PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: BHRA, Oakwood cruise into County championship game

Jan. 19—BISMARCK — Not even a change in location could keep the Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin and Oakwood boys basketball teams from advancing to the championship game of the Vermilion County Tournament.

Because of water pressure problems in Danville and at Danville Area Community College on Thursday, the final three pool play games were moved from the Mary Miller Gymnasium to Wilcox Gymnasium at Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin Cooperative High School.

The top-seeded Blue Devils claimed the Pool A title with a 67-30 triumph over the Westville Tigers, while the second-seeded Comets earned the Pool B title with a 76-44 victory over the Hoopeston Area Cornjerkers. In the other game on Thursday, Armstrong-Potomac defeated Georgetown-Ridge Farm 66-45.

Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin coach Gary Tidwell has been looking for improvement this week from his team.

The Blue Devils (19-3) entered the County Tournament on seven-game win streak, but there were still areas that they need to clean up before they enter the IHSA Class 2A posteason.

"We just wanted to make a statement defensively," said Tidwell about Thursday's win over Westville. "That is an area that we've needed to improve along with rebounding. I think we were able to do that from the onset and was able to continue that throughout the course of the game.

"I'm really proud of our guys and their effort."

The Tigers (15-4) managed just 16 first-half points and their 30 points for the game tied their season low.

Bis-Henn/Ross-Al also won the battle of the boards, as they had several offensive rebounds to score its 35 first-half points.

"We talked about that at halftime," Tidwell said. "It was uncharacteristic for us to miss so many layups. The last two games, our transition game hasn't been all that great, normally we finish easy baskets like that.

"In the second half, I thought we did a good job of getting some extra turnovers and we finished a little better."

Another characteristic of the Blue Devils this season has been balanced scoring and that continued Thursday night.

Micah Stanford, a junior, had a game-high 20 points, while sophomore Keison Peoples finished with 15 and junior Caden Keleminic had 12. Chaz Dubois and Ayden Ingram chipped in with 9 and 8 respectively.

"This has been a very unselfish team. They do a great job, maybe too unselfish at times, because guys are passing up open shots," Tidwell said. "They see the floor really well and they don't care who gets the credit. That's a fun trait to have as a team."

Saturday's championship game will be a rematch from the conference game played Dec. 12 at Oakwood. The Blue Devils won that game 64-53.

"We're pretty familiar with Oakwood," Tidwell said. "Their size is really good and they have some guys that can shoot the ball well. They are a solid team.

"We need to be ready to rebound and run the floor, but rebounding will be a big key."

Sophomore Easton Barney was the leading scorer for Westville with 9 points, while senior Drew Wichitowski scored his 1,000th point of his career on a pair of free throws in the second quarter.

In the Pool B title game, long-ranged shooting was the key as the Comets made a tournament-high 14 3-pointers with six different players having at least one 3-pointer in the game.

"They hit 12 a week ago against us," said Hoopeston Area coach Kevin Root of his team's 68-52 loss to Oakwood on Jan. 10. "We told them that we needed to close out, but we helped too much on dribble-drive and we didn't close out, and we didn't get a hand up.

"They are a very good team when they are hitting 3s like that. It's hard to beat any team that makes 14 in a game."

Jackson Dudley, a junior, had three of the 14 3-pointers for the Comets (17-5) as he had a team-high 16 points.

According to Dudley, those shots are just part of the Oakwood offense.

"That is something our team works on a lot," he admitted. "We have a lot of people that put in a lot of work to get our shooting form right."

But what does it say when six different players can make a 3-pointer?

"It feels really good. I have a lot of confidence in my teammates," Dudley said. "I know that if I pass it out, there is a good chance it's going to be 3 points."

Oakwood coach Jeff Mandrell acknowledges that long-range shooting has become the identity of his team this year.

"We have some really good shooters on this team," he said. "We may live and die with it a little too much, but we are just trying to move, screen a little bit, penetrate and just hit some open shots.

"Sometimes, we are able to open things up to get the ball down low to Alec (Harrison) for a short shot."

Joining Jackson Dudley in double figures on Thursday night was freshman Carsen Dudley with 15, Cort Vermillion had 13 and Brody Taflinger finished with 11.

So, did the change in venue made a difference?

"I don't think so. I know the court is a little shorter, but I don't think there was a huge difference being here over DACC," Jackson Dudley said.

And Mandrell added, "we just kept the same bus time. Earlier in the day, I heard that we might not play. I was just glad that we did."

Oakwood will be looking for its first title since 2018, while Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin is playing for its fifth straight County title.

"They have been winning this thing and they are a load," Mandrell said of the Blue Devils. "We played fairly well against them the first times. We are going to have to take care of the ball and see what happens."

Kendrick Sigerill had a game-high 21 points for Hoopeston Area.

Armstrong-Potomac senior Kollin Asbury continued his scoring barrage in Thursday's opener.

Asbury had a tournament-high 32 points, eclipsing his previous high of 31, as the Trojans advanced into Saturday's fifth-place game with a win over the Georgetown-Ridge Farm Buffaloes.

