Tournament wrap-up: Litchfield's Powell, Odle lights up Carlinville
Junior guards Keenan Powell and A.J. Odle combined to score 139 points as Litchfield went 4-0 to win the Carlinville Holiday Tournament boys championship last week.
Powell finished the tournament with 77 points and 11 3-pointers and Odle totaled 62, knocking down 13 3s. A four 3-point performance by each in a 60-39 win over Carlinville to start the tournament, set the tone for Litchfield. Powell ended with a game-high 30 points and Odle followed with 16.
Odle then had five treys and 28 points and Powell added 16 as Litchfield edged Hardin Calhoun 77-73 in overtime on Tuesday. The duo, named to the all-tournament team, combined to score eight of Litchfield's 11 points in OT.
Powell (16 points) and Odle (nine) drained three 3s apiece to lead Litchfield past Staunton 58-42 on Wednesday. They finished off the title run, scoring 15 and nine points, respectively, to defeat East Alton Wood River 62-54 on Thursday. Powell had 13 points in the second half and teammates Carson Saathoff and Tate Dobrinich contributed 12 apiece in the victory.
It was Litchfield's second tournament win this season. During a 5-0 start, the Purple Panthers also won the Riverton Thanksgiving Tournament in late November. The team is currently on a 4-0 winning streak with a 10-4 record.
Hamilton, Hawkinson continue torrid pace
Jake Hamilton and Zack Hawkinson earned two of the six spots on the State Farm Holiday Classic's six-player all-tournament team after leading the Cyclones to the large school boys championship.
In the title game, Hamilton and Hawkinson combined for 40 points as SHG beat Wheaton Warrensville South 58-41 on Thursday. Hamilton, who passed Dick Schofield on Tuesday to become the school's career leading scorer, had 21 points.
Hamilton is averaging 18.2 points per game for the 11-0 Cyclones. Hawkinson, who had 19 points in the title game, is averaging 16.1 ppg and 9.1 rebounds.
The Cyclones open 2023 today at Chatham Glenwood (7-7).
Taylorville girls claim State Farm consolation
It wasn't a good final day for Wheaton Warrensville South against teams from the 217 area code. WWS lost to SHG in the State Farm Holiday Classic's large school boys championship and Taylorville beat the Tigers 43-26 in the large school girls consolation title game.
Mazie Fleming led the Tornadoes (13-4) with 12 points as Taylorville wrapped up the three-day event with a 3-1 record. Addison Tarr had 10 points for the Tornadoes.
It's the second season for a resurgent Taylorville program. Last year's 14-13 record was the first winning record for the girls basketball team since the Tornadoes went 23-9 in 2014-15, the last of four straight 20-win seasons. This is Hayden Eldred's third season at the Taylorville helm.
Taylorville's new year begins tonight with a home game on the Dolph Stanley Court against Williamsville (6-8) at 7:30 p.m.
Lions end year on positive note
Lanphier got a game-high 24 points from sophomore guard JaiQuan Holman and the Lions finished 3-1 by defeating Pekin 68-51 for fifth place at the Pekin Insurance Holiday Tournament on Thursday.
Holman scored 20 or more points in three of the four games. He had 22 points in Lanphier's 66-62 victory over Lake Zurich in the opening round on Tuesday. In a losers' bracket game on Wednesday, Holman scored 26 as the Lions defeated Normal West 65-57.
Holman had just six points as Lanphier (10-3) lost an earlier game on Wednesday when Class 4A second-ranked Moline took out the Lions 70-40 in the second round. Moline lost the championship game to back-to-back tournament champion Mount Carmel (No. 9 in 3A), 74-61 on Thursday.
Lanphier has been able to withstand a lack of production from its bench and has relied on its starting lineup for most of the season.
Senior forward Austin Robinson had a solid tournament, posting two double-doubles. He had 20 points and 11 rebounds against Lake Zurich and finished with 13 points and 12 boards against Pekin. Robinson scored 17 against Normal West. Sophomore forward Shaun Hatchett Jr. scored in double figures in each game, netting 11, 15, 10 and 21 in the four games, respectively.
As early as Dec. 9, when Lanphier defeated Springfield High 68-54 in a Central State Eight Conference contest at Willard Duey Gym, coach Blake Turner was optimistic that the young Lions could be a player in the CS8 this season.
"I know we’ve got two really good teams (Sacred Heart-Griffin and Decatur MacArthur) in the conference and a group of everybody else, but we feel like we can be in that top group," Turner said after the win over Springfield. "We’ve got work to do but when the time comes, I think that we’ll be right there."
Lanphier starts the new year with a CS8 home game against Decatur Eisenhower on Tuesday.
Pleasant Plains familiar with extras
The Cardinals outlasted two opponents in overtime and finished in third place at the Effingham/Teutopolis Holiday Tournament.
Plains (9-2) has made overtime a bit of a habit — a 52-43 victory over Effingham St. Anthony in the third-place game on Friday — was its third OT game this season. The good thing for the Cardinals is that they're 3-0 in extra periods.
Plains outscored St. Anthony 15-6 in overtime. The Cardinals buried 8 of 10 free throws and Cooper Schallenberg made a 3-pointer and scored five of his game-high 18 points in OT. Evan Houser finished with 14 points and Zach Powell added 10.
Powell made the all-tournament team. The 6-foot-6 senior forward had 14 points in the Cardinals' 55-39 victory over Knoxville in the first round. Houser had a team-high 16 points in the win. In its 73-72 thrilling OT win over Effingham in the second round on Thursday, Powell made 13 field goals, went 5-for-7 from the free-throw line and poured in a game-high 31 points. Houser and Schallenberg had two 3-pointers apiece and had 16 and 10 points, respectively, while Tristen Gleason drained three 3s and chipped in nine.
Plains slipped into the third-place game after losing to eventual tournament champion Lincoln Way East 65-31 in the semifinals of Thursday's late contest at Effingham.
Powell led the team with 10 points in the loss.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Boys tournament takeaways
