A total of seven teams from the Springfield area advanced to the IHSA boys basketball sectional semifinals after Friday’s regional final games.

At least one team from the area is guaranteed to reach the Class 2A supersectionals hosted by the Bank of Springfield Center on Monday, March 10 at 6 p.m.

Williamsville, Auburn, Pleasant Plains and Staunton will each appear in the Greenville Sectional beginning Tuesday and Wednesday. Lincoln and Chatham Glenwood, meanwhile, remain the last teams in the Class 3A bracket hailing from the Central State Eight Conference.

Class 3A

Lincoln

Lincoln always seems to know what adjustments to make at the break. The top-seeded Railsplitters forged an 11-0 run in the third quarter en route to a 38-23 win over Taylorville for its first regional title since the 2020 playoffs (later canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

It was no mere anomaly. Lincoln (23-10) similarly staged its “third-quarter push” in wins over Chatham Glenwood and Lanphier as well. The Railers have now won 13 of their last 15 games going into the Decatur Eisenhower Sectional semifinals against No. 2 Mount Zion (24-9) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

It all hinges on their trademark 1-2-2 zone defense. Lincoln has limited opponents to just 32.1 ppg. in its last 15 games. Junior guard Brody Tungate leads the point on defense, while 6-5 senior forwards Drew Hayes and Frank Sanders make life difficult inside.

Both Hayes and Sanders — along with leading-scorer Karson Komnick with 13.4 points per game — missed the first few weeks of the season due to injuries before coming back to galvanize the Railers down the stretch.

Chatham Glenwood

The Titans also took advantage of their size in a 43-39 regional final win over host Lanphier. Six-foot-five senior guard Cam Appenzeller continues to show why he’s The State Journal-Register's reigning Male Athlete of the Year. The prized pitching prospect ranks not only among the area’s top scorers (13.7 ppg.) but also rebounders (6.1 rpg.).

Senior forwards Jonathan Helm (12.8 ppg., 7.3 rpg.) and Mason Neumann (8.2 ppg., 4.8 rpg.) provide even more length. Neumann stepped up big while Appenzeller was tethered to the bench due to foul trouble, finishing with 12 points against the Lions. Junior guard Jack Kurmann also stands at 6-5 and is among the top 3-point shooters (35.8%) in the area to further compensate for the loss of injured senior guard Mason Marshall.

Glenwood (21-9) meets No. 4 Champaign Central (17-12) in the Decatur Eisenhower Sectional semifinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Maroons upset CS8 champion Decatur MacArthur 60-54 in their regional final.

Class 2A

Auburn

The top-seeded Trojans survived a proverbial trap game and Nolan Tabor’s torrent of 3s with a 56-43 win over host Greenville for their second straight regional title. Tabor churned out six 3s for a game-high 20 points. Auburn (29-4) still prevailed with a balanced scoring effort, led by Jacob Barth (14 points), Clayton Kessler (13 points) and Cooper Carter (10 points).

It means the Trojans know the terrain better than the rest ahead of the sectional semifinals where they return to Greenville to meet No. 3 Pleasant Plains (22-10) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Cardinals won the previous meeting 51-43.

Pleasant Plains

Plains has had an excellent 2025, said head coach Kyle Weber. The Cardinals have indeed won 12 of their last 13 games since settling for fourth place in the Sangamon County Tournament in January and they recently nabbed their third straight regional title with a 48-41 win over Warsaw/Hamilton West Hancock.

Plains may be undersized than most, but its plethora of guards have shown over multiple games they can hold their own against anyone, including against Warsaw’s 6-foot-9 junior forward, Cooper Knowles, or even Auburn’s lengthy forwards, Clayton Kessler and Ryan Lash.

“We played a really tough schedule to get us ready for games like that,” Weber said, referring to the physical challenge presented by Warsaw. “Our record wasn’t as pretty as some of the other teams, but I think it prepared us for games like this.”

Williamsville

Quincy Notre Dame’s 66-44 regional semifinal win over Petersburg-PORTA/A-C Central certainly presented an ominous specter of a possible upset in the Pittsfield Regional final. It all came to naught after senior guard Brayden Saling doled out all his 21 points in the second half for a 55-33 win over QND in the team’s quest to return to the state finals after taking fourth place last season.

It’s what makes the Bullets (29-3) so dangerous. Not only Saling, the SJ-R's reigning Small School Boys Basketball Player of the Year, but other prolific guards such as seniors Blake Shoufler and Carson Doran also lurk with big-game potential. Each averages double figures: Shoufler (14.1 ppg.), Doran (13.8) and Saling (12.2 ppg.).

Senior forward Reid Bodine has also surfaced with significant scoring production lately. He scored seven of his eight points in the first half for an 19-14 halftime lead against QND after logging 17 points and seven rebounds in a 52-43 win over PORTA.

They meet Staunton (28-4) in the Greenville Sectional semifinals on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to set up a showdown between the Sangamo and South Central conference champions.

Staunton

The Bulldogs won their first regional title since 2009 and third since winning the Class A state title in 1993 with a 50-32 win over Piasa Southwestern.

Staunton connected from long distance on its home floor. The Bulldogs totaled nine 3s in the 52-28 regional semifinal win over Roxana where sophomore standout Isiah Laux converted four from behind the arc. Staunton later summoned six 3s against Piasa — one apiece from Aaron Bodner, Ethan Sharp, Bryce Coalson and Zander Machota in the first quarter.

Class 1A

Mason City Illini Central

The Cougars champion a couple of prolific guards with more than 1,000 career points: senior David Bard (1,301) and junior Brody Folkes (1,020).

Folkes reached the milestone on his first bucket in a 46-37 regional final win over Mendon Unity and finished with 23 points for the program’s first regional title since winning the state title in 2013.

Bard earlier set the school record for most points in a game with 41 in an 83-82 double overtime win over Lutheran. No. 3 Illini Central (17-16) meets No. 1 Peoria Christian in the Brimfield Sectional on Wednesday at 7 p.m.