Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
The Sesser-Valier Red Devils are ranked fifth and the Christopher Bearcats sixth in the latest poll Class 1A released by Jack Bullock (ABV Jack) of the website abaselineview.com.
The Thompsonville Tigers crack the honorable mention slot in Class 1A, and the West Frankfort Redbirds crack the 2A honorable mention slot.
Please click on the link below for the latest poll.
http://abaselineview.com/abvrankings.html
Game 19: 8:30 a.m. Massac County 59 vs. Union County KY 36 F (5th Place Bracket)
Game 20: 10 a.m. Carmi-White County 51 Gallatin Co 34 (5th Place Bracket)
Game 21: 12 p.m. Harrisburg 54 vs. Anna-Jonesboro 52 (semi-finals)
Game 22: 1:30 p.m. Eldorado 64 West Frankfort 55 F (semi-finals)
Game 23: 3:00 p.m. Herrin 62 Edwards County 50 F (Consolation Championship)
Game 24: 6:00 p.m. Massac County 62 Carmi-White County 60 (5th Place)
Game 25: 7;30 p.m. Anna Jonesboro 42 vs West Frankfort 33 H (3rd place)
Game 26: 9:00 p.m. Harrisburg vs Eldorado (Championship)
Game 1: Benton 51 Pinckneyville, 41 F
Game 2: Trenton Wesclin 47 vs DuQuoin 44 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: Pinckneyville 72 DuQuoin 45 3rd place
Game 4: Benton 18 Trenton-Wesclin 15 H
Game 1: Cissna Park 40 Olney 38 F
Game 2: Jerseyville 65 Carterville 34 F
Game 3: Olney 42 Carterville 33 F 7th place
Game 4: Jerseyville 35 Cissina Park 27 F
Game 1: Greenville 44 Roxanna 29 F
Game 2: Trico 64 Elverado 31 F
Game 3: Roxanna 60 Elverado 55 F 11th place
Game 4: Greenville 72 Trico 51 F 9th place
Cameron Bowby – Marissa-Coulterville
Matt Campbell – Johnston City
Tanner Dunn – Goreville
Blake Fewkes – Woodlawn
Lukas Gunter – Sesser-Valier
Gage Hawkins – Christopher
Tyson Kessler – Thompsonville
Keith Kiener III – Chester
Preston Launius – Sesser-Valier
Peyton Massey – Goreville
Blake McKay – Woodlawn
Chase Selby – Johnston City
Braden Webb – Goreville
Tyler Winchester – Sesser-Valier
Bradley Young – Christopher
The Benton Rangers open up play in the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic in Pinckneyville today, facing Cissna Park at 3:30 in the auxiliary gym, and Greenville at 8:30 in Duster Thomas Gym.
Cissna Park (Enrollment 99) is between Champaign and Kankakee. They have a record of 5-3 They have a “will play anyone” attitude. They just came out the St. Joseph Odgen invitational, 4-1, which is made up of 2A and 3A schools.
Benton Coach Ron Winemiller had this to say about Cissna Park. “There are two different styles of teams we play tomorrow. Cissna part is very big and relies on pounding the ball into their 6’7 Sophomores.We will have our hands full keeping them away from the basket and also not getting crushed on the offensive back board.”
Greenville plays in the South Central Conference. They have a record of 5-5. They faced a couple of teams from this area in the Carlyle Kaskaskian Classic. They were defeated by Pinckneyville 64-43, and Woodlawn 43-40. Coach Winemiller had a few comments about Greenville coming into tonight’s game,”Greenville is a little more like us. They don’t have great team size but they are very aggressive at the defensive and offensive end. They will try to create offense with their defense.”
“Coach Cantrell and Coach Long are 2 guys I have known for a long time and we look forward to competing against them in Pinckenyville.”
The pairings for the championship round will not be available until all the pool play games are completed. I will share them as soon as possible.
SESSER – The Christopher Bearcats fall to their BDC rivals the Goreville Blackcats 59-52 in a semi-final game of the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament.
