Hillcrest stuns Richwoods in 3A final

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PEORIA – Hillcrest stunned top-ranked Peoria Richwoods, 58-55, on Saturday to win the IHSA Class 3A boys basketball title, its first state championship.

Eric Gaines led Hillcrest (30-3) with 18 points, forward Nick Oden added 13, and guard Julius Brown scored 12. Herbert Offord grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

“Unbelievable,” Hillcrest coach Don Houston said. “We didn’t give up, did we? These kids fought hard. I expect nothing less from them. They’ve done it all year long.”

Mason Alwan paced Richwoods (30-2) with 16 points, and Tylon Deal added 14.

Richwoods was up, 55-54, with 30 seconds left when Hillcrest’s Gaines hit two free throws to give the Hawks a 56-55 lead.

Deal missed a 20-foot jumper with 10 seconds left. Oden was fouled and hit both free throws with less than 3 seconds left.

Both teams were looking for their first state championship.

In the Class 3A third-place game, Chicago Marshall (28-8) defeated Champaign Centennial (31-3), 73-59, behind Vincent Garrett’s 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Class 4A

Chicago Simeon went on a 13-0 run to start its Class 4A championship game against Chicago Whitney Young and never looked back, cruising past the defending champs, 51-36, to win its third state championship in the past four years.

Led by senior guard Brandon Spearman’s 13 points, the Wolverines (25-9) led 21-5 at the end of the first quarter and 30-13 at the half.

Young (23-7) shot only 31.4 percent from the field, compared to Simeon’s 43 percent. Simeon outrebounded Young, 39-22, and outhustled them from the opening tip.

In the Class 4A third-place game, Jereme Richmond’s 36 points and 16 rebounds led Waukegan (27-5) to an 85-78 victory against O’Fallon (30-4).