5 hours Ago By Mason Schweizer
MORRIS – Kankakee boys basketball coach Chris Pickett and his roster of Kays haven’t been shy about their desires this season – the IHSA Class 3A State championship. They took the next step of that journey Friday night with an impressive 85-50 win over Sterling in the Morris Regional championship, and while there are still three games and two plaques separating the Kays from their coveted trip to Champaign, that dominant showing Friday is something Pickett wants his team to celebrate."A lot of teams think a regional’s not a big deal, but it’s a big deal if you don’t win it," Pickett said.
“In order for you to achieve what you want to achieve, you have to win this, and it’s not easy. Sterling is not a bad team; they have some guys who had some fight in them, and we had to guard against that.”The Kays improved to 25-5 and made it back-to-back regional titles with the win, advancing to Tuesday’s Washington Sectional semifinal against Metamora.
Sterling’s season ended at 16-17.It was the second running clock win of the week for the Kays, who got past Pontiac 78-38 in Wednesday’s semifinal round to outscore their opponents by a combined 163-88 margin. Junior guard Lincoln Williams, who poured in a game-high 31 points, said the Kays made a statement with their play this week, especially on the defensive end.
“You saw the scores,” Williams said. “ ..
. We played good defense throughout the whole regional, so it felt pretty good."That defense was tasked with stopping Sterling point guard Kaedon Phillips from getting to the basket and either getting points at the rim or free-throw line, or kicking out to 3-point shooters like Maddux Osborn and Nico Battaglia.
Phillips was able to register 18 points and Osborn and Battaglia each buried a trio of triples, but the Kays were able to negate most of that production with 18 Golden Warriors turnovers that went for 19 points the other way.“These two games, our defense has been on point,” Pickett said, “I’m really proud of that and really proud the guys are paying attention to detail as far as the gameplan’s concerned. We just have to get ready for the next one.
”As for the Kankakee offense, fellow junior guard Kenaz Jackson Jr. tallied 21 points to compliment Williams' 31, with Jordan Davis (nine points), Cedric Terrell III (eight points) and Eli Stipp (seven points) contributing as well.For Williams, the state’s top-ranked Class of 2026 recruit by 247 Sports, the points piled up in a variety of ways.
He had several high-flying dunks off of steals on the fast break, including a monster tomahawk slam in the third, hit his only 3-pointer, and was a featured post presence as well. The latter is something that’s come more and more for Williams as the year has gone on.“I’m 6-foot-6 with a 6-foot-9 wingspan, so we’re trying to get me more down low a bit because most of my opponents aren’t as big as me,” Williams said.
“It’s cool playing down there, but I’ve still gotta shoot the ball and handle the ball.”The Kays were able to take control with a 22-5 first quarter margin of victory, something that came with point Myair Thompson on the bench after picking up a pair of fouls in the first 30 seconds. Pickett credited Terrell III for stepping right in off the bench and being productive in Thompson’s place while Jackson Jr.
said all five players on the floor said they had to step up, especially defensively.“We had to step up,” Jackson Jr. said.
“He’s one of the most elite defenders, so we had to step it up and guard [Phillips], keep them out the paint and do what we can.”Phillips, a three-year starter for the Golden Warriors, did reach yet another milestone in the last game of his prep career. The school’s leader in free throws (160) led the team in scoring and finished second in the Big 6 Conference with 14.
9 points per game in conference play. Friday, he hit the 1,000 career point mark, finishing his career with 1,007 points.“He’s put in a lot of work in season and out of season, and his work paid off for him,” Sterling head coach Ryan Vasquez said.
“He did everything he needed to do to have a successful season, and he did. He shouldn’t let this one hurt bad, because he put everything he had into this one.”The Kays will now join one of the most loaded sectionals in the state, regardless of class.
Kankakee, the No. 3 team in the AP Class 3A Poll, will face Metamora (25-6), the seventh-ranked team in the class, at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, with No. 10 Peoria lurking on the other side of the sectional bracket.“We’ve played a lot of games together, these guys play travel ball and have played against some of the best in the country, so as far as competition is concerned, they’re not worried about that,” Pickett said.
“Our biggest concern is making sure we pay attention to the detail in our gameplan and execute it. If we can do that, we’ll beat anyone.”.
