After a first half in which nearly everything went right for the Hawks, the second half was nearly the opposite.

Committing 15 of their 18 turnovers in the final two quarters against extended zone pressure by Nokomis, the Hawks eventually ran out of gas and time in its 57-54 overtime loss to the Redskins on Tuesday night in front of over 7,000-fans at SIU.

Coach Robert “Radar” Patton saw his club jump out to a double-digit lead in the first half only to have the northern invaders score 19-points off of those Gallatin County mistakes to advance to Peoria for the second time since the four-class system began in 2008.

“We outplayed them for 28 minutes but the last four minutes we got shook up and didn't handle the ball well. Storto fouled out and that hurt us a bit, but we let them get back into the game,” said Coach Patton. “They (Nokomis) hit some big shots and they deserved to win.”

Coach Steve Kimbro's club was led by Devon Wright with 19-points who paced four Redskins in double-figures as Nokomis rallied from eight-points down in the fourth quarter to eventually take the lead in the final moments.

Gallatin County was topped by 7-foot senior Andrew Drone, who closed out his prep career with 25-points and seven rebounds.

Nokomis appeared to have put the Hawks away in regulation, outscoring Gallatin County 21-12 in the fourth quarter when Tyler Herpstreith hit two free throws with :13.5 left to give the Redskins a 48-45 lead.

However the Hawks nearly overcame all of those mistakes when reserve guard Josh Belford became an unlikely hero by banking in a game-tying 3-pointer with :02 left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Nokomis' Evan Huber made a steal and scored on a fast break lay in and teammate Austin Chausse, who finished with 13-points, nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing to give the Redskins back the lead.

Drone scored twice in the overtime on rebounds but Nokomis answered by hitting 2-of-4 free throws in the final :39.

The final shot at tying the score by Daine Hish from behind the three point arc fell just short as the Hawks season came to a close.

It was Hish who got the Hawks off to a brilliant beginning, hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Coach Patton's squad solved the Redskins' 1-2-2 zone early for a 12-4 lead at the 1:50 mark.

Gallatin County 6-foot-6 senior forward Patrick Lowe scored eight of his 14-points in the second quarter.

His 3-pointer from the left corner and a nice spin move on the blocks gave Gallatin County its first double-digit advantage, forcing a Nokomis timeout at 22-12 with 5:48 left.

Although they were trailing on the scoreboard, Nokomis began to extend its defense and cut into the lead before intermission.

Herbstreith scored twice to close the second quarter as the Redskins held Gallatin County scoreless in the final 4:19 of the half to trail just 24-17 at intermission.

Drone, a senior center who has shattered all of the scoring and rebounding records at his school, scored a pair of inside baskets in the third quarter as Gallatin was holding strong at 33-24 with 3:45 remaining.

But the Hawks began to unravel in the middle part of the fourth quarter.

Leading 35-27 after a Drone score that opened the fourth frame, Nokomis forced six turnovers which led to a 13-4 run and the Redskins first lead of the contest.

Wright, a 6-foot-1 senior, got the run started with back-to-back scores and teammate 5-foot-6 junior Herpstreith nailed a 3-pointer to cut the Hawks advantage down to 39-36 with 4:00 left.

Four consecutive free throws by Huber and Wright gave the Redskins a 41-40 lead.

Gallatin's final lead of the contest came on a Lowe drive to the basket in the final two minutes.

Nevertheless, with three more turnovers in overtime, Gallatin County saw its season close at 27-4.

Gallatin County converted just 8-of14 free throws compared to 17-of-23 for Nokomis.

The Hawks, behind Drone, had a slight 29-27 rebounding edge and shot the ball well enough to win.

Drone came up big, as he did for his entire four-year career, with a 10-of-13 performance from the field.

Gallatin County's shooting wasn't their problem (20-of-40 overall).

It was “shooting themselves in the foot” which proved the most costly.

The 18-turnovers were too much to overcome.

Austin Chausse followed Wright with 13-points for Nokomis while Huber and Herpstreith added 12 and 10.

Drone's final numbers for the game were on par for what he has brought to this program and Hish closed out his final game with 12-points, making 4-of-9 3-point attempts.

The Redskins hit just 19-of-47 from the field but used a strong offensive rebounding effort (11 boards) to get second chances.

Nokomis will now play the winner of the Cissna Park/Mason City Illini Central contest that was pushed back a day due to the snow storm in the northern part of the state.

That game will be held Wednesday night at Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal.

“We just came down and made a couple of silly mistakes (in the overtime) and we didn't capitalize when we needed to,” added Coach Patton. “Tonight the best team won.”