Suttle delivers regional title for Aurora Christian boys basketball

Ryan Suttle made sure that didn’t happen, as he hit a short put-back off a rebound of Cory Windle’s missed 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Eagles a 59-57 win.

The Eagles (19-11), the regional’s third seed, move on to Tuesday’s Byron Sectional semifinal against Winnebago. Immaculate Conception, the top seed, ends its season at 22-6.

“I was just waiting for the play to develop,” Suttle said. “I saw Cory go up for the shot, and I knew if he missed the rebound was going to be back-side. So I put myself in the right position at the right time. It feels great to hit the game-winner. It means a lot to me and my team to be able to still be playing.”

Knights coach T.J. Tyrrell said his team lost track of time in the final couple of seconds.

“We force them into a bad shot, a 3 that was well behind the line,” he said. “That is good they shot that from there. Kids tend to think, ‘They got the shot off, the horn is going to go.’ They tend not to play to the horn. We watched the shot go off, figured ‘He missed, we’re going to overtime.’ We got a little sloppy there, and it cost us.”

Eagles coach Pat McNamara was relieved the game did not go to overtime.

“IC played so well to come back, and they had the momentum at that point,” he said. “They were playing well at the end of the game.”

The teams were tied at 11 after a quarter before Aurora Christian took a 27-23 lead at the half.

The Eagles used a Wes Wolfe four-point play near the end of the third quarter to take a 43-33 lead into the fourth quarter.

However, Immaculate Conception rallied in the fourth, as freshman Rhaushaun Epting nailed three 3-pointers to help his team take a 51-50 lead with 3:45 to play.