Alexander is great for Manual

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DEKALB – Lawrence Alexander was cold most of the night, but at the end, he was cold blooded.

Alexander made just 5 of 27 field goal attempts, but one of them was a 3-pointer to force overtime and lift Peoria Manual to a 63-52 victory over previously undefeated Winnebago at the Class 2A DeKalb Supersectional on Tuesday at the Convocation Center. Both teams were tied for second place in the final Associated Press 2A Poll.

Manual (22-7) will take on Breese Central in a Class 2A state semifinal on Friday in Peoria.

Winnebago (31-1) took a 52-49 lead on a pair of free throws from Marcus Posley with 19 seconds remaining, after which Manual took a timeout. Rams coach Derrick Booth drew up a play for Alexander, who swished a shot from just outside the 3-point arc with four seconds remaining to knot the score at 52-52.

“I had all the confidence in the world,” said Alexander, a first-team AP all-stater. “That’s what I practice all during practice, so it was natural to me. When I released it, I knew it was going in.”

The overtime was all Manual. Brandon Watson scored on a layup 20 seconds into the 4-minute OT, then the Rams hit 9 of 10 free throws to salt away the victory.

Booth, a former player at Manual, was paid a special visit in the Manual locker room by Dick Van Scyoc, who won more than 500 games in 28 seasons at the school.

“He said that’s the best shot in Manual’s history,” said Booth, who described Van Scyoc as his mentor.

Winnebago missed all four of its field goal attempts, turned the ball over twice and was out-rebounded 7-1 in overtime. Chas Cross, a first-team all-stater who went 9-for-12 in regulation and scored 20 points, did not touch the ball in OT.

The overtime continued a late-game meltdown for the Indians after Posley’s two free throws had given them a 3-point lead. Coach Joe Murphy said he briefly considered fouling to prevent a 3-point attempt, but decided to let the possession play itself out.

“We wanted to be out there and force him to the basket,” Murphy said. “Marcus was on him, but Marcus had cramps in his legs and all of a sudden he couldn’t move his legs. He just couldn’t get there.”

After Alexander’s shot went through the basket, it bounded away from the players, and the officials put 2.9 seconds on the clock. The Indians called a play in which senior forward A.J. Thomas launched a desperation pass from the baseline, but the ball hit the overhead scoreboard, giving Manual the ball under its own basket.

“Overtime was tough because that kid hit that big three at the end of regulation and kind of had us with our heads down a little bit,” Cross said. “We didn’t come out fired up in overtime like we should have. We gave up a bucket in the beginning and tried playing catch-up from there on.”

Alexander led Manual with 23 points and Marvin Jordan added 20.