Williamsville roundup: Defense has Calvary with lofty expectations
WILLIAMSVILLE — In the second quarter, with his team not playing to its potential, Calvary boys basketball coach Tives Gardner called timeout.
Less than 50 seconds later, it was Peoria Quest coach Ron Ingram calling timeout as the game was slipping away.
Calvary used a phrenetic defense to rattle the Gators into two straight turnovers in a quick 6-0 spurt en route to an 81-53 win in the first round of the Williamsville Holiday Tournament on Wednesday.
“We weren’t playing defense,” Gardner said of what he said in the timeout with 2 minutes, 29 seconds left in the first half with third-seeded Calvary leading 39-31.
“Our assignments on defense, we weren’t in the right position, we weren’t rotating. We know defense wins games: I preach it all the time (and) they know it but they’re 16-, 17-year-old kids and sometimes you have to remind them. After I made that timeout, you saw we stepped up our defense.”
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It was Calvary’s second win over No. 14 Quest this month, following a 79-47 victory in Peoria on Dec. 11.
The Saints (10-2) got off to a 9-0 start before back-to-back losses to Auburn (64-52 on Dec. 19) and Griggsville-Perry (52-50 in overtime on Dec. 23). Through 10 games, senior Connor Brown and sophomore Luke Blackford are doing much of the heavy lifting for the Saints.
On Wednesday, Brown had 26 points and Blackford scored 15. Sophomore Joshua Long added 12 with a pair of 3-pointers for the Saints.
Blackford and Brown are the top-two Saints in scoring (23.2 ppg for Blackford; 18.0 for Brown), rebounding (7.5 rpg for Brown, 6.8 for Blackford), assists (5.2 apg for Brown, 3.1 for Blackford) and steals (3.7 spg for Brown, 3.5 for Blackford).
Gardner said that despite the 10-2 record, he really needs to see other players raise their games to take the load off the pair of 6-foot-4 players. Blackford knows things will get easier as more options develop as the season goes on but he and Brown have been more than capable of leading the Saints’ charge.
“As teams figure us out more, that’s what he’s talking about: how we can start feeding off to other teammates and their points will starting rising,” Blackford said. “We’re playing well right now.”
Calvary lost three players who combined to score 32.9 ppg a season ago when the Saints won the Class 1A Jacksonville Routt Regional title and dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Waterloo Gibault in the Hardin Calhoun Sectional championship game. Gone are James Toller and Ben Crowder to graduation while junior Amari Anderson transferred to Lanphier.
But the Saints still have lofty goals and the 9-0 start, combined with the success last season, has only given the players reasons to believe those goals are within reach.
“That run helped us with our confidence; not only because we knew we were returning key pieces — we lost some, too but that’s a part of it — like getting back some good scorers and a lot of young pieces that have been thrown into our starting lineup this year have been phenomenal,” Brown said. “Joshua (Long) and Josiah (Reynolds), two sophomores, have been playing great for us.
“When we get to those big games, it’s huge for them. Joshua has no varsity experience; he didn’t get to play much his freshman year. So him getting thrown into the varsity lineup has given us a lot of confidence. We’ve been there but those guys haven’t. Being thrown into the starting lineup with us is huge.”
Story from last season This freshman didn't fear the moment to lead Calvary past Routt for 1A boys regional title
Ingram, who used to coach at Decatur MacArthur before heading back to Peoria, said he’s impressed with how far Calvary has come under Gardner. He hopes that’s the blueprint for his own squad.
“I see us (in Calvary), I really do, because five years ago, they were in the same situation we are in right now,” Ingram said. “Connor just told me, ‘Coach, hang in there. You guys are going to be good. You’ve got a good team.’ He told me how his experience was his freshman year.”
In other tournament games:
NO. 1 TOLONO UNITY 76, NO. 16 HAVANA 27: The Rockets outscored the Ducks 32-2 in the first quarter and were never threatened.
Unity put 13 different players in the scoring column, including 14 from Dalton O’Neill. The senior-heavy Rockets (nine players on the are seniors, including all five starters) held Havana to single digits in each quarter.
Carter Brooks, Jaron Boggs and Landon Oatman all led Havana with six points apiece.
NO. 9 PEORIA CHRISTIAN 78, NO. 8 TREMONT 60: Malachi Persinger and Gavin Walder each scored 20 points to lead the Chargers past the Turks in a matchup of two teams separated by less than 20 miles.
Jameson Fisher added 11 and Trae Brickner had 10 for Christian in the mild upset.
Grant Williams led the Turks with a game-best 21 points.
NO. 4 FAIRBURY PRAIRIE CENTRAL 56, NO. 13 ROANOKE-BENSON 19: Tyler Curl led the Hawks with 21 points and Prairie Central’s defense did the rest.
The Rockets managed 16 points in the first half before the Hawks’ defense held Roanoke-Benson scoreless in the third.
NO. 5 WARRENSBURG-LATHAM 53, NO. 12 PETERSBURG PORTA 33: Brayden Hickey and Kaiden Gardner combined to score 29 points as the Cardinals won the matchup of bird mascots.
Hickey led the Cardinals with 16.
Levi Hoagland scored 13 for the Bluejays.
NO. 6 EAST PEORIA 67, NO. 11 MASON CITY ILLINI CENTRAL 44: Jackson Ahrens scored 16 points and led four different Raiders in double digits as East Peoria outscored Illini Central in every quarter to pull out a convincing win.
Quinton Kitt and A.J. Reinders each had 14 for the Raiders while Caleb Grieco added 10.
Trenton Dietrich led the Cougars with 17 points. Illini Central got 13 points from Lucas Power and 12 from Brody Folkes but that accounted for all but two of IC’s points.
NO. 2 WILLIAMSVILLE 48, NO. 15 DEER CREEK-MACKINAW 34: The Bullets survived their first full game without leading scorer Blake Shoufler, who suffered a broken ankle on Friday in a loss to Winchester West Central.
Brayden Saling stepped up in Shoufler’s absence to lead Williamsville (9-1) with 21 points. He drained seven 3-pointers.
Brecken Thomas added 10 for the Bullets and Brayden Scott finished with nine.
Coen Gilbert led Dee-Mack with 12 points.
NO. 10 DELAVAN 56, NO. 7 BEARDSTOWN 35: The Panthers opened up by outscoring the Tigers 20-11 in the first quarter and never looked back in the tournament’s biggest upset of the first round.
Micah Brockhouse led the Panthers with 19 points while Alex Seaton finished with 14 and Cooper Hansen netted 11.
Beardstown senior Isaac Brockschmidt was 6-for-12 from the floor and led the Tigers with 19 points. He made four 3-pointers, grabbed a team-high five rebounds and led Beardstown with three assists.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA boys basketball: Calvary's defense has Saints on winning path
