The finality of it caused the pain for Jacobs center Cameron Krutwig, and the way it occurred heightened the sting.
“It’s painful, but the memories are going to outweigh it a couple weeks down the road,” Krutwig said.
Krutwig’s high school career and Jacobs’ season ended Tuesday in an epic 36-35 overtime loss to Fremd at the Sears Centre in the Class 4A Hoffman Estates Supersectional.
“We had opportunities late in the fourth quarter,” Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts said. “We had the ball, up two, two or three times.”
The 6-foot-9 Krutwig had a team-high 13 points, 17 rebounds and three blocked shots. However, patient Fremd (31-0) had four overtime points from guard Luke Schoffstall and denied Jacobs (30-2) from making its first trip to state.
“They run their stuff really well,” Krutwig said. “They ran it down there for the whole overtime and we come down and we kicked it away.
“We just turned the ball over a little too much.”
Jacobs committed six turnovers for the fourth quarter and overtime.
Jacobs’ Cooper Schwartz hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 21 seconds remaining for a 35-34 lead, but Schoffstall drew a foul on a quick drive with 17.2 seconds left. He sank two on a one-and-bonus for the winning points, and had all four of his points in overtime after missing a 23-footer at the buzzer in regulation.
“Coop still bangs a three in the corner in the supersectional in overtime and we’re up by one with 20 seconds left and all we’ve got to do is get a stop,” Roberts said. “And that’s been our thing.
“That’s what really hurts — we didn’t get a chance to get a stop.”
Fouls then worked against Jacobs another way.
Fremd had three fouls left before the bonus, and used them to prevent a shot until Schwartz came up short with one second left on a rushed jumper. Krutwig’s frantic, backward tip rimmed away just before the buzzer.
“I thought that was going in for sure,” Krutwig said. “Usually when a shot like (Schwartz’s) goes up, everyone kind of stares at it and you can get an offensive rebound.
“I didn’t know how much time was left so that’s why I just kind of volleyball-tipped it.”
Jacobs shot 30 percent (13-for-43), and over the final 12 minutes scored seven points. Schwartz had 10 points and was the only Jacobs player besides Krutwig with more than three.
“If you’re not making shots, things are going to become really, really constricted for Cam,” Roberts said.
Fremd’s Kyle Sliwa scored a team-high 13, but Jacobs shut him out after the third quarter. Meanwhile, Fremd held Krutwig to 6-for-15 shooting.
“It was definitely tough, because they had some good shooters, too,” Sliwa said. “If we helped, (Krutwig) was able to kick it out.”
Seniors Schwartz, Adam Kale and Mason Materna joined Krutwig taking final bows following two sectional titles and three regional and conference titles.
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“Every guy in (the locker room), we’re best friends,” Krutwig said. “It stings a little right now, but we’ll live on.”
After four varsity seasons, Krutwig will play next year at Loyola.
“That’s the most I’ve ever coached a kid,” Roberts said. “I’ve had a lot of great kids come through here and have really had good relationships with some special kids, but Cam is really a special one to me.”
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