The 100th Sangamon County Tournament began on Monday at Lincoln Land Community College’s Cass Gymnasium with three first-round games. The tournament runs through Friday, with all 15 games on the LLCC Loggers’ home floor.
The tournament can’t be won the opening night, but it can be lost. Below is a recap of Monday’s three games.
No. 8 Pawnee 44, No. 9 Buffalo Tri-City 25
Pawnee sophomore Gavin Greer scored half of his team’s 14 points in the second quarter to pull away from the Tornadoes in the opening game of the 100th Sangamon County Tournament on Monday.
Pawnee led 13-9 after the first quarter but held a sizeable 27-13 halftime lead.
“I think our kids are just learning how to play, and they’re doing that through experience,” Pawnee coach Blake Lucas said. “We coach them up hard, and we love them even harder. I think through this valuable experience and big games. If you look at our schedule, we’ve played a tough schedule. We’ve been in a lot of close games. You want to be improving as the year goes, and you want to be playing your best ball at the end of the year.”
Greer finished with a game-high 13 points as No. 8 Pawnee advanced to meet No. 1 Calvary at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
“(Early) we faced adversity,” Greer said. “We started off slow but had to pick it back up, had to find it and came out on top.”
The sophomore said the shooting background and environment on the LLCC college floor takes a bit to get used to, even though he made his debut here last year.
“Not very fast; I had to find it there for a second,” Greer said. “It was a little hard to figure out the atmosphere and the shooting background, but I’ll be ready for (Tuesday).”
Fellow sophomore Jace Jankousky added 12 points for PHS.
Pawnee (8-9) is on a three-game winning streak, and Monday’s win avenged an earlier loss to the Tornadoes when Tri-City won 61-47 in an MSM Conference matchup on Dec. 20. This is the longest winning streak in first-year coach Blake Lucas’ tenure.
Lucas, who coached at New Berlin for the last nine seasons, would love to help Pawnee — the first winner of the county tournament in 1925 — win its eighth county title.
“It just means a lot to a lot of people,” Lucas said. “We’re just thankful to be a part of it. It’s fun; you get to play out here in Cass Gymnasium, and more than that, it’s just a bunch of good people . . . it’s special.”
Hill Muir, a senior, led Tri-City (5-13) with 11 points. Tri-City will face the loser between No. 4 Riverton and No. 5 Auburn in the consolation bracket at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
No. 3 New Berlin 44, No. 6 Athens 41
Though the Pretzels led for most of the game, they were pressed into a battle down the stretch of the fourth quarter. They lived up to first-year coach Neil Holderread’s description as “resilient.”
Down a point and with the Athens’ offense trying to eat as much clock as possible, the Pretzels committed three fouls to try and poke the ball loose. On the fourth try, they succeeded as Peyton Stinson got it loose, and Gabe Molloy — who had a game-high 13 points — corralled the ball in his frontcourt and raced to the basket for a go-ahead layup with 36.3 seconds left.
“I’ve got to go get it and . . . I’m confident in my abilities and got us a bucket there,” Molloy said.
New Berlin, an experienced team despite having just two seniors, got some much-needed senior leadership from Charlie Neuman down 39-33.
“We’re a real scrappy team,” Neuman said. “We’ve just got to want it more; that’s what we’ve always said.
“If they’re outworking us, like when (Athens) got up six, they started outworking us and I was just like, ‘Guys, who wants it more? We want it more. We’ve got to have it.’”
Athens had a pair of chances. Sawyer Hill had a clean look off a curl at the top of the 3-point arc on the ensuing possession, but it missed. Molloy, fouled on the rebound, split his free throws to pad the New Berlin lead to two.
The next trip down, New Berlin’s Charlie Neuman stepped in front of Athens’ James Jones and took the charge. As soon as the nearest official ruled it was a player control foul, Neuman let out a celebratory battle cry.
“It felt good. The last few games, I’ve been taking quite a few charges and starting to get in the rhythm of it,” Neuman, whose teammates call him Chuck, said. “I just trust myself getting set and selling a little bit extra — that’s what you’ve got to do — I did, got the ball.
“I think a charge feels better (than a basket), especially in that kind of situation.”
Molloy once again split a pair of free throws with 3.0 seconds. Following a timeout, Athens’ had a three-quarter court inbound pass to Nathan Hesson. The senior caught the ball, also at the top of the arc, and let fly a game-tying attempt. It was off-line and New Berlin could let out a sigh of relief.
“Just keeping our head,” Molloy said. “We had a lead the whole game, and obviously we know we can hang with this team. Being a veteran ballclub, our first seven (players) all have a ton of experience, so I think that really showed tonight, and I think that’s why we can keep our head, calm the situation down and come back and win this game.”
Holderread had a good look at the Athens’ bucket for the final shot.
“At that points, we’re just trying to make it tough on them (to make a shot and force overtime),” Holderread said. “You know it’s going to be a chaotic play, so be disciplined, don’t foul but contest.”
Reid Hepperly added 10 points for the Pretzels (12-4), who will face either No. 2 Williamsville or No. 7 Pleasant Plains in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Hill led Athens with 12 points. The Warriors (9-6) will face No. 10 Lutheran in the consolation bracket at 8 Wednesday.
No. 7 Pleasant Plains 45, No. 10 Lutheran 30
Kody Kirkpatrick says his Cardinals have an opportunity to close the chapter on an up-and-down first half of the season with the Sangamon County Tournament.
The 5-12 Cardinals haven’t won more than two in a row and suffered through a six-game losing streak near the end of the calendar year. But Kirkpatrick, in his first year as the Cardinals’ head coach, really liked what he saw from his Pleasant Plains’ squad in Monday’s finale. Everything he asked of his team before the game came to fruition.
“Come out, play hard, play smart, and I thought if we played with great effort and limited mistakes, that we had a chance for this to be the outcome,” Kirkpatrick said.
It was a wire-to-wire win for the Cardinals. Senior Grady Grisham and sophomore Kreston Shultz each had six points in the first half. Grisham led the Cardinals with eight points, though 10 PPHS players got in the scoring column.
A deep run in the county tournament could make teams forget about the 3-9 start Plains had to start the season through December.
“We’ve played a tough schedule,” Kirkpatrick said. “If you look at the (Associated Press) 2A (rankings), I think we’ve played three of the top-(eight: No. 3 Warrensburg-Latham, No. 4 Teutopolis and No. 8 Tolono Unity). We’ve played a good schedule, we’re battle-tested and what better week to hopefully put it all together but this week?”
Lutheran junior Javin Meredith led all scorers in the game with 11 points.
Plains will face No. 2 Williamsville in the second round on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Lutheran faces No. 6 Athens in the consolation bracket at 8 Wednesday.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Pawnee, New Berlin, Plains open Sangamon County Tournament with wins
Reporting by Ryan Mahan, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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