2006 Tournament

T-Wolves, Red Raiders, Norsemen Capture Openers

By Brian Hoxsey, Ottawa Times

Indian Creek 67, Leland 46

Led by the hot shooting of Chris Tidwell, who scored 33 points, and a second-half surge, the third-seeded Indian Creek Timberwolves defeated the No. 6 Leland Panthers for the second time in four days on Monday at the Little Ten Conference Boys Basketball Tournament.

The ' 67-46 victory Monday night came off the heels of their nearly identical 67-42 Friday night road win.

The T-Wolves led 12-6 after one, thanks to five points each from Tidwell and Jacob Swanson. The Panthers refused to go quietly, cutting the lead to two on three different occasions with hoops by Jared Sawyer, Chris Bickel and Andy Barnes. Nathan Yaggie's layup before Tidwell's back-to-back 3's gave the T-Wolves a 27-21 lead at halftime.

Tidwell's 12 points in the third quarter and better defensive pressure helped Indian Creek extend the lead to 49-35 heading to the final period. The Panthers were able to slice the margin to 11 (53-42) after two straight deuces from Sawyer, but IC went on an 11-0 run which included six straight points from Nick Schnorr, to finally put the game away.

"I thought they had us beat in the energy department early, but that goes from going down to their place and pretty much taking care of business -- we struggled to get going." said Indian Creek head coach Steve Joslyn. "Obviously Chris shot the ball extremely well tonight, and I still think Austin Mitchell is one of the best defenders around, while also hustling balls down on our press. We got everyone in the game, and we will see what happens Thursday."

Schnorr had 14 points for the T-Wolves, Swanson added seven. Logan Sellers grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, while Mitchell handed out three assists. Leland was paced by Jared Saywer's 13 points; Chris Bickle added 11 points and four rebounds.

LELAND (46) -- Shumway 2-6 2-3 6, Barnes 1-3 1-5 3, Tucker 3-6 1-1 9, Bickel 4-12 3-4 11, Sawyer 6-12 1-7 13, Adkins 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 0-2 2-4 2, Grube 1-1 0-0 2, Crawford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 10-24.

INDIAN CREEK (67) -- Mitchell 0-0 0-1 0, Swanson 2-9 2-2 7, Tidwell 13-22 1-2 33, Leeney 1-3 3-4 5, Schnorr 6-10 2-2 14, Sellers 1-6 1-2 3, W. Poterek 0-3 1-4 1, Yaggie 1-5 1-4 3, K. Poterek 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 24-59 12-23 67.

Leland (7-11) 6 15 14 11 -- 46

Indian Creek (11-11) 12 15 22 18 -- 67

3-point basket -- Leland 2-8 (Shumway 0-1, Tucker 2-3, Bickel 0-3, Johnson 0-1); Indian Creek 7-16 (Swanson 1-5, Tidwell 6-11). Rebounds -- Leland 22 (Tucker 6); Indian Creek 42 (Sellers 10). Assists -- Leland 8 (Shumway 3); Indian Creek 11 (Mitchell 3). Turnovers -- Leland 15; Indian Creek 13. Total fouls (fouled out) -- Leland 14 (none); Indian Creek 20 (W. Poterek).

Earlville 37, LaMoille 34

Kurt Mattson canned a 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds left to carry the Red Raiders to victory. The game was tied at 24-24 after three quarters before Earlville outscored the Lions 13-10 in the final period.

"We didn't play our best game by far, but we did what we needed to do to win," Red Raiders coach Jim Farrell said. "Kurt Mattson hit some big shots down the stretch; he's been carrying us lately. Kyle Lane had a decent night on the boards and also getting some stick backs and some free throws."

Mattson led Earlville (3-16) with 18 points. Lane added 14.

LA MOILLE (34) -- Monroe 4 1-2 9, Delong 0 0-0 0, Clinton 0 0-0 0, Faber 4 0-0 9, Callison 3 0-0 8, Suplee 1 0-0 3, Kruse 2 1-2 5. Totals 14 2-4 34.

EARLVILLE (37) -- Gast 1 0-1 2, Aguirre 1 0-0 3, Mattson 6 2-3 18, Stockley 0 0-0 0, Cartee 0 0-0 0, Stein 0 0-0 0, Lane 5 4-6 14. Totals 13 6-10 37.

