The majority of Plano’s opponents have attempted to slow down the Reapers this season.
Wednesday’s opponent, Kankakee, took a different tact.
The top-seeded Reapers were pushed to the hilt in the semifinal round of the Class 3A Kankakee Regional, but managed to do just enough to win 65-61. Plano will meet the Herscher/Prairie Central winner for the regional title at 7 p.m. Friday.
Plano (22-6) struggled to adjust early against an aggressive pressing defense employed by Kankakee. Fortunately for the Reapers, Kankakee was having problems of its own with turnovers and the game turned into a bit of a slog.
More Top Picks Mop Refill
“Their pressure gave us some problems,” Plano coach Kyle Kee said. “Any time you are up against a school that is basically twice your size, you know you are going to have to deal with some athletes. We haven’t really been pressed all year. Nobody usually likes to get up into us, but they knew they had to. I thought Kankakee did a great job of pressuring us, but I thought our guards played great. But it was a survive-and-advance type of game, and fortunately we did.”
That survival mentality served Plano well as Kankakee (9-19) refused to submit quietly. After the Reapers pushed their lead to near double digits in the third quarter, the Kays rushed back with a flurry of points to close within one. Plano led 46-43 entering the fourth quarter.
But the steady play of Plano’s backcourt of Elijah Maisonet (game-high 24 points) and Nathan Shead helped keep Kankakee at arm’s length. Shead’s 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter finally stretched the Reaper lead to a more comfortable position.
“It was different for us. We kind of had to change up our game plan a little bit, we had to think up what we were doing a lot sooner,” Shead said. “That was something new. We had to play up to our potential. We had to start thinking and preparing for pressure because they really came at us.”
Plano could have put the game on ice a bit earlier but uncharacteristic struggles from the foul line left the outcome in doubt a little bit longer than Kee would have liked.
“We’ve been a great free-throw shooting team all year and we could have really put it away but we didn’t,” Kee said. “I don’t think we played all that great tonight, but we’re excited. I’ll enjoy this one for about as long as it takes me to get to the gym and then we’ll get back to work so we’ll hopefully be able to celebrate again on Friday night.”
Steve Soucie is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News.