CHAMPAIGN – Going into Saturday night’s Illinois High School Association Class 4A Championship, Normal Community High School and Homewood Flossmoor High School appeared evenly matched before the game started with a jump ball. But by the end of the evening, it was Homewood Flossmoor who had the upper hand, managing to outpace the Ironmen before a near capacity crowd defeating NCHS, 60-48 to earn the title for the season, and putting NCHS in 2nd place to end the season.
Fans may have gotten an idea how the evening would go when Homewood Flossmoor’s Jaylen Tyler and NCHS’ Braylon Roman opened the contest on 3-pointers and were quickly followed by a trey for the Vikings by junior guard Jayden Tyler, putting the Vikings up, 6-3. NCHS’ Noah Cleveland followed scoring two free throws after being fouled and scoring a basket to put NCHS up, 7-6 with 5:29 left in the opening quarter.
A basket by senior guard Carson Brownfield and a trey from teammate Bryce Heard put the Vikings up, 11-7 before a trey from NCHS’ Nico Newsome closed Homewood Flossmoor’s (33-4) lead to 11-10. The teams continued answering score for score until NCHS’ Roman hit a layup tying the game at 16-all. Heard responded with a basket of his own with 49 seconds left in the quarter. That spurred a scoring streak for the Vikings with players scoring five unanswered points until the quarter ended finding NCHS going into the second quarter trailing, 21-16.
A trey from Heard and free throws by spurred the Vikings toward a 29-21 lead highlighted by a trey and deuce from the Vikings’ Brownfield, and Roman, Cleveland, and Kobe Walker scoring baskets for NCHS keeping the Ironmen within eight, 31-23, going into halftime.
Once the third quarter started, NCHS’ defense couldn’t contain 10-0 run Homewood Flossmoor opened the quarter on which began with a defensive rebound followed by an unanswered trey from Jayden Tyler stretching the Vikings’ lead to 16, 39-23 with 4:52 left in the quarter. Only a basket from NCHS’ Roman slowed the action slightly, cutting the Vikings’ lead to 14, 39-25. A combined effort of baskets scored from Roman, Cleveland, and a trey from Conner Smith helped NCHS stay within 12 points but that was as close as Homewood Flossmoor defenders let NCHS come as the third quarter horn sounded with the Vikings leading, 47-39.
The closest NCHS (32-6) came to the Vikings was within seven with 70 seconds left in the contest. Up until that point, the Ironmen remained in chase mode until the final buzzer.
Heard lead scoring for the Vikings with 21 points. He was followed by 15 by Tyler and 12 from Brownfield. Roman led NCHS’ scoring with 18 points followed by 13 from Cleveland.
The win gave the Vikings their very first State title. The first word that came to mind for Homewood Flossmoor head coach Jamere Dismukes was “Wow.†He explained achieving this “means everything to us. These kids have now marked their names in the history book.†Dismukes added, “I can’t take credit for this because I didn’t shoot one basket this year. It’s a great thing.â€
Despite how the season ended for the Ironmen Saturday night, Ironmen head coach Dave Witzig still sounded upbeat about the season he and his team experienced. “We had so much this year from the first game of the year ‘til now,†Witzig told reporters afterward. “We traveled all over the State playing the best teams and I think we ran into the best team in the State tonight.â€
“We just had so much fun, so much community support,†Witzig said, explaining the team went to a couple Unit 5 grade schools before heading to Champaign. At the grade schools, Witzig said, the youngsters had posters to wish the Ironmen go luck. Of the support they received as they got to the playoffs, Witzig said, “It was just great. And like I told the guys, Normal Community can play for State championships. We were right there and Homewood Flossmoor played a great game.â€
Witzig said what spurred his team toward finishing the season with hopes of getting into the playoffs was a 47-38 loss NCHS sustained against Metamora Feb. 3. The loss to Metamora “took it to us and kind of embarrassed us, “Witzig said. After assessing what the team needed to do to improve, he said, “We came together better as a team and did a great job.â€
“Homewood Flossmoor did a good job of forcing us out from being close to the basket, so I just give them all the credit tonight,†Witzig said.
NCHS Beats Palatine In Semi-Final To Advance: NCHS struggled with Palatine in a semi-final game to get to Saturday’s championship contest. Two straight threes by Tyler opened the contest for Palatine in NCHS’ semi-final Friday and were quickly countered by a trey by Roman and two free throws by Cleveland after he was fouled cutting the lead to 6-5. A layup by Cleveland put NCHS up 6-5 but a deuce by Brownfield and unanswered trey from Heard gave Palatine an 11-7 lead en route to a 21-16 first quarter lead.
Heard opened the second quarter with a trey followed by NCHS fouls that sent Heard and Brownfield to the free throw line, each man hitting one, putting Palatine up, 25-16 with 5:23 left until halftime. A trey by Smith followed by quickly followed by Palatine’s Brownfield hitting a deuce, increasing the Pirates’ lead to 27-19. A jumper from Heard put Palatine up, 29-19 and another basket from Gianni Cobb put the Pirates up, 31-19. Back-to-back unanswered Ironmen baskets from Cobb and Kobe Walker trimmed Palatine’s lead to 31-23 at halftime.
Palatine players Tyler and Heard continued hitting treys in the third quarter boosting the Pirates effort while NCHS’ Cleveland hit a deuce followed Roman hitting a three, but that still had NCHS trailing 44-31. The third quarter ended with Palatine holding an 11-point advantage, 47-36, going into the fourth quarter.
Heard was fouled by NCHS to open the fourth quarter and hit two free throws, and after Newsome missed a jumper, Heard hit a layup in the paint to increase Palatine’s lead, 51-39 with seven minutes left in the game. Webber hit a jumper for NCHS and was followed by Roman hitting a dunk shot on a fast break to cut Palatine’s lead, 51-43 with 5:20 remaining. Brownfield hit a layup putting Palatine up by 10, 53-43. An NCHS foul sent Cobb to the free throw line where he hit one shot, putting Palatine up, 54-43.
A fouled Roman added two free throws cutting Palatine’s lead to 10, 55-45 with 1:28 left and was followed by a 3-pointer for NCHS by Cleveland cutting the Pirates’ lead to 55-48. Hagemaster and Heard will each fouled by NCHS and each went 2-for-2 resulting in the final score.
Five NCHS players hit double-figures in the semi-final with Roman’s 16 points leading the way. Niekamp and Webber each had 15 points, Newsome had 14 points, and Cleveland’s 12 completed the Ironmen’s double-digit scoring. Connor May’s 17 points led the way for Palatine followed by 10 from Elter on the night.
Brownfield led Homewood Flossmoor with 13 points followed by 12 by Heard and 11 from Tyler. Roman led all scorers for NCHS with 18 and was followed in double-figures by Cleveland’s 13.