SPRINGFIELD — Macomb could not hold off hard-charging Williamsville.

Macomb jumped to a 14-point lead after the first quarter but Williamsville summoned a late rally en route to a stunning 36-32 victory in the Class 2A boys basketball supersectional at the Bank of Springfield Center on Monday.

Williamsville (26-9) advances to its first trip to the state finals since 1991. The Bullets face Chicago Phillips at the State Farm Center in Champaign at 2 p.m. Thursday. Phillips defeated Beecher 73-58 in its Elite Eight game.

“That’s what this group does,” Williamsville coach Nick Beard said. “That’s what they’ve done all year. I think people counted us out the last couple of months, but they just keep swinging and staying together. That’s what makes me so proud of them is we’re down 16-2 and nobody is pointing fingers. There are guys on the bench picking each other up, ‘Hey, we’re going to make shots.’”

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Williamsville’s comeback was as unlikely as its entire postseason run as the No. 5 seed underdogs.

The Bullets rebounded in the second quarter for a six-point deficit at halftime but still trailed 27-20 through three. Williamsville started the fourth on a nine-point run for their first lead of the game.

In that pivotal sequence, senior guard Brecken Thomas delivered the team’s only 3-pointer of the game and lifted the Bullets ahead 29-27 at the free throw line following a steal.

Williamsville, missing its first 12 shot attempts from behind the arc, finished 1 of 13 from the perimeter. Thomas carried the Bullets with 16 points and five steals. He also engineered late heroics in a 48-47 win over Alton Marquette in the Beardstown Sectional final on Friday.

Braden Holtahaus’ 3 recaptured the lead for Macomb, but Brayden Saling answered less than 30 seconds later with the go-ahead layup off the glass. “I knew I had to get a bucket," he said, "so I just drove in there and got that bucket."

Saling scored all of his five points in the fourth, including 3-of-4 from the line. Williamsville outscored Macomb 16-5 in the final period. The Bullets shot 11-of-12 from the free throw line in the fourth to cement the comeback win.

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Dion Doyle led the Bombers (25-6) with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“I thought they got a little complacent,” Beard said of Macomb. “They almost were stalling a little bit. It kind of did us a favor. We held them to single digits in three of the four quarters. And when we don’t shoot the ball well, defense travels. We talk about that all of the time."

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA basketball: Macomb loses to Williamsville in Class 2A supersectional