Homewood-Flossmoor’s Mac Hagemaster got a good night’s sleep Monday. Really good.
There was no tossing and turning before the big game for this big guy.
“I haven’t had a sleep like that in a long time,” Hagemaster said. “It was liked 10-ish hours. We had a good practice, and I just wanted to go home and take a bath and go to bed.
“I woke up feeling great.”
Things went even better Tuesday night for the Lincoln-Way East transfer.
The 6-foot-8 senior forward had his best game for the Vikings, scoring 13 points, pulling down 10 rebounds and adding five blocked shots to help top-seeded H-F to an 68-66 overtime victory over fifth-seeded Joliet West in the Class 4A Rich Township Sectional semifinals in Richton Park.
Bryce Heard led H-F (29-4) with 21 points and seven rebounds. Gianni Cobb contributed 14 points, including the first four in OT. Carson Brownfield had 10 assists and five rebounds for the Vikings, who play at 6 p.m. Friday for the sectional title against the winner of Marist-Bloom.
Justus McNair paced Joliet West (21-10) with 26 points. The Tigers, who topped Rich Township 70-53 Friday for the regional title, entered the sectional on a nine-game winning streak.
Hagemaster, a Lewis recruit, set the tone early with six points in the first quarter, but the Vikings trailed 19-16. He was also effective later in the game.
Even though he played with four fouls in OT, he still managed a huge block, a couple rebounds and a basket. It’s not always easy to be aggressive with four fouls hanging over your head.
“You have to know when to contest and when not to contest,” Hagemaster said. “Sometimes, when your guy is in front of you, it’s an easier block to get. When you are on the help side, you have to stand straight up.”
H-F coach Jamere Dismukes gave Hagemaster the green light.
“We let the players make decisions, and we gave him leeway to go for blocks or go for charges,” Dismukes said. “Mac has the freedom defensively to be aggressive, even when he has four fouls.
“That’s something we do as a coaching staff. We let our guys be our guys.”
The offense Hagemaster provided was needed in a tight game.
“That was Mac’s best game he’s played all year,” Dismukes said. “He was focused — dialed in offensively and defensively. Normally, we just depend on him for his defensive presence in the post.
“But our guards were able to penetrate in the lane and get the ball to him, and he finished. He played big time.”
Cobb enjoyed watching Hagemaster putting the ball in the basket.
“He helped us a lot,” Cobb said. “He made us win. He had rebounds, big layups and blocked shots. He did a lot. He did everything.”
H-F ended the regular season losing 65-63 to Bolingbrook but regrouped and beat Lockport 82-45 and Stagg 64-56 to win the regional. Joliet West, however, gave the Vikings all they could handle.
Still, Cobb was confident. The Columbia commit has seen this team pull out several come-from-behind wins.
“I told my teammates to stay patient and not to rush anything,” Cobb said. “The game is going to come. We weren’t afraid. We just had to stay calm. We didn’t want to go home early.”
“Once we went into overtime, we knew we were in this situation before,” Hagemaster said. “We knew we had this. We knew we could do it.”
Hagemaster, in his first and only season at H-F, has enjoyed being on a top-level team.
“It’s fun to have that target on our back,” he said. “We know we have it, and it’s fun to be like that.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
