#1 Centennial 66       #2 North Lawndale 65

I know this isn't Illini related, but what a ball game in Peoria today!!!  The Centennial Chargers are moving on to the title game thanks to a 66-65 victory over a very talented North Lawndale team.  North Lawndale had a 10 point lead going into the 4th quarter, and to be honest it didn't look like Centennial had too much momentum.  Everytime the Chargers scored, it seemed like the Phoenix would answer.  But in the first three minutes of the 4th quarter Centennial went on a 10-0 run to tie it up! 

Rayvonte Rice and James Kinney each 22 points, and both came on strong in the second half.  Kinney had some nice threes in the 3rd quarter, and Rayvonte RIce went bonkers in the 4th with 12 of his 22 points, including the game winning bucket with two seconds left.  That bucket Rice made was Centennial's first lead since very early in the ball game.

The funny thing was how the game started.  North Lawndale received a team technical foul during warmups because of an improper jersey.  Jeff Johnson took the foul shots, and made one of two.  Who would have thought that the one free throw made before the clock even ran would end up being the difference in the game?

The funny thing is how much of an underdog Centennial was.  North Lawndale seemed to be a decent favorite in this one, and that was apparent when looking at the Peoria Journal Star.  Five of their six sports writers picked North Lawndale to win not only this game, but also the State title.  It was nice to see Centennial show them and everyone else that good basketball can be played south of Chicago.

Believe it or not, the second game had a better finish than the first one.  The underdog Oswego was able to beat Chicago Leo 56-55 thanks to a Jordan Mitchell three pointer at the buzzer!!!  So it will be Centennial vs. Oswego tomorrow for the Class 3A title. 

People of Champaign, we need your help.  Oswego had a cheering section that was large and in charge.  I don't know how many people they had specifically, but it was obvious that their student and cheering sections were massive, and they were into it the whole game.  If you have nothing going on tomorrow, come cheer on Centennial at the Peoria Civic Center.  The game is at 12:45p tomorrow, and it i possible that by 2:30 that Champaign Centennial is a state champion.  If tomorrow's games are half as good as todays, they will still be phenominal.