With a raucous celebration swirling around him, Colin Kenney was as cool after Saturday night’s Class 2A North Judson Regional championship game as he was during it.
The sophomore point guard nailed two free throws with 6.7 seconds left as Marquette rallied from a 16-point deficit to stun Roosevelt 67-65.
Kenney was unfazed by the game-deciding moment.
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“I work on free throws every day,” he said. “It wasn’t pressure. I’ve been here, been through sectionals. It felt just like I was shooting in the gym alone.”
Kenney scored 12 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter.
“He’s pretty good, isn’t he?” Marquette coach Donovan Garletts said. “It makes me look good when you have a good point guard.”
The Blazers (19-9) play Lapel Regional winner Frankton (21-6) in the Lafayette Jefferson Semistate at 2 p.m. next Saturday. In the Class A Lafayette Jefferson semistate at noon, 21st Century (19-8) meets Lafayette Central Catholic (21-6).
Marquette won its third regional title in four seasons and its first in Class 2A.
“It’s different every time, it’s special every time,” Garletts said. “What’s really special for this program, is going from one sectional in its 87-year history to three final four appearances out of four in two different classes. That’s pretty special for this program, this school and this city.”
It was a bitter pill for coach Marcus Jefferson and the Panthers (16-9), who seemingly had their first regional title since 2003 in their grasp.
“You respect the game and play until the clock reaches all zeros,” Jefferson said. “At no point in time do you begin celebrating as if you won the game. You stay focused on the task at hand until the game is in the bag. We didn’t do that.
“We started to celebrate. I was telling everyone to stay calm, stay even. … When you lose mental focus, break down, you have to witness this. We didn’t respect this game.”
Roosevelt led 46-30 with 3:05 left in the third quarter before Marquette climbed back.
The Blazers used an 8-0 run, bookended by Kenney’s 3-pointers, to tie the score at 61-61 with 1:48 left.
Rob Jamison hit two free throws with 1:26 left to reclaim the lead for the Panthers before Kenney’s drive tied the score with 1:02 remaining.
After a five-second violation on Roosevelt, Jon Andershock gave Marquette its first lead of the game at 65-63 with 22 seconds left before Markee Lunn made two free throws with 10.2 seconds to tie the score.
Kenney connected on his two free throws and Deon Moore missed a contested 3-pointer as time expired.
Kenney was still absorbing the deficit and comeback.
“It was motivation,” he said. “We’ve been working so hard — practice, games — we did not want this season to end. Everybody played well down the stretch, stepping up.
“I had to take over the game at that time when my team needed me. I just wanted to win. I was going to do whatever it took to win. I got the looks I wanted, they were giving me the looks, so I took them.”
Joe Andershock had 13 points for the Blazers and Max Willoughby added 12.
Lunn had 22 points for the Panthers. Tony Tucker added 18 and Latrell Williams scored 15.
“It’s just so surreal,” Kenney said. “I saw my teammates jumping around, it kicked in that we won the game. It’s a great feeling.”
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