Darren Kinnard/River Radio Sports Central
STEELEVILLE — The Steeleville Warriors rallied from a 12-point second half deficit and outlasted rival Trico 60-54 in double overtime in quarterfinal action in the Marissa 1A Regional.
Trico led 20-10 at the half and tallied the first bucket of the third to lead by a dozen. Steeleville used a 9-0 run to cut it to 22-19, but still trailed 30-23 heading to the fourth.
Steeleville eventually tied the game at 36 on a putback basket by Parker Fiene, then took its first lead of the game when Fiene came up with a steal, scored and was fouled. He would miss the free throw, and Trico then went down and tied the game on a drive by Larson Kozuszek to force overtime.
The Pioneers led by three in the closing seconds but Nate Witthoft drilled a three-pointer to send us to a second overtime. Witthoft led the Warriors with 16 points.
Steeleville then scored the first nine points in the second overtime and never looked back, winning by six. The Warriors advance to face New Athens in the second semifinal Wednesday night.
Ryder Wettig tallied 23 points to lead the Pioneers with Kozuszek adding 22.
