Where there were Wills, there was a way.
Sandburg’s Will Hooks put to good use assistant coach Bob Curran’s season-long rebounding lessons on Jan. 31.
“Every day in practice, he makes us work extremely hard to get better,” Hooks said. “We do a bunch of drills where we dive on the floor or go rebound and crash.”
In the final 43 seconds on Jan. 31, Hooks had two putbacks and Will Johnson had two steals and the Eagles escaped with a 64-59 win over host Argo.
Johnson led the Eagles (15-10) with 24 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Hooks had 13 points. Daniel Morakinyo came up with five steals and Karim Diab added six rebounds.
Darron Greer Jr. led Argo (6-18) with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Adrian Lee-Horton added 14 points.
Kentrell Lee hit a pair of free throws for the Argonauts with 1:05 left to give his team a 59-58 lead. But Johnson and Hooks took over for Sandburg after that.
Argo won an emotional 66-63 overtime game against Evergreen Park in the South Suburban Red the night before and took a quick 10-0 lead against the Eagles.
The Argonauts had a 15-5 lead when Sandburg coach John Daniels subbed in Morakinyo, Diab, Jake Tomczak and Kendall McDowell to go with Johnson with 4:26 left in the first quarter. The Eagles closed the deficit to 19-18 to end the quarter with Johnson scoring seven in the comeback.
“That’s great for us because when our starters get tired the second unit can come in keep it going,” Daniels said. “Today we had a slow start and they gave us a big ol’ boost to get it close.”
The Eagles made it a goal this season to win their first regional title since 2003. They will host a regional, but picking up a top-four seed on Feb. 13 might be a tough ask in a Joliet West Sectional field that features Marist, Brother Rice, Homewood-Flossmoor, Lockport and Lincoln-Way Central.
But no matter what seed it gets, Hooks said the team is going to play hard in the postseason.
“Winning a regional at home in front of our crowd would be awesome,” Hooks said.
Greer had 28 points in the Evergreen Park win to go with the 23 against Sandburg.
He’s been a strong player all season for the Argonauts, and Moraine Valley and Morton College have been looking at the 6-foot-4 senior forward.
“Four-year colleges are not recruiting high-school kids unless they are really elite,” Argo coach Pat Maietta said of the changing recruiting landscape. “They are recruiting the jucos and looking for 20-year-olds over 18-year-olds.
“(Arkansas coach John) Calipari said it the other day. That’s hurting high-school seniors and I think Darron is in that boat.”