In three tournament games, Asbury has scored 89 points, which places him in the top-25 all-time in County Tournament scoring. Kenneth Martinie of Allerton holds the record with 145 points in five games during the 1951 tournament.

Jase Latoz was the leading scorer for the Buffaloes with 17.

The final games of the girls tournament were played Friday at Salt Fork High School. A complete recap of those games can be found at www.commercial-news.com.

The site for today's final games of the boys tournament are tentatively set for Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin. An official announcement will be made at 10 a.m.

Boys Game 7 Armstrong-Potomac 66, Georgetown-Ridge Farm 45

Georgetown-Ridge Farm (45) — Deven Vice 2 1-2 6, A'Jhon Watson 4 1-4 9, Jase Latoz 6 2-2 17, Austin Grider 0 0-0 0, JJ Hall 3 0-3 6, Landon Heck 0 0-0 0, William Runyan 3 0-0 6, Rylee Heck 0 0-0 0, Jackson Pratt 0 1-2 1, Brady Chamberlain 0 0-0 0, Sawyer Willis 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 5-13 45.

Armstrong-Potomac (66) — Nathan Rogers 1 0-0 3, Cole Bailey 5 1-2 12, Kollin Asbury 11 8-10 32, Luke Townsend 2 4-4 8, Bowen Hesterberg 3 2-4 9, Ryan Edwards 0 2-2 2, James Huisinga 0 0-0 0, Gage Foster 0 0-0 0, Rhys Showalter 0 0-0 0, Braxton Gerth 0 0-0 0, JT Frerichs 0 0-0 0, Blake Learned 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 17-22 66.

Geo-RF 6 16 10 13 — 45

A-P 18 8 20 20 — 66

3-pointers — Georgetown-Ridge Farm 4 (Latoz 3, Vice 1). Armstrong-Potomac 5 (Asbury 2, Rogers 1, Bailey 1, Hesterberg 1). Total fouls — Georgetown-Ridge Farm 15, Armstrong-Potomac 13. Fouled out — none.

Records — Georgetown-Ridge Farm 4-18 overall, Armstrong-Potomac 11-10 overall.

------ Boys Game 8 Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin 67, Westville 30

Westville (30) — Easton Barney 3 2-2 9, Cameron Steinbaugh 1 3-4 6, Drew Wichtowski 1 2-2 4, Cade Schaumburg 0 0-0 0, Tyler Miller 5 1-1 11, Aidan Skinner 0 0-0 0, Tryce Setser 0 0-0 0, Matthew Darling 0 0-0 0, Preston Wright 0 0-0 0, Brennan Burnett 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 8-9 30.

Bis-Henn/Ross-Al (67) — Keison Peoples 5 4-5 15, Micah Stanford 6 4-4 20, Ayden Ingram 3 0-0 8, Chaz Dubois 4 1-2 9, Caden Keleminic 4 0-0 12, Anderson Thomas 1 1-1 3, Noah Rice 0 0-0 0, Peyton Wallace 0 0-0 0, Landon Leigh 0 0-0 0, Ethan Dubois 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 10-12 67.

Westville 7 9 14 0 — 30

BHRA 19 16 17 15 — 67

3-pointers — Westville 2 (Barney 1, Steinbaugh 1). Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin 11 (Stanford 4, Keleminic 4, Ingram 2, Peoples 1). Total fouls — Westville 14, Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin 11. Fouled out none.

Records — Westville 15-4 overall. Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin 19-3.

------ Boys Game 9 Oakwood 76, Hoopeston Area 44

Hoopeston Area (44) — Wyatt Eisenmann 3 1-4 8, Trenton Montez 1 0-0 2, Mason Rush 2 0-0 6, Kendrick Sigerill 7 7-11 21, Ethan Steiner 2 0-0 4, Dylan Judy 0 0-0 0, Brayden Walder 0 0-0 0, Nick Cardenas 0 0-0 0, Zach Huchel 1 0-0 3, Cole Miller 0 0-0 0, Parker Watson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 8-15 44.

Oakwood (76) — Brody Taflinger 4 2-2 11, Cort Vermillion 4 2-2 13, Carsen Dudley 5 0-0 15, Jackson Dudley 6 1-4 16, Alec Harrison 4 0-1 8, Derek Drews 1 0-0 3, Alex Wallace 0 0-0 0, Sam Woodard 0 0-0 0, Ben Darling 0 0-0 0, Hayden Thomason 1 0-0 2, Bryson McDaniel 2 1-2 5, Brandt Hobick 1 0-0 3. Totals: 28 6-11 76.

Hoopeston Area 10 10 16 8 — 44

Oakwood 23 22 13 18 — 76

3-pointers — Hoopeston Area 4 (Rush 2, Eisenmann 1, Huchel 1). Oakwood 14 (C.Dudley 5, Vermillion 3, J.Dudley 3, Taflinger 1, Drews 1, Hobick 1). Total fouls — Hoopeston Area 9, Oakwood 11. Fouled out — none.

Records — Hoopeston Area 16-7 overall, 17-5 overall.