LaMoille (2-17) 7 8 9 10 -- 34

Earlville (3-16) 5 12 7 13 -- 37

3-point baskets -- LaMoille 4 (Callison 2, Faber, Suplee); Earlville 5 (Mattson 4, Aguirre). Total fouls (none fouled out) -- LaMoille 11, Earlville 13.

Newark 58, Somonauk 43

Limiting a team to one shot down the floor can be the difference between a win and a loss.

No. 4-seeded Somonauk was unable to keep the fifth-seeded Newark club off the offensive glass, which, coupled with cold first-half shooting, led to the Bobcats' 58-43 loss at the hands of the Norsemen at the 87th annual Little Ten Boys Basketball Tournament on Monday night.

"They sure did (go to the boards hard)," said Bobcat head coach Ron Hunt. "They were very aggressive getting to the glass and we didn't get many loose balls -- when the ball was rolling around, they seemed to be a little quicker."

Newark scored the first eight points of the game, six by Mitch Dunlap. A layup by Wes Enoch after a steal and a Scott Powers wing trey got the Bobcats going. SHS's Matt Hochstatter and Newark's Brian McGrath then traded baskets beyond the arc, but Newark led after one quarter 20-13.

The Norsemen (10-10) ran off a 12-0 run to start the second frame. Drew Monkemeyer's 3-pointer stared the run, which was followed by a trio of hoops by Dunlap and a layup by Tom Belinski, with most scores stemming from offensive rebounds. Enoch hit a runner in the lane in the waning seconds, but that was the Bobcats' only basket of the quarter in nine attempts as they trailed at the break 32-16.

"The first half it didn't look like we were ready to play; we were standing still while they were making things happen, you just can't do that," said Hunt.

Somonauk (7-14) put together a scoring streak of its own to start the second half. Nick Duffield's two free throws at the 3:04 mark of the third cut the Newark lead to six (33-27), but the Bobcats still trailed 39-32 entering the final period..

"I thought we rebounded hard in the first half, the second quarter especially," said Newark head coach Dale Skelton. "I thought we got outrebounded in the third quarter when they came out with that push. They are a good team and you knew that was going to come out somewhere. I told them we needed to get the tempo back where we are comfortable with it."

A pair of Dunlap layups early in the final stanza gave the Norsemen some breathing room at 43-34. Somonauk was unable to cut into the lead further, despite Hochstatter scoring eight of his game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. For the game, NHS outrebounded SHS 44-32, forced 22 turnovers and held the Bobcats to 15-of-52 from the floor.

SOMONAUK (43) -- Powers 2-10 2-4 7, Enoch 4-8 0-0 8, Hochstatter 6-18 5-7 19, Heiden 0-0 0-0 0, Duffield 0-3 2-2 2, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Giesholt 2-7 0-0 5, Champion 0-2 0-0 0, Holcomb 0-1 0-0 0, Adrian 0-0 0-4 0, Kauffman 0-1 0-0 0, Zeko 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-52 9-17 43.

NEWARK (58) -- McGrath 2-7 1-2 7, Janssen 2-9 5-5 9, Dunlap 8-16 1-2 17, Belinski 3-6 0-0 6, Gentchev 6-14 1-7 15, Thanepohn 0-3 0-0 0, Monkemeyer 1-3 1-2 4, Marcley 0-0 0-2 0.Totals 22-58 9-20 58.

Somonauk (7-14) 13 3 16 11 -- 43

Newark (10-10) 20 12 7 19 -- 58

3-point baskets -- Somonauk 4-16 (Powers 1-4, Enoch 0-1, Hochstatter 2-6, Giesholt 1-5); Newark 5-15 (McGrath 2-5, Janssen 0-4, Dunlap 0-1, Gentchev 2-4, Monkemeyer 1-1). Rebounds -- Somonauk 32 (Duffield 7); Newark 44 (Gentchev 12, Dunlap 11). Assists -- Somonauk 6 (Enoch 3); Newark 10 (Belinski 3). Turnovers -- Somonauk 22, Newark 20. Total fouls (none fouled out) -- Somonauk 17, Newark 15.

Huskers, Royals Advance To Semifinals

By Brian Hoxsey - Ottawa Times

Serena 78, Earlville 22

It was a game Serena head coach Randy Goodbred was a little leery about.

