Macomb High overcame a sluggish start Monday evening and held on late to upend No. 3 seed Abingdon- Avon while Bushnell- Prairie City was sent home on the second day of action at the 79th Annual Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament at Western Hall.
Two other top-four seeds saw their tourney title hopes dashed.
No. 4 seed Eureka fell to Canton 57-50 and Illini West finished with a 25-11 run in the second half to get past second-seeded Brown County 45-41.
The tournament’s topseed West Hancock avoided the upset bug, pulling away in the second half to defeat Mercer County 66-48.
MHS was held to only a Nick Elbe field goal and a pair of Drew Watson free throws in the first eight minutes as Abingdon-Avon led 7-4 heading into the second quarter.
The Bombers came to life and used a 9-0 run late in the period to take the lead. The MHS defense held the Tornadoes to just one field goal at the buzzer as the Bombers outscored A-Town 15-6 in the quarter to head into the locker room with a 19-13 advantage at intermission.
MHS took its largest lead of the night at 25-16 with 2:54 left in the third before the Tornadoes finished on a 5-0 run to get within 25-21 entering the fourth quarter.
The final period was a see-saw affair as A-Town got to within three points on three different occasions. But the Bombers went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe over the last half minute to secure the victory.
The win for MHS avenged an earlier loss to A-Town at the B-PC Tip-Off Classic in late November.
“In that game, we lost our composure,” said Anderson of the earlier 46-41 loss. “We were up eight points in the fourth quarter and gave it away. This game, we did a little bit better job of keeping our composure.”
Kellen Martin paced the Bombers with nine points while Elbe, Nolan Hoge and Carter Havens each finished with eight points.
Watson chipped in four points and Isaac Leinbach two for the Bombers.
Alex Foutch and Ryker Darst finished with eight points apiece to lead A-Town (11-2).
“Kellen did well and Carter Havens does really well defensively as he usually has to guard the other team’s best player,” said Anderson. “I thought Nolan Hoge was outstanding defensively and Isaac Leinbach’s help defense was outstanding. We got contributions from a lot of guys.”
MHS shot 33 percent from the floor but only converted 1-of-13 from the three-point arc. Yet for Anderson, the key stat was free throws as the Bombers were a perfect 10-of-10 from the line in the game.
“That was a first for us and some of those were big down the stretch,” said Anderson. “Those were pressure free throws and then you can set up your defense.”
Macomb High (9-4) was scheduled to face Illini West in one semifinal contest on Tuesday while West Hancock took on Canton for the other berth in the championship game Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, in its contest, B-PC trailed Monmouth- Roseville 21-9 after one quarter and 45-14 at the half as the Titans cruised to a 65-30 consolation round victory.
De’Arion Ruffin-Thomas led the Spartans with 10 points.
Connor Palm added eight points for the Spartans (2-10), followed by Christian Graybill with five.
John Malda added three, while Braylon Griffitts and Jadyn Robinson chipped in two points apiece.
Clay Casteel led Monmouth- Roseville (2-7) with 20 points. Nick Huston added 16 and Cee Sarcomo 10 for the Titans In other consolation round action, Liberty edged past Farmington 50-47, while defending champion Rockridge slipped by Camp Point Central 44-42.
Pittsfield earned a spot against Monmouth-Roseville after defeating Peoria Christian 49-44.
The winners of the games will meet Tuesday afternoon for the consolation championship.
Mercer County will take on Eureka and Abingdon- Avon faces Brown County with the winners advancing to the fifth-place contest Tuesday evening. That game will be followed by the third place and title contests.
