Basketball
The United Boys Basketball Holiday Tournament at the Fieldhouse at United High School started on Saturday morning and will run through Friday night. Each of the six teams played two of their five total games on Saturday. Ridgewood and Knoxville won both of their contests. Ridgewood edged United 55-51 in the first game of the day. Declan Flynn was the only player in double figures for United with 15 points. United would bounce back and win their second game of the day, knocking off Riverdale 64-36 in the final game of the day at Fieldhouse. Evan Wynne led the way for the Red Storm with 23 points, 21 of those points came from behind the 3-point arc. Declan Flynn added 14 and Cormaic Flynn chipped in with 12. Ridgewood’s other victory of the day came against West Central. It was the Spartans clipping West Central 51-45. Nate Bigger scored more than half of the Heat’s points with 25. Landen Beelman had ten as well for West Central. The Heat lost their second game of the day to Knoxville 50-44. This time it was Beelman leading the way with 23 points and Bigger added ten. Jason Hise had 22 for Knoxville. Knoxville’s second win of the day came against West Prairie 61-34. Jason Hise had 15 and David Hise chipped in with 13. Riverdale lost to West Prairie 57-37 in the other game on Saturday. Today’s schedule includes the two undefeated teams, Ridgewood and Knoxville, playing at 6:00. West Prairie and United play at 7:30 and Riverdale and West Central will play at 7:30 in the old Warren High School gym just down the hallway of the Fieldhouse.
The Knoxville-Abingdon/Avon Girls Basketball Holiday Tournament also started on Saturday. It’s a 10-team pool play format, culminating on Saturday with championship pool-crossover play. Abingdon-Avon beat Elmwood in the first game of the day at Abingdon-Avon High School, with United falling to Ridgewood 51-44 in the second game. At Knoxville High School, the Knoxville JV lost to ROWVA 49-28 and Illini Bluffs beat West Central 56-26. Today has Ridgewood facing Elmwood and Abingdon-Avon vs. Farmington in Abingdon and West Central Knoxville’s JV and Knoxville’s varsity against ROWVA in Knoxville.
The Galesburg Silver Streak boys got the only victory for Illinois in the Iowa/Illinois Shootout. The Iowa schools won 6 of the 7 contests. Galesburg beat Bettendorf 56-46, behind Jaylin McCants’ 15 points and eight rebounds.
The Monmouth-Roseville Titan boys and girls basketball teams got losses on Saturday. The Titan girls lost to Havana 63-51 and the Titan boys were beaten by Bloomington Central Catholic 63-55.
The seeds and matchups are out for the Macomb/Western Holiday Tournament. The top four seeds, in order, were West Hancock, Abingdon-Avon, Rockridge and Farmington. Monmouth-Roseville will play Eureka at 1:00 in the first round on December 26th. A-Town battles Camp Point Central at 2:30 and Macomb faces Lewistown at 6:30. We’ll have coverage of all Monmouth-Roseville, Abingdon-Avon and Macomb throughout the tournament on the PCSN.
Wrestling
The Monmouth-Roseville and Knoxville wrestling teams both took part in the PORTA Invitational Tournament on Saturday. Monmouth-Roseville placed 17th out of 23 schools. They got a 2nd place finish from Martin Arteaga at 120 pounds. Arteaga was (3-1) with two pins. Knoxville placed 9th out of 23 teams.
Junior High
The ICS Trojan 8th grade girls season came to an end on Saturday in the elite 8 against a tough Mt Pulaski team. The Lady Trojans fall 48-28. Carmyn Huston led ICS with 13 points. The Trojans end the year with a nice overall record of (19-5).