Brother Rice’s Caden Workman got off to a slow start, missing his first four 3-point attempts. Midway through the third quarter, he had just two points and the Crusaders were down by seven.
But Workman never lost belief in himself and his teammates. And the senior forward responded with some huge shots to turn the tide Tuesday night.
“My coaches always tell me, ‘Keep shooting it, keep shooting it,’” Workman said. “I have confidence in myself to step up in a big game like this.
“I knew I had to step up for the sake of my team and I knew they’d start falling.”
Indeed, Workman scored 12 of his 14 points over the final 1 1/2 quarters as the host Crusaders rallied for a 65-58 win over Hillcrest in a Class 3A Brother Rice Sectional semifinal in Chicago.
Citadel recruit Marcos Gonzales scored 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Jack Weigus scored 19 points to lead top-seeded Brother Rice (28-6). KJ Morris added 10 points.
The Crusaders advanced to the sectional championship game at 7 p.m. Friday against the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between Lemont (25-7) and Marian Catholic (26-7).
Jovi Ratliff led fourth-seeded Hillcrest (21-11) with 20 points. His brother, Jamir, added 11 points. Maximilian Carmicle contributed 10 points and six rebounds, while Jaylen Ingram had six points and eight rebounds.
Workman, though, was the biggest difference-maker down the stretch. He buried a big 3-pointer late in the third quarter and another to start the fourth, the latter giving Brother Rice a 45-44 lead.
Gonzales, for one, wasn’t surprised.
“I’ve always seen that in Caden, the all-around skill,” Gonzales said. “There’s not just one skill he’s good at — he’s good at everything. He does everything well. He buys into what we need to do as a team, and he’s the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with. He doesn’t care about stats.
“I’ve always said Caden is the most impactful player on our team. He means so much to us.”
Hillcrest led 53-51 with under four minutes to go before the Crusaders scored six straight points to take command. Workman started the surge with an inside basket before Weigus and Gonzales converted on drives to the hoop.
Workman hit a huge pair of free throws with 41 seconds left to give the Crusaders a 59-55 lead.
Brother Rice coach Conte Stamas was impressed with more than just Workman’s scoring.
“I thought Caden stepped up big, not just knocking down a couple threes but we were kind of playing through him,” Stamas said. “He found KJ a couple times underneath with a dump-off.
“Playing through Caden, we were able to bring Hillcrest’s big guy away from the basket to open some things up and that really helped.”
The 6-foot-4 Workman grew four inches as a freshman. Transitioning from guard to a post player, he had an idol in Minnesota Timberwolves center Luka Garza, who starred in college at Iowa.
“I’d always watch him play at Iowa, watch his footwork, watch his moves,” Workman said. “I had a growth spurt going into high school so I started playing down low, and I just kind of took all of his stuff and put my own spin on it.”
On a team with Gonzales — the Catholic League’s player of the year — and Weigus, a top-notch outside shooter, Workman puts his focus on being a glue guy.
“I kind of just try to do the little things, defensively and offensively,” he said. “I try to create for them, get shots for them, as well as creating for myself.”
But when his team needed him to score, Workman was ready Tuesday night.
“We’re not going to go down that easily,” Workman said. “We just had to keep fighting. We knew the ball would start bouncing our way.”
