PTHS, Dwight win; Prairie Central, EPG and Lexington fall

Pontiac remained unbeaten Illini Prairie Conference play while Dwight claimed a Tri-County Conference win in boys’ basketball on Friday.

Prairie Central put up a fight but fell short against state-ranked Tolono (Unity), and El Paso-Gridley and Lexington each came up short in their upset bids in the semifinal round of the McLean County Tournament.

Pontiac 66, BCC 60

At Pontiac, Central Catholic came with one primary weapon that opponents have had trouble containing. However, Pontiac was able to counter the Saints’ KeShaun Manney with a trio of double-digit scorers to post a 66-60 victory and keep its IPC mark unblemished.

“We played a good overall game tonight as a team,” PTHS head coach Matt Starker said. “Our second quarter was great.”

The Indians tallied 22 points in the second frame to break a 17-17 tie after one period. Cayden Masching outscored BCC all by himself in the second with 12 points. PTHS won the quarter 22-10 for a 39-27 halftime advantage.

Manney led a Central Catholic rally in the third period with 12 points as the Saints cut the deficit to 54-47. Manney finished with a game-high 29 points. He added nine points in the final frame.

“Manney made a run down the stretch but we did what we needed to close it out,” Starker said.

Manney was called for a technical foul in the fourth period. Although PTHS was outscored 13-12 in the last stanza, it was able to secure the win.

Masching finished with 25 points as the Indians improved to 3-0 in IPC play and 14-4 overall. Amazin King added 15 points and Aden Brummell tossed in 10 markers. Bryce Robison and Anderson Horning chipped in 5 points apiece. Ben Melchers, Evan Wolf and Henry DeYoung had 2 points each.

Gavin Slayback added 16 for Central Catholic (11-10, 2-1).

Tolono (Unity) 59, Prairie Central 49

At Fairbury, state-ranked Tolono (Unity) had its hands full with Prairie Central at the Hawks nest on Friday. But the Rockets have earned their ranking for a reason and was able to use its size down the stretch to leave town with a 59-49 victory in IPC play.

“They’re physical and we had to match that physicality,” PC head coach Trevin McCulloh said. “I thought we did a great job through the first three quarters. They just outlasted us.”

Tolono, who came into the game ranked fourth in Class 2A by the Associated Press, featured a lineup on the floor at times that went 6-foot-5, 6-5, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

Still Prairie Central battled. Easton Friedman scored the game’s first five points and the Hawks led 18-10 after one period and 26-23 at the intermission. The game was first tied at 28-28 in the third quarter and Tolono gained its first lead at 31-30 a bit later.

Acer Kratochvil gave the Hawks the lead right back and PC was up 41-37 heading into the final frame.

That’s when the Rockets’ size and depth finally came to the front as they outscored Prairie Central 22-7 to remain unbeaten in league play.

Spencer Ray’s 13 points paced the Hawks (7-13, 0-3). Dane Wheeler was right behind with 12 points and Eaton Friedman scored 8. Bryson Gadberry chipped in 6 points.

Tre Hoggard led Tolono, who is now 3-0 in the IPC and 18-2 overall, with 17 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Tyler Henry added 14 points.

Dwight 68, Seneca 60

At Dwight, the host Trojans put three players in double figures to counter the high-scoring Cameron Shriey for Seneca to post a 68-60 Tri-County Conference victory at John Kresl Gymnasium.

Although Dwight outscored Seneca in each of the first three quarters, the game was still pretty close. The Irish outscored DTHS 25-20 in the final frame as the Trojans missed seven free throws down the stretch.

Dwight led 13-10 after the first quarter and held the edge at 29-23 at the break. A seven-point difference in the third period created the separation head coach Jeremy Connor was looking to have as his team led 48-35 heading into the homestretch.

Joey Starks scored half his points in the fourth quarter and led the Trojans (10-8, 3-2) with 20 points. Evan Cox added 17 points and Joe Duffy chimed in with 12 points. Collin Bachand scored 8 and Trevor Jensen netted 7 markers.

Shriey had 31 points for the Irish (9-12, 3-3).

McLean County Tournament

At Bloomington, the favorites advanced but the underdogs made it tough as top-seed LeRoy and No. 6 Tremont won McLean County Tournament semifinal games at the Shirk Center at Illinois Wesleyan.

LeRoy 60, Lexington 57

In a battle of the two highest seeds remaining, it was LeRoy, ranked sixth in the Class 1A state poll, fending off fourth-seed Lexington in the first game of the evening.

The Panthers grabbed a 16-11 lead after the opening quarter and was up 33-26 at the intermission. The Minutemen came firing back, outscoring the favorites 17-12 in the third to pull to within two, at 45-43, by the start of the final frame. The game stayed close to the end with LeRoy (18-1) holding on to advance.

Lexington (16-5) was led by Joe Steffen with 18 points. Leo Davis and Blaine Friedmansky tallied 14 points each and Drake Hari scored 7.

Tremont 71, EPG 69

A baseline drive with less than two seconds to go in regulation lifted sixth seeded Tremont past No. 10 El Paso-Gridley in the second semifinal contest.

Josh Papenhouse did the honors for the Turks, who saw a 16-point advantage at the start of the fourth period evaporate to nothing as Cha’von Maxon drained two free throws with 24 seconds remaining to tie the game at 69-69. The winner came with 1.4 seconds left.

El Paso-Gridley’s late charge involved scoring one more point in the fourth quarter that it had in the first three combined.

The Turks struck early, taking leads of 19-16 and 33-24 after each of the first two quarters. The margin increased to 50-34 by the start of the fourth quarter.

The last frame was a score fest as the teams combined for 56 points, including 35 by the Titans.

Jayvion Maxon and Jack Hempstead scored 18 points apiece for El Paso-Gridley (8-10). Braden Hayes added 17 and Cha’von Maxon tossed in 9 markers. Elijah Webster grabbed 9 rebounds and Owen Adams had 7 boards.

Miller Reynolds led Tremont (13-8) with 18 points and Papenhouse added 16 to go with 7 rebounds. Griffin Meeker scored 14.

El Paso-Gridley and Lexington squared off Saturday afternoon for third place.

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