The Ironmen make their third trip to the IHSA 4A State tournament with a dominant 53-29 win over the Downers Grove North Trojans. Mr. Brad Bovenkerk

Community is headed back to the 4A State Tournament for the first time since 2015 after a 53-29 win over the Downers Grove North Trojans at Illinois State’s CEFCU arena on Monday night.

Downers Grove struggled to get anything to fall all night, shooting 21% from the field and going two for 35 from three.

Ironmen head coach Mr. Dave Witzig credits the Super-Sectional victory to Community’s defensive performance.

“Our defense,” Witzig said, “won us the game tonight.”

Community was a defensive nuisance for the Trojans in the opening half of play, limiting DGN to just two first-quarter points and six in the second.

In that span, the Iron tallied four blocks while Downers went three of 24 from the field and failed to convert any of their 14 three-point tries.

Credit three of those blocks to Jaheem Webber.

The Ironmen took a 25-8 advantage into the locker room, capitalizing on the Trojans’ shooting woes.

The Trojans, Webber said, can be “a really physical team.”

But the Ironmen, the Wright State commit said, “really honed in [on] bringing the physicality and intensity to them before they brought it to us.”

The Iron’s physicality denied the Trojans any second-effort tries, recording 32 defensive rebounds in the contest.

Noah Cleveland accounted for 12 in a defensive performance which saw him pick the Trojans pocket twice.

Niko Newsome was assigned the task of guarding the six-foot-one Princeton-commit Jack Stanton.

Newsome kept the Trojans’ star scoreless the first half despite playing all 16 minutes, as Stanton went 0/9, with seven attempts from the three-point line failing to fall.

Stanton ended the night shooting at a 25% clip and was the only Downers North player to tally more than four points with 12.

“Since the playoffs started,” Witzig said, “our defense has been unbelievable.”

Webber finished the contest with a team-leading five blocks; Braylon Roman would add two.

Webber was physical on both ends of the court, finishing the night with a team-high 22 points.

The big man was an offensive force in the paint, going eight for 12 from inside the paint, including four statement slams.

Roman and Conner Smith posted double-digit performances for the Iron, with Roman tallying 12 and Smith adding 10.

Downers Grove was in foul trouble early in the third quarter, sending Community to the line 14 times. Ultimately, Community would take 23 shots from the charity stripe.

The Iron capitalized on 16 tries, with Webber converting six of seven attempts, Roman going five of eight and Cleveland a perfect two for two.

The Ironmen finished the contest shooting 50%, 43% from beyond the arc and 70% from the line.

The Ironmen face the Palatine Pirates in the State Semifinals on Friday at 2 p.m. at Champaign’s State Farm Center following the Pirate’s 55-53 win over Gurnee Warren Township.