SOUTH HOLLAND | Seton Academy took some time to get going Tuesday night, while Illiana Christian got out of the gate quickly as both schools won their semifinal game of the Class 2A Seton Academy Regional.
Seton beat Carver Military 77-57 and Illiana Christian beat Ag Science 72-41.
The Sting and Vikings will meet Friday for the championship.
Seton (18-10) trailed early and led 35-33 at halftime before it took command in the third quarter.
"We came out a little lackadaisical," Seton guard Mark Weems Jr. said. "We decided at halftime that we wanted to play and we came out and played good defense."
The Sting trailed 25-20 when they closed out the first half with a 15-8 run and started the third quarter with a 10-3 run to take a 45-36 lead.
Weems finished with 17 points. He and Kamal Shasi picked up their 67th win as Seton players. They have won more games than any Seton boys player, surpassing Kenny Stevenson Jr (66 wins).
"Defense is what got us going," Weems said. "We had a few breakdowns in the first half, but we got it corrected."
Johnny Patterson had all 12 of his points in the third quarter as he and Alex Foster controlled the middle.
"We started hitting the boards harder and not giving them the second and third shots," Foster said.
He finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Illiana (19-9) scored the game's first nine points and never trailed in the rout.
Jon Zandstra hit two big 3-pointers in the first quarter and the Vikings were on their way. Zandstra finished with 17 points.
"We knew it was important to come out and get a lead," Zandstra said. "We knew we had to play defense and hit our shots."
Caleb Jonkman finished with 14 as he hit a pair of 3s. Brandon Martin had 13 points and had four rebounds in the second quarter.
"Defense was the key because we knew except for No. 32 (Chris Soczek), they didn't have a lot of shooters," Martin said. "We got some turnovers and we also got some good looks at the basket."
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