Last year, Paw Paw -- then a No. 9 seed -- had the Huskers on the ropes before a late fourth-quarter run led them to a come-from-behind victory.

This year, however, the top-seeded Huskers took control early and never looked back in their 78-22 win over 9th-seeded Earlville, to advance to play Newark in Thursday's 6 p.m. opening semifinal game of the 87th annual Little Ten Basketball Tournament.

Cooper Westvig led Serena with 17 points -- 13 in the first half -- to go along with six rebounds. James DeBolt had a monster game netting 13 points -- all in the final three quarters -- and grabbing 17 game-high rebounds. The Huskers outrebounded EHS 61-19 and held the Red Raiders to just 8-of-39 from the floor.

"Overall I was pleased, we got off to a little shaky start the first couple of minutes, but once we got into the game I was real happy," said Goodbred. "We didn't allow Earlville to get into anything like they wanted to do like we did the first time. We took advantage of their turnovers, where we didn't the first time we played them."

It was the third meeting this year between the long-time rivals, with the Huskers now winning all three games.

Kurt Mattson hit an eight-foot jumper and the Huskers jumped out early with 15 straight points to end the first period. The second quarter saw five different SHS players score in an 15-3 run to push the Huskers' halftime lead to 35-7.

Earlville (3-17) was unable to recover from that first half trailing 54-16 after three and was out scored 24-6 over the final eight minutes.

Kurt Mattson paced the Red Raiders with 14 points, while Austin Cartee scored five and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

EARLVILLE (22) -- Gast 0-2 0-1 0, Mattson 6-22 0-3 14, Stockley 0-1 0-0 0, Stein 0-1 1-2 1, Lane 0-3 2-2 2, Cartee 2-10 0-1 5, J. Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Roberson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 8-39 3-9 22.

SERENA (78) -- Foreman 1-2 4-4 6, Finley 4-11 0-0 11, Westvig 5-12 7-9 17, Kempiak 3-7 1-2 7, Mason 4-9 0-0 8, Terry 3-7 0-0 6, DeBolt 6-14 1-1 13, Kueteman 2-7 0-0 5, A.Johnson 2-6 0-0 5, M.Smith 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 30-78 13-16 78.

Earlville (3-17) 2 5 9 6 -- 22

Serena (19-1) 15 20 19 24 -- 78

3-point baskets -- Earlville 3-16 (Mattson 2-9, Cartee 1-7); Serena 5-12 (Finley 3-6, Westvig 0-1, Kueteman 1-2, A.Johnson 1-3). Rebounds -- Earlville 19 (Cartee 6); Serena 61 (DeBolt 17, Terry 12). Assists -- Earlville 4 (Gast 2); Serena 11 (Terry 3). Turnovers -- Earville 22; Serena 7. Total fouls (none fouled out) -- Earlville 15, Serena 13.

Hinckley-Big Rock 49, Paw Paw 31

The Hinckley-Big Rock boys basketball team found something near the end of the first half that would help it overcome its shooting woes.

The No 2-seeded Royals switched from their traditional man-to-man defense to a halfcourt trap. The changed helped advance them past the seventh-seeded Paw Paw Bulldogs 49-31 in the second day of action at the 87th annual Little Ten Conference Basketball Tournament.

Paw Paw, which lost to H-BR earlier this season 60-35, grabbed a 9-7 lead after the first quarter, with junior guard Paul Prawdzik driving for all three baskets. The Royals struggled early from the field against the Bulldogs' zone defense.

"We couldn't stop Prawdzik, he'd dribble penetrate right down the lane, we are going to have to do a better job of defending that dribble penetration or else these teams with quick guards are going to hurt us," said H-BR head coach Bill Sambrookes.

Prawdzik netted a trio of baskets in the second quarter, the final hoop on a tough 10-foot pullup jumper to give the Bulldogs a 17-11 edge. But then H-BR made a defensive adjustment, going to a trapping defense., which paid immediate dividends, but the Bulldogs still led by two (17-15) at half.

The defensive switch helped the Royals streak out on a 12-0 run to start the second half. Back-to-back old-fashioned three-point plays by Eric Oros and Rooney started the run. Jesse Morgan's layup off a Prawdzik pass stopped the bleeding until Royals' guard Jake Austin nailed a triple from the top of the key to push the lead to 30-19 at the quarter.

