Neuqua Valley point guard Bryan Thomas takes center stage. Literally. And why not? ‘He gets the wins.’

Neuqua Valley’s Bryan Thomas had a unique vantage point from which to watch the result of his handiwork.

The senior point guard was flat on his back on the stage behind the basket.

Thomas ended up there after driving the right baseline and whipping a pass under pressure to teammate Luke Kinkade in the left corner.

Kinkade caught it and drained a 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer.

“In my head, all I could think was that was the momentum shift we needed,” Thomas said. “Him being able to make the shot, I knew the second half will be better.”

Indeed, it was. Kinkade erupted for 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half as the fifth-seeded Wildcats fended off 12th-seeded Plainfield East 56-51 in a Class 4A East Aurora Regional semifinal on Wednesday.

Neuqua Valley (25-7), which has won nine straight games since a 50-45 home loss to Plainfield East on Jan. 21, advances to play fourth-seeded Lincoln-Way East (24-5) in the regional championship game at 7 p.m. Friday.

Several of those wins have gone down to the wire, and this one was no different. The Wildcats didn’t take the lead for good until Colin Gerrity sank two free throws for a 51-49 lead with 1:22 left in the fourth quarter.

Kinkade followed with three more free throws, while Chris Srbinov, whose 3-pointer off a Thomas assist tied the game at 47-47 at the 4:17 mark, iced it with two more foul shots.

Everyone, though, was still buzzing about how the first half ended. The Bengals (12-18) led by as many as six in the first quarter and were up 29-24 before Thomas connected with Kinkade on the buzzer-beater.

“I just knew I had to get my shooter, Luke, open,” Thomas said. “I had to come off the screen and go as fast as I can, draw attention, get him open and getting him the shot.

“It was extremely tough, but we work on it all day in practice. I think that was the shot that heated him up, got him fully where he needed to be.”

Kinkade didn’t disagree. He scored nine points in the third quarter, including another 3-pointer that gave Neuqua Valley a 41-37 lead.

“I knew I had to make one shot and it was going to go from there,” Kinkade said. “That pass set up the whole second half, in my opinion.”

It’s not the first time the 6-foot Thomas has set up Kinkade with a brilliant pass under pressure.

“He’s made a ton of them,” Kinkade said. “Probably half my shots have come off his assists.”

That’s how the unheralded Thomas influences the game. He had three assists, two rebounds and a steal Wednesday and somehow made the most memorable play in a game in which he did not attempt a shot or a free throw.

“He just plays great defense,” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said. “We put him on Ehi (Ogbomo) for most of the game, and Ehi is a terrific player.”

Ogbomo led the Bengals with 14 points but went scoreless for the last five minutes, missing both his attempts.

“I score when I need to,” Thomas said. “But mostly I just facilitate and play defense, get scorers open and make sure they score.”

Which is exactly what he did at the end of the first half.

“We were in bad shape,” Sutton said. “There were six seconds to go, and we kind of saved this play for a special situation.

“We had to go fast and needed absolutely perfect timing. Everything went well, and we sure needed it because we were flat.”

Then suddenly they weren’t, although Thomas ended up that way. Has that happened before?

“No, not on the stage,” he said. “I’ve never ended up on a stage before.”

But Thomas probably deserved a turn in the spotlight.

“You don’t get a lot of credit when you’re not getting the headlines, but he gets the wins,” Sutton said. “And as the starting point guard, he’s got 25 wins. That’s the only stat that matters.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.