By Fred Kroner
The Cinderella run by the Heritage eighth-grade boys’ basketball team came to an end in the championship game of the Urbana University High Class 1A IESA regional on Wednesday (Feb. 1).
Sixth-seeded Heritage dropped a 53-21 decision to top-seeded Champaign Next Generation. The loss followed two consecutive upset wins by the team to reach the finals.
Against Next Gen, Kale McComas totaled 15 points and Clark Roland added four points.
On Tuesday (Jan. 31), McComas poured in a season-high 26 points as the sixth-seeded Heritage eighth-grade boys’ basketball team handed Champaign Holy Cross a 56-34 upset loss in a regional semifinal game.
Clark Roland added 12 points for Heritage.
The semifinal win came three days after Heritage defeated the No. 3 seed on its own home court by 15 points.
The eighth-graders ended the season with a 7-14 record, but the team closed strong after the calendar flipped to 2023. Heritage was 4-3 in its final seven games.
For the year, McComas led (or shared) the team in scoring 10 times. Roland was the leader in nine games. Others who had that honor were Cameron Johnson (three games), Coltyn Thompson (one game) and Landin McComas (one game).
Kale McComas had the team’s top individual scoring performances with games of 26 and 22 points.
Kale McComas, Johnson, Roland and James Dillon all had games where they scored in double figures.
