Senior standout Lathan Sommerville believes his Richwoods High School boys basketball team has thrived in being underdogs on the road to the Illinois High School Association state tournament.
“Me and my guys, we’ve just been enjoying it,” Sommerville said Thursday morning as the team prepared to depart for Champaign ahead of Friday’s Class 3A semifinal. “It's a crazy moment. A lot of people didn't think we could do it, but we've always believed we could do it. So it’s just really nice to see it actually come true.”
The Knights are 29-4 and carrying a 16-game winning streak into their 11:15 a.m. matchup with No. 3 DePaul College Prep (33-2). The last two wins have come against second-ranked defending champion Metamora in the Pontiac Sectional final and versus No. 1 Harvey Thornton in the Ottawa Super-Sectional.
“We don't worry about rankings. I’ve said, the rankings are someone else's perception of what they think your team is and what they're capable of,” said Richwoods coach Will Smith. “So you’ve just got to go out there and execute your game plan and play to your strengths and try to make the other team play to their weaknesses.”
The school gave the team a rousing sendoff Thursday, with the gym packed with students for a pep rally before a police escort guided the team out of the parking lot and onto the road for their eastbound trip.
Sommerville said the Knights have their sights set on returning with the biggest trophy.
“We’re not going to just settle for the Final Four appearance; we're trying to take it all the way,” said Sommerville, a Rutgers recruit. “We're really focused on that right now. We're obviously going to enjoy the experience, but we're also going to take it serious and lock in.”
Sommerville, the son of former Peoria High and Bradley University star Marcus Sommerville, admitted the team’s hot streak has given them more confidence.
“It definitely does, but we also just live by being the underdogs,” he said. “We're supposedly the underdogs all the time, so we're going to keep playing like an underdog and fight for what we want.”
However, Smith said Richwoods’ string of success shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“I don't think we've gotten hot; we've been playing well all year,” said Smith. “We’re just playing together, playing really good basketball. I don't think we’ve played our best game yet, so we hope we show our best game down in Champaign.”
The Knights are seeking the program’s first state title and are returning to the Final Four for the first time since placing second in 2010, when Smith was an assistant on Mike Ellis’ coaching staff.
“Everybody wants to win state, and you’ve got to put your best foot forward. If it doesn't happen, you’ve just got to take that and know that you still achieved and accomplished something,” he said. “That’s a lesson I learned in 2010 – it still hurts. But it takes a while before you can relish the opportunity that you were there.”
Smith said getting the opportunity to play in the state tournament is something his players will take with them for the rest of their lives.
“I hope they remember it all. We've been all over the country (and) we’ve played some big games in big-time environments,” he said. “I hope they remember it all, from the entire process from June until now.”
