After long wait, ’Canes earn title

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WOODSTOCK – The year already was ingrained in the heads of Marian Central’s players, but Hurricanes coach Curtis Price drove the point home one more time before they left school.

They looked at the number “1977” on Marian’s gymnasium wall under the sign for boys basketball regional titles. Price told them it soon should read “2010,” although a party crasher was lurking at the IHSA Class 3A Woodstock North Regional championship, ready to prolong Marian’s wait.

Prairie Ridge did everything it could to extend the Hurricanes’ drought. The Wolves played tough defense, and senior guard Kevin Kaczmarski almost willed his team to victory with 24 points after halftime.

Marian, which struggled shooting free throws all night, hit three in the final 18 seconds to hold off Prairie Ridge, 56-52, in overtime for its first regional title in 33 years.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Marian coach Curtis Price said. “After 33 years, the school needed this.”

David Luczak made a free throw with 18 seconds remaining, but the Wolves’ Dan Wolf scored on a rebound basket with 9.8 to go. Danny Noonan was fouled with 6.2 remaining and made both shots for the final margin.

Marian (20-9) advances to the Hampshire Sectional at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against Oswego, which was Class 3A state runner-up last year.

“This feels awesome,” said Noonan, who led Marian with 16 points. “My brother [Pat] really wanted this when he was here and they couldn’t get it. We knew we could do this.”

It was not easy, even with Prairie Ridge (12-16) losing four players to fouls by the end of the game, including guards Chad Ljunggren and Sam Mandl, two of the Wolves’ top three scorers.

“Other guys came in and played fearless out there,” Kaczmarski said.

It was no secret on the final play of regulation, with Marian ahead, 48-46, who would get the ball. Kaczmarski drove the right side and pulled up with an 8-footer from the baseline that swished through to tie the score.

Marian, which shot 52.1 percent (25 of 48) from the line, continued to struggle in overtime, but the Wolves were hurting for offensive options. Eventually, Kaczmarski fouled out too.

“We get like that sometimes,” Price said. “Maybe we were pressing or just thinking about it too much.”

It was an extremely emotional game for Noonan, the area’s leading scorer, who hit 4 of 15 field goals under relentless heckling from Prairie Ridge’s student cheering section. Noonan lives in Prairie Ridge’s attendance boundaries and he said several of those in the crowd were from his neighborhood.

“It was a very personal game for me,” Noonan said. “They were on me all game, saying they were going to egg my house. They got in my head.”

Noonan hit a three-pointer for a 47-44 lead with 1:17 remaining in regulation then pumped his fist at the crowd.

“I usually don’t act like that, it was so personal,” Noonan said. “I apologize to Prairie Ridge’s parents for that. It was a game of nerves.”

Hurricanes center Ben Krol added 14 points and a game-high 21 rebounds and guard Jake Everly added 12 points.

“[Prairie Ridge] played an amazing game,” Krol said. “At the end I think we had a little too much talent and they ran out of gas. When everyone was cheering [at the end], I didn’t know what was going on. This is an amazing feeling.”

Ljunggren scored 13 for Prairie Ridge and Jon Williams had nine points and six rebounds. It was Kaczmarski who picked up his game the most, especially when Ljunggren was in foul trouble.

“I was a little doe-eyed in the first half and decided I wasn’t in the game as much as I could be,” Kaczmarski said. “I wanted to give everything and it ended up working out, I made a couple shots and then they kept falling.”

Prairie Ridge coach Corky Card lauded his team for its strong finish to the season.

“We’re really played good defense the last three weeks,” Card said. “People had some expectations for these kids, and to come back and play as well as we did at the end was great.”