Advantage News | Caleb Motsinger
Sophomore center Ben Sebacher goes up for a shot in the fourth quarter of Marquette's win on the road.
East Alton-Wood River High junior Mike Stimac scored 26 points and snared 12 rebounds, but the Oilers couldn’t quite get past the visiting Marquette Catholic Explorers 70-66 on Friday night.
The Explorers’ Deion Lavender, who averages 25.5 points per game, was held to only 16 points. The Oilers, using a stout defense, led 16-15 at half.
“Coach (Steve) Medford stresses defense more than anything,” Lavender said. “We gave up 67 points to Madison Wednesday and almost just as many tonight; our defense has really fallen lately and we half to pick it up.”
Tanner Pate contributed 16 points and Blake Marks added 12 points for EA-WR.
“We played great overall and hard defensively,” Oilers coach Kyle Duncan said. “It’s the best we have played so far this season.”
Jordan Harris led Marquette with 18 points. Teammate Stephen Peuterbaugh had 11 points.
Alton 85, Granite City 52 -- Surging Alton won its sixth in succession and defeated Granite City for the second time this season. The 18-2 Redbirds, now 7-1 in the Southwestern Conference standings, are rated No. 7 in the latest Class 4A state poll. Granite City fell to 2-17 and 0-8.
“They are a good team, a very good team,” Warriors’ coach Steve Roustio said of the Redbirds.
Michael Williams-Bey poured in 19 points to pace Alton, which made 37 of 63 shots, or 59 percent. The Redbirds’ reserves produced 37 points with Isaiah Thurmond getting 12 of them.
“Offensively, we were outstanding because we got so many good looks,” AHS coach Eric Smith said. “But in my opinion we were lazy on defense. And it’s a mindset on defense. You have to come to play every day.”
Waterloo 37, CM 34, 2 OTs -- The Eagles bid to knot the Mississippi Valley Conference standings at the top fell short as the host Bulldogs held on for the win. Waterloo, the league leader, has just one Valley loss.
Jakob Lowrance scored 12 points and Jansen Helmkamp added nine points for CM, which dropped to 12-9. Lowrance also snared nine rebounds and blocked five shots.
The Eagles, champions of last week’s Litchfield Tournament, bowed to visiting Breese Mater Dei 48-43 on Tuesday in a nonconference game.
The 16-6 Knights, rated No. 10 in the latest Class 2A state poll, used an 11-0 start to build a comfortable lead and then hung on for the victory. The Eagles didn’t score for the first six minutes. Helmkamp scored 13 points and Lowrance, a 6-7 junior, punched in 12 points for CM. The Eagles defeated Lebanon, Roxana, top-seeded Mount Zion and Nokomis in overtime to prevail at Litchfield.
Roxana 50, Carlinville 33 -- Charlie Sheets scored 19 points and the 13-9 Shells relied on a solid defense to stifle visiting Carlinville. Roxana improved to 3-2 in the South Central Conference. Carlinville is 14-9 overall.
Roxana suffered a 55-51 nonconference loss at home on Tuesday to Metro East Lutheran. The Shells carried an 8-8 record into the Carlinville game.
Jersey, 12-7 after a second-place finish in its Mid-Winter Classic last week, welcomed Centralia on Saturday night. The Panthers play host to CM in a key MVC game this Friday. Cahokia topped Jersey 69-50 in the tourney title game at Havens Gym.
Southwestern plays Tuesday at EA-WR in an intriguing nonconference game. The Piasa Birds were 10-9 after finishing third in the Macoupin County Tournament at Bunker Hill. North Mac claimed the county title and Carlinville finished second.
Girls Basketball
All tournament games Saturday in the 40th annual tournament were postponed because of inclement weather. The four games will be rescheduled, date TBD.
In games Friday, it was Marquette Catholic defeated West Central 48-30 and Alton defeating North Greene 60-48.
On Thursday night, top-seeded Civic Memorial defeating the host Hawks, 49-32 and second-seeded Calhoun shaded Jersey, 55-35.
So 22-2 CM, the 2013 tourney runner-up, met 21-2 Calhoun at 7:30 Saturday night for the tournament champion. Carrollton squared off against Jersey for third place.
Brittanny Zipprich scored a team-high 11 points and CM’s defense forced 29 turnovers as the Eagles beat 17-5 Carrollton. They led 40-16 at one point before settling for their 17-point victory.
“We wanted to get out on them with our defense in the first half and we did that,” CM coach Jonathan Denney said. “But then we were totally average in the second half. We have to do better than that.”
Rachel Williams’ 10 points led Carrollton, which scored 16 -- or half -- of its points in the fourth quarter.
“I knew CM would be intense with their defense and obviously, their pressure got to us early in the game,” Carrollton coach Brian Madson said. “But we took our time more in the second half and played better.”
Cousins Grace Baalman (18 points) and Emma Baalman (14 points) sent Calhoun past Jersey. Lia Roundcount (nine points) and Caroline Crawford (eight points) were best for the 10-10 Panthers.
Elsewhere, Maddy Sheraka scored 21 points and Anna Whitaker pitched in 17 points to direct Roxana by Vandalia, 58-48 in a SCC game Thursday. The Shells, 11-13 overall and 2-3 in the league, also defeated Waterloo Gibault 51-41 in a home nonconference game earlier in the week. Sheraka scored 18 points and Whitaker had 14 points.
EA-WR’s girls, sporting a 5-15 record, are angling for a revival starting next week. The Oilers, who don’t belong to a conference, play Monday at Staunton and Wednesday at Metro East Lutheran.
It’s expected that Roxana and EA-WR will play in next year’s Carrollton Tournament.
Boys Bowling
Alton's Redbirds finished seventh in the IHSA finals Saturday at St. Clair Bowl in O'Fallon. They shot a two-day team score of 12,430 pins. Alton was fourth after the first-day competition.
Rockford Guilford rolled a score of 13,107 for the team title. Tinley Park Andrew finished second with a 13,002 total and host O'Fallon took third with a score of 12,970 pins. Collinsville wound up eighth with a score of 12,414.
Joshua Glover of New Lenox Lincoln-Way West emerged as the individual champ with a score of 2,762. Lucas Pejakovic, a junior from Alton, wound up ninth overall with a score 2,697 and claimed All-State honors. He was third after first-day competition. Mikaid of Stewart of O'Fallon finished eighth individually at 2,729.
Charles Orman (2,554), Michael Stolze (2,485), Shane Strowatt (2,348) and Dylan Healy (1,953) followed Pejakovic in the Redbirds' order. They are all seniors. Alton averaged 207.2 pins per game for a dozen games. It was the eight time since 2003 that the Birds qualified for the state finals. They finished fifth in 2003 and 2009, and were sixth in 2009 and 2012.