The Bearcats jump out to a 14-9 lead until the closing seconds of the first quarter. Bradley Young had five points and a couple of assists to Gage Hawkins, they had five points each for the quarter. At the end of the quarter, Tanner Dunn hits a buzzer beating three to cut the deficit 14-12.
That was a momentum change going into the second quarter. Starting with Dunn’s three, Goreville goes on a 16-2 run to take a 25-16 lead. Bradley Young picked up his second foul through that stretch. When they went down nine, Coach Stallman went back to Young when they found themselves down nine.
Christopher was in deep foul trouble, because Bryce Pratt and Gabriel Motsinger picked up their third fouls on the next two possessions. The Blackcats kept chipping away and They were up by 33-20 at the half.
Braden Webb comes out in the first possession of the second half, and Goreville was on the verge of blowing it wide open. The Bearcats then go on a 15-4 run to 39-35 as Braden Webb fouls Bradley Young.,
The Bearcats could not capitalize with Webb on the bench, as Landon Albright had back to back stick backs to put Goreville up by eight. On a day for buzzer beaters, young hit a three to cut it to five.
Dalton Saeger, who has been Mr. Fourth Quarter throughout the tournament picks up a bucket and hits two free throws, sandwiched in between a Tanner Dunn stick back. Then Bryce Pratt hits young on a fast break to cut the lead to 45-44.
Dunn then goes to the line to hit two free throws. Bradley young hits a bucket. Goreville sinks two more free throws on the next possession. Bryce Pratt hits a three to make it 49-49.
Morgan Bishop on the next possession knocks down a three to make it 52-49. The air went out of the Bearcats sails then. Goreville goes down and scores on the next three trips down the floor.
Pratt hits another three with eight seconds on the clock. A Goreville free throw ices the victory to make it a three possession game.
Goreville improves to (9-2) 0n the season. They will play in the championship game against the Sesser-Valier Red Devils tonight at 7:00 p.m.
Christopher falls to (8-3) on the season. They will face the Woodlawn Cardinals in the third place game at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon.
GOREVILLE (59) Webb 5 2 0-1 16, Dunn 3 1 2-2 11, Bishop 2 1 2-2 9, Massey 1 1 3-4 8, Albright 3 0 0-1 8, Tosh 1 0 2-2 8, Geyman 0 0 3-4 3, Glidewell, 0 0 2-2 2, Fassaro 0 0 0-0 0
CHRISTOPHER (52) Young 6 0 5-6 17, Hawkins 5 0 3-7 13, Saeger 3 0 4-4 10, Pratt 1 2 0-0 8, Motsinger 2 0 0-0 4, Garver 0 0 0-0 0, Flowers 0 0 0-0 0
GOREVILLE (9-2) 12 – 21 – 10 – 16 – 59
CHRISTOPHER (8-3) 14 – 6 – 18 – 14 – 52
JOHNSTON CITY – For a program with a new coach and system in place, any early season win is a welcome sight.
And it certainly doesn’t hurt any that a veteran backcourt specialist has a monster night offensively
Head coach Scott Burzynski and his Johnston City Indians picked up a non-conference victory at home on Friday night thanks to Chase Selby.
Please click on the link below for the full story from Jack Bullock of A Baseline View.
Please click on the link below from Scott Mees of the Southern Illinoisan
The brackets for the Eldorado Holiday Tournament were released this afternoon The West Frankfort Redbirds square off against the Fairfield Mules on December 28th, at 4:45 p.m. Here is the full bracket.
Robin Scholz/The News Gazette
Unity’s JT Wheeler (25) dunks in a prep game at Unity High School in Tolono on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017.
TOLONO — JT and TJ Wheeler don’t play basketball against one another in a 1-on-1 setting. They play a personalized version of HORSE.
Fittingly, it’s called ILLINI.
The “match this shot” game, in this household, pits JT, the current Unity boys’ basketball star, against TJ, the former hoops standout at both Christopher High School and the University of Illinois.
Please click to read the full story from Colin Likas of the Champaign News-Gazette.
