#14 Kankakee led for only 35.6 seconds and stole one at home from #23 Rich Township (Richton Park) in Overtime!!! Top performances from around the state and other stories from tonight!!!!

Big Tim

Jan 19, 20246 min read

Southland Conference has a good case for best conference in the state this year. Four of their seven teams are ranked in Big Tim's Top 25 this week. Two of the other three that are not ranked are at 500 or one game under. Every game is tough. Both teams needed this to stay in touch with #4 Thornton Township (Harvey) and #17 Bloom Township (Chicago Heights) in the running for the title. I'll say it again, Kankakee stole one on their turf. Here we go:

#14 Kankakee 65 #23 Rich Township (RichtonPark) 61 Final Overtime: Kankakee only led this game for 35.6 seconds. It was the most important time of the game, at the end for the win. How did we get here? Well senior point guard Samar Bures and junior forward Nyshawn Turner got Rich off to a great start. Turner came off the bench in the first minute of the game and gave them energy and hit the glass hard. Larenz Walters of Kankakee kept them close with 8 in first quarter. Rich led 21-11 after one quarter. Bures went to the bench and Kankakee got a little closer as senior guard Damontae May started percolating in the second quarter but Rich still led 34-30 at half. Third quarter Kankakee didn't make much of a dent as Rich still led 47-42 at the end of the stanza. Fourth quarter Rich led by margins from 4-7 points most of the quarter. Rich called a few timeouts in the first half on loose balls and some in the second half. It came to the point where they didn't have any timeouts in the last 2 minutes of the game. Kankakee took advantage with three consecutive turnovers in the last couple of minutes. Rich still had the ball in last minute with a two point lead 53-51 lead, when sophomore Jamson Coulter Jr had a backdoor layup that he smoked(missed) and Kankakee went down the court and scored to tie the game at 53. Rich went down and scored immediately to make it 55-53, then another steal and lay-up tied it at 55. Rich scored to make it 57-55 then May made a free throw to make it 57-56. Rich then turned it over and Walters was fouled shooting with about 35 seconds left. He split the two to tie it. Rich ran the clock down but lost a rebound out of bounds with 3.5 seconds left. Kankakee got a shot off from half court but hit off the rim. Kankakee still had not taken a lead the entire game and we are into overtime. Rich was hurt once again in the overtime by turnovers with a couple of traveling calls. May hit two free throws with 35.6 seconds left to finally give Kankakee a lead 63-61. Rich missed a couple of shots, Walters got the rebound with 3.1 seconds left in overtime and was fouled. He hit two free throws for the final margin as Bures could only manage to get a shot off from about 75 feet that wasn't close. Kankakee ups it's record to 15-2, 2-2 in conference. Rich Township (Richton Park) drops to 14-5, 2-2 in conference.

Rich Township leaders:

Big time game from sophomore guard Jayden Williams with 15 points 8 rebounds 1 assist and 1 steal.

Junior Nyshawn Turner ended up with 8 points 8 rebounds 1 assist 1 steal and 1 block off the bench.

Senior Samar Bures stat line 13 points 1 rebound 4 assists and 3 steals

Sophomore Jamson Coulter Jr 13 points 2 rebounds and 1 steal

Kankakee leaders:

Senior Larenz Walters continues to show that colleges need to start putting out offers for this young man. The 6'2" point guard's stat line 23 points 4 rebounds 1 assist and 2 steals

Senior Damonte May picked it up from second quarter on at both ends of the court. Stat line 16 points 1 rebound 4 assists 3 steals and 1 block

Sophomore wing Lincoln Williams did not score a lot tonight. He had 10 points but did a great job slowing down Coulter Jr. Rest of his stat line 4 rebounds 2 assists 6 steals and 1 block