Wednesday evening proved to be a learning lesson for area high school boys basketball teams.
Playing their third games in as many nights, Macomb, West Prairie and host Bushnell-Prairie City all come up on the losing end at the Spartans Tip-Off Classic in Bushnell.
The opening contest saw Macomb open a 10-point lead early in the second half before A-Town rallied on the way to notching a 46-41 victory to remain unbeaten.
The second contest saw Illini West seize command early on the way to downing West Prairie 72-39.
The final contest saw host B-PC battle Illini Bluffs down to the wire before Tigers survived for a 48-42 victory.
Leading 23-17 at halftime, baskets by Nolan Hoge and Drew Watson pushed the Macomb advantage to 27-17 early in the second half.
But the Bombers managed just six points the remainder of the quarter. Meanwhile A-Town scored 13 points, including 6-of-8 from the free throw line, to cut the deficit to 33-30 entering the final eight minutes.
A-Town had shot just 1-of-4 from the line in the opening half.
Alex Foutch scored the first five points for Tornadoes, including two after Isaac Leinbach was whistled for a technical foul.
After scoring the final four points of the third period, A-Town opened the final quarter scoring an additional eight unanswered.
A three-pointer and a traditional three-point play by Ayden Stromson. sandwiched Tre Kenon’s steal and layup that gave the Tornadoes their first lead at 35-33.
A-Town never trailed again. “I think you learn a lot about your team early in the season when you’re playing back-to-back games,” said MHS coach Jeremy Anderson. “Our challenge will be putting those lessons in effect.”
“We lost our composure when technical fouls were called,” he added.
In addition to Leinbach, Watson was also whistled for a technical foul during the fourth quarter.
“We let that bother our concentration on the defensive end. A-Town is a good enough team that they’re going to make you pay anytime you lose concentration.”
Macomb managed just two baskets in the final eight minutes, getting outscored 15-8.
Watson topped MHS with 17 points. Hoge added eight points, followed by Leinbach, Carter Havens and Cooper Hobson with four points each.
Nick Elbe added two points.
Foutch and Kenon topped A-Town with 15 and 14 points respectively.
“Defense is going to win us games,” said Anderson. “That’s how we’re going to be able to compete. We may not be a really strong scoring team, but we can beat good teams if we buy into playing really good defense.”
The second game of the night saw the Chargers bolt from the gate, racing out to a 24-9 lead after the opening quarter on the way to building a 42-13 halftime advantage.
“(Illini West) got hot pretty early,” said West Prairie coach Ian Conkling. “I liked our mentality going into the game with our game plan. But when they shoot you out of it, hitting a high percentage from three, then you have to switch things up.”
“We kind of struggled all night with our defensive rotations and (being) just one step too late,” he added.
The Chargers finished the game with nine three-pointers. Ryan Clark topped West Prairie with 11 points. Holden Coplan added eight points, followed by Braden Coplan with six, Matt Whitman with five and Brody Cordell with four.
Eli DeCounter and Jason Foust chipped in two points apiece for the Cyclones.
“We’ve got to come out a lot better to start the game and not dig ourselves such a big hole,” said Conkling.
Myles Wear and Brennan Grotts topped Illini West with 15 and 14 points respectively. Wesley Robertson added 12 for the victors.
The final game of the night saw an attempted fourth-quarter rally by the host Spartans fall short.
B-PC trailed 14-5 after the opening eight minutes, but battled back to make it a 23-21 deficit at the half.
The Tigers controlled the third frame, outscoring B-PC 17-7 to build a 40-28 lead heading into the final stanza.
“We’ve got to be the guys that get up 10 (points) to make up for some of those lulls that happen in a game,” said B-PC coach Shane Curry. “I think we’re really close to that.”
De’Arion Ruffin-Thomas and Cam Shinn led B-PC with 14 points each.
Braylon Griffitts added nine points, followed by Connor Palm with three and Dylan King with two.
“Every day we get better,” said Curry. “They’re learning that we can dig deep. We know we can dig deep.”
Drew Dunn topped Illini West with 13 points, while Griffin White added 10 for the Tigers.
