By Quad Cities Online:
EAST MOLINE -- What he experienced a few minutes earlier had Rock Island
senior guard Trey Sigel admitting he could barely stand up for a
post-game interview.
"I can't feel anything," Sigel said.
The pain and emotions simply were too unbearable.
Within a seven-second span on Tuesday night, the Rocks had a potential
win ripped away and their season end with a cruel finish. Normal
Community guard Zach Thompson's reverse layup and C.J. Carr's miss on an
off-balance layup as time expired decided Rocky's 56-55 overtime loss
in a Class 4A United Township Sectional semifinal at the Panther Den.
"We did a great job of passing the ball and finding the open man. It
ended up in my hands. I made a play," said Thompson, who scored his only
basket of the contest with :06.8 left in overtime that provided the
winning margin.
"It shows our relentlessness. We showed we could handle adversity."
On the other end, the Rocks (19-9) had to pick up the pieces after losing a 55-52 lead in the final minute of overtime.
"I can't even explain it because I'm in shock," Sigel said with his
eyes staring at the floor. "We just gave the game away. I don't know
what guys were thinking. If we would have played keep-away, we would
have won by 10."
The end of regulation proved frustrating as
the Rocks lost four-point leads three times in the game, but it got
worse in overtime.
Three of Rocky's seven overtime possessions
ended in unforced turnovers. The last one came when Tyler Hall's pass to
DayQwon Jones near the baseline trickled out of bounds with :27.1 left
and the Rocks up 55-54. Thompson's game-winning layup came 20 seconds
later.
"They don't even pressure that hard," said Sigel, who
scored 13 points. "We played probably 10 teams that pressure harder than
they do. We didn't take care of the ball."
Rocky committed half of its 10 turnovers in the last five minutes of the contest.
"We have a lot of varsity experience," Rocky senior forward Keenan
Shorter said. "We couldn't step up and lead this team to a win."
Given opportunities to secure the game, the Rocks, who trailed 20-7
after the first quarter, fumbled them away. Leading 46-45 with less than
a minute left in regulation, Rocky turned the ball over in the
backcourt. Tyler Seibring immediately converted the miscue into a
three-point play, giving the 23-8 Ironmen a 48-46 lead with :35.3 left.
Twenty seconds later, Carr hit a layup after a drive to the basket that tied the game.
Normal turned the ball over on its subsequent possession, but the Rocks
could not get a shot attempt after forcing it with :00.9 remaining in
regulation.
"We did enough things that we felt we should have
won the game after being down," Rocky coach Thom Sigel said. "We just
made mistakes."
Jones' putback and Carr's two foul shots on
consecutive trips pushed the Rocky lead to 55-52 with less than a minute
remaining in overtime. The lead was cut to one on Alex Peacock's bucket
with 42 seconds left.
In between Peacock's basket and Thompson's layup was the key turnover.
"The calendar turned to March. We needed to step it up a level," Trey Sigel said. "We didn't."
Trailing 56-55 with :06.8 left in overtime, Carr received the inbounds
pass and quickly dribbled to the right block. As he was met by two
defenders, he put up an off-balance layup that hit the rim and
harmlessly fell to the floor at the buzzer.
"I thought it was going in from where I was standing," Thom Sigel said. "He has a tendency to make those tough shots."
Normal led exactly :36.8 seconds of the overtime.
"This will be one of the toughest (losses)," Thom Sigel said. " ... We had it. And it was taken away."
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