Story by Kadin Rogers
After a trip out of conference in East Moline on Tuesday, the Monmouth-Roseville Titans boys basketball team returned home on Friday night to the Shoebox of Monmouth-Roseville High School for a matchup with a top team in the Three Rivers Conference West Division, the (14-2) Sherrard Tigers. To open up the first quarter, it would be Monmouth-Roseville with the upper hand after a 7-0 run forced a Sherrard timeout. Andy Myers and Ethan Clark’s pair of triples would help stave off a mini Tigers run to go up 14-7 after one quarter of play.
Dame Thioubou’s putback off the glass would give the Titans a 16-8 lead in a defensive battle through the 2nd quarter. That score would hold into the late part of the quarter until Cee Sarcomo and Lars Bergren scored to bring the Titans lead to 22-14 heading into the halftime break. After a slow start, Sherrard would get their legs under them opening up the second half with a 7 point run to cut the Titans lead to one point. After Payton Thompson and Rylan Carton traded buckets, Carter Brown gave the Tigers their first lead of the game before Ryder Verdona got hot in the late third with two threes to aid the Tigers to a 36-29 lead heading into the fourth.
An 8-2 run for Sherrard would put them in the driver’s seat on way to a 13 point lead. Sherrard would ultimately continue to expand their lead, finishing their strong second half with a 56-37 win over Monmouth-Roseville. In the stat book for the Titans, Payton Thompson led the way with 9 points while Nick Huston added in 7. Monmouth-Roseville will now get a week break before their next game, a road matchup with another stout opponent in the Rockridge Rockets.
For the replay of the WMOI radio broadcast of the game, go to the SPORTS PODCAST section.
