Homewood-Flossmoor senior forward Issac Stanback helped will the Vikings to a win in an overtime thriller against Bloom 64-61. H-F advances to the second game of the state basketball tournament’s sectional round.
Junior forward R.J. Ogom throws down a dunk in the second quarter during H-F’s win in the Class 4A Eisenhower Sectional semifinal. (Donald Crocker/H-F Chronicle)
After missing the first two playoff games due to personal reasons, Homewood-Flossmoor senior forward Issac Stanback helped will the Vikings to a win in an overtime thriller against Bloom 64-61.
“He added that spark that we always play with. We got it done the first two games but without him, I don’t see us winning this game,” Maurion Scott said.
With the victory, H-F advances to the second game of the state basketball tournament’s sectional round.
Junior R.J. Ogom led H-F with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Stanback pitched in 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Between Ogom and Stanback, the Blazing Trojans couldn’t keep the Vikings off the offensive glass. Those offensive boards would lead to either an extra possession or trips to the free throw line.
“It’s the playoffs. It’s win or go home. Being under that type pressure, that stuff comes naturally. If you want to win you gonna dive for loose balls. We knew that coming into the game that whoever got the 50-50 balls were going to win the game,” Ogom said.
Bloom’s junior guard Dante Maddox Jr. led the Trojans with 25 points and 6-foot, 9-inch center Martice Mitchell dealt with foul trouble throughout the game and ultimately fouled out in overtime.
Senior forward Issac Stanback puts up a floater over the Bloom defense in H-F’s win in the Class 4A Eisenhower Sectional semifinal. (Donald Crocker/ H-F Chronicle)
“I don’t think you can give Bloom the same thing the whole game,” Condotti said. “You got to be able to adjust. When something doesn’t work you got to go with something else and you got to have that stuff in place before the game starts.”
Bloom bested H-F twice during the regular season in two games that came down to the wire. One was an 60-58 overtime win and the other had a score of 57-53.
“It felt good to close out the game. That just shows that what we’ve been practicing has finally paying off,” Stanback said. “All we got to do is just keep practicing what we doing and that’s that.”
H-F will play Friday at 7 p.m. for the sectional championship against the winner of the Wednesday’s semifinal game between Marian Catholic and Simeon.
