PEORIA — Alex Peacock picked the most opportune time to score his first basket of the second half Friday night at Carver Arena.
The Normal Community High School senior's tiebreaking putback with 2.8 seconds left lifted the fifth-ranked Ironmen to a thrilling 38-36 victory over No. 9 Geneva.
"We were running a play to have Tyler Vance come off a screen. I saw him driving and the lane was wide open (for me)," said Peacock, who finished with 16 points. "He gave me the chance and I was there to put it back in.
"It means a lot to get the win for my teammates. (Geneva) made a comeback and took the lead and we took it back."
The Ironmen (33-1) survived Pace Temple's 3-point try at the buzzer and advanced to Saturday's 8:15 p.m. championship game against No. 2 Stevenson (29-3), a 63-43 winner over unranked Bolingbrook (24-7) in the first semifinal. The Vikings (30-4) and Raiders play for third place at 6:30 p.m.
"Everyone got to see what a 1955 basketball game looked like tonight," said NCHS coach Dave Witzig said of the defensive battle. "It wasn't pretty; a lot of our games aren't pretty. But we're really excited about playing the late game on Saturday night."
Geneva senior Nate Navigato did everything he could to will the Vikings into the title game. The Buffalo recruit finished with a game-high 19 points, including a runner in the lane that tied it with 10.5 seconds remaining.
After an Ironmen timeout, Vance drove the left side and put an attempt off the glass that Peacock was able to tap home.
"I saw that that whole side was wide open," said Vance. "I decided to put my head down and go to the basket and I knew that if I missed they layup my guys would crash it."
"That's a play we work on; he can either take a 3 or drive," said Peacock. "He read it the right way."
Navigato followed a Temple backdoor layup with a baseline drive to tie the game at 29-29 with 4:54 left. His 3-pointer off an offensive rebound then gave the Vikings their first lead since 6-4 with 3:49 to go.
"I thought we did a great job on (Navigato). Even the shots he made were tough," said Witzig. "He's just a shot maker and he made a great play at the end."
David Boyd, who snared a game-high nine rebounds, got NCHS even at 32-32 on a layup. Two Zach Thompson free throws widened the Ironmen advantage and single free throws by Vance and Tyler Seibring sandwiched a pair by the Vikings' Temple.
"In practice we work a lot on free throws," said Thompson. "More importantly, I know my teammates have faith in me."
NCHS closed the first quarter on a 12-0 run, moving ahead on Seibring's 3-pointer from above the circle. Seibring then assisted on a trey by Peacock, who followed with a dunk before triggering a fast break layup by Mason Maier that finished the surge.
But Geneva charged right back with two buckets and a pair of free throws to start the second. After a Peacock 3 put NCHS up 19-12, the Vikings ended the half on a 6-0 run. Temple hit two from the line with 0.3 left after the Ironmen turned it over with four seconds left while attempting to hold for the final shot.
Peacock made 6 of 7 shots in the first half, including both of his 3s, while limiting Navigato to one field goal on the other end of the court.
"In the first half they really didn't guard me," he said. "In the second half they put a guy right on me."
Geneva pulled even at 23-23 on Navigato's fast break dunk with 2:34 left in the third quarter. But Duane Farrington answered quickly with a conventional three-point play and a Boyd jumper pushed the NCHS lead back to five after three quarters.
"There just really wasn't too many places to go on the offensive end," said Witzig. "They had a great game plan."
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