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Staff Writer- Chad Schloemann
Peoria - The
Seneca Fighting Irish are undefeated Illinois Class A boys
basketball champions after dispatching a young but scrappy Pinckneyville
squad, 44-38 in the semifinals, and then holding on 47-44, to defeat a
tough Illinois Valley Central squad in the finals, capping off a
perfect season for coach Doug
Evans
at 35-0.
All-stater Garrett
Callahan led the Fighting Irish with 13 points in the
championship game on 8-8 shooting from the free-throw line. Garrett's
teammate and brother, Griffan Callahan, contributed 12 points, going 4-9
from the field and grabbing 6 rebounds, while 6-8 senior center Robert
Rexroade added 9 points in the win.
IVC was led by 6-7 senior all-stater Ryan
Thornton, the son of IVC head coach Jim
Thornton, with 15 points and 4 rebounds, while 6-5 senior center
Zach McCallister contributed 10 points and 6 rebounds, and 6-4 senior
guard Chris Shindley added 10 points and 6 assists. IVC finished 27-6 as the
state runner-up, the best season in school history.
In the third
place game, Maroa-Forsyth's Austin
Peebles exploded for a tourney-high 35 pts,finishing 14-18 from
the field and 5-9 from the charity stripe, as the
Trojans defeated a tired but "never say quit" Pinckneyville team
58-49. The Panthers were led by senior center Austin
Winter with 16 pts., while junior forward Zach
Hawkins
added 13 pts. in the loss.
In the semifinals, IVC survived another 29 point
outburst by Maroa-Forsyth's Robert
Kreps and held off the Trojans for a 57-54 victory.
Kreps's second 29 pt. scoring effort in a row was offset by
three Grey Ghost players in double-figures. Zach
McCallister led the way with 22 pts., Ryan Thornton added 14
pts., and Tyler
Anderson contributed 10 pts. in the win for IVC. Seneca survived
it's second close call of the weekend, beating Pinckneyville 44-38. RobertRexroade and
Garrett Callahan both scored 15 pts. in the win.
In the quarterfinals, no one
was more dominant than Maroa-Forsyth's Robert
Kreps, who scored 29 points on 11-18 shooting from the field,
while burying 4-8 from beyond the arc in the Trojans win over Carlyle.
Kreps, a University of Illinois-Chicago recruit for coach Jimmy Collins,
led the tournament in scoring with 71 points for three games.
Carlyle showcased 5-11 senior guard Jacob
Tucker who threw down the only dunk of the tournament, a
massive two-handed tomahawk! (see pics below)
Total attendance
for all four sessions - three were sold out - was 45,672.
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All-stater Garrett
Callahan leads Seneca to the championship.
See more photos of this game:
IHSS
Action Photos |
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