of a stout defense performance, as the Hubs smothered the Blue Streaks with their full-court pressure during the first quarter. While Rochelle entered Wednesday’s matchup as the No. 5 seed, the Hubs controlled the game from the opening minutes, riding their defense to a 73-56 upset over the No. 3 seed Woodstock. The Hubs (11-21, 3-7 Interstate 8) will face No. 2 seed Freeport in the regional finals on Friday night.
“We’ve been playing some pretty tough teams,” junior Elijah Harley said. “We wanted to get after them from the start and we did a good job of keeping the pressure up. We’re hoping to do that against Freeport. Our goal all season has been to win a regional championship and that’s what we’ve been practicing for and what we’ve been working hard since the summer for.”
Rochelle took the early lead in Wednesday’s game, holding a 19-12 advantage after a stout defensive effort in the first quarter, where the Hubs forced a flurry of turnovers from the Blue Streaks (20-11, 11-3 Kishwaukee River) that led to easy layups. Senior guard Eli Luxton scored 10 of his 17 points in the first half to spark the Rochelle offense, while freshman forward Brody Bruns totaled eight of his 10 points in the first half, with six coming in the second quarter.
“Our coach told us that we needed to hustle and play as a team,” Bruns said. “We knew that Woodstock could be a tough challenge, but I thought that we came out and took it to them. It’s been a fun experience with the varsity team and my coach expects more and more from me. It’s fun to be challenged by my coach and it’d mean a lot for us to win a regional because we’ve had a tough schedule and we’ve faced a lot of teams that are probably going to win their regionals.”
The Hubs held a double-digit lead until a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Woodstock’s Anthony Grzetic made the score 39-32 at halftime. Despite the last-second heroics from the third-seeded Blue Streaks, the fifth-seeded Hubs continued to dictate the pace in the second half, where the team’s success in defensive rebounding enabled Rochelle to close out defensive possessions.
Harley emerged during the fourth quarter, where the junior guard scored 10 of his team-leading 20 points and put home key shots around the basket to keep the Hubs ahead by double figures. Junior guard Carson Lewis added 11 points for the Hubs, who could claim their second regional championship in three seasons with a win over the second-seeded Freeport Pretzels on Friday.
“We’ve been working on our defense a lot and it’s been our main focus during practice,” Harley said. “It paid off during the game like we wanted it to. We did a good job of breaking their press down at the end of the game and we put their defense in bad positions to where we were able to get easy buckets. We also did a good job of keeping our composure when that happened.”
Junior guard Cayden Moore chipped in six points on Wednesday, while senior guard Jack Tracey added five points and sophomore guard Van Gerber compiled four points in the win.