The Bulldogs cut the lead to 10 after a free throw by Chase Sellers early in the fourth quarter, but

H-BR put together a 9-0 run to push the margin to 41-24 with 4:20 to go.

Prawdzik led the Bulldogs with 21 points and six caroms, Sellers and Chris Murrell chipped in with four points each.

Matt Koehling led the Royals in scoring with 11, followed by John Rooney with nine. Eric Oros pitched in with seven points and seven rebounds.

PAW PAW (31) -- Murrell 1-1 2-2 4, Sellers 1-7 2-4 4, Morgan 1-2 0-0 2, Prawdzik 7-15 7-9 21, Iversen 0-0 0-0, Wolgast 0-1 0-2 0, Bakes 0-0 0-0 0, Wiley 0-0 0-0 0, Marks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-26 11-17 31.

HINCKLEY-BIG ROCK (49) -- Oros 3-4 1-1 7, Harper 0-3 0-0 0, Naumann 3-8 0-0 6, Austin 1-5 0-0 3, Koehling 5-8 1-3 11, Jenness 2-5 0-0 5, Withaar 1-3 0-0 2, Rooney 4-5 1-3 9, Korth 2-5 2-5 6, Thorp 1-1 0-0 2, Baie 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Tokars 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 5-12 49.

Paw Paw (5-14) 9 8 4 10 -- 31

H-BR (11-10) 7 8 15 19 -- 49

3-point baskets -- Paw Paw 0-5 (Prawdzik 0-5); H-BR 2-13 (Naumann 0-4, Austin 1-4, Jenness 1-4, Korth 0-1). Rebounds -- Paw Paw 20 (Sellers 6, Prawdzik 6); H-BR 25 (Oros 7). Assists -- Paw Paw 2 (Prawdzik 2); H-BR 10 (Oros 3). Turnovers -- Paw Paw 24, H-BR 12. Total fouls (fouled out) -- Paw Paw 15 (Morgan); H-BR 17.

SEMIFINALS

Serena, IC will tumble for title

By Fred Hoffman - Ottawa Times

The Serena Huskers and the Indian Creek Timberwolves will square off at 7:30 p.m. today for the 2006 Little Ten Conference Boys Basketball Tournament title at Somonauk High School. Thursday, the Huskers defeated Newark 53-44, and the Timberwolves took the measure of Hinckley-Big Rock 64-55 in the semifinals. Newark and H-BR will play for third place at 6 p.m.

Serena 53, Newark 44

This was the third meeting of the season involving these two clubs, so there weren't many secrets, though there were significant adjustments by both sides. The Huskers made it a hat trick for the year by overcoming an 11-7 Newark lead with a 10-point run at the end of the first period and the beginning of the second, establishing a lead which they never again relinquished.

Connor Finley hit a 3-pointer with one second to play in the first quarter to pull Serena to within a point at 11-10, and Dallas Kempiak, Cooper Westvig and Kyle Mason all added points for the Huskers before Drew Monkemeyer stopped the run with a pair of free throws for Newark with 3:45 to go in the half. At the break, Serena had a 20-16 edge.

The Serena lead reached eight points at 3:23 of the third period when Mason put back a rebound of his own miss, but Newark refused to go away and trailed by just four points, 36-30 after three periods.

The Norsemen kept close in the final period and when Kyle Janssen knocked in a trey at the 2:39 mark it was a one-point game with Serena up, 43-42. Mason put back another rebound, Westvig -- from Zach Terry -- scored a field goal and Finley made the first of two free throws to increase the Husker lead to six. The only points Newark scored in the last two minutes came off a steal and hoop by Ivo Gentchev.

"This wasn't one of our better ones from a flow standpoint, but I think a lot of that had to do with how good and how hard Newark played," said Serena coach Randy Goodbred. "For us to be able to beat them three times in a year is a feat in itself. It just gets so hard to play someone when they know what you do and make adjustments. They did some good things against us, but we made it, and now we get a chance to defend our title.

Mason led Serena (20-1) with 14 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists. Finley led in assists with five while scoring 11 points, and both Westvig and Kempiak scored nine points. Gentchev led Newark (10-11) with 12 points, followed by Dunlap with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Tom Belinski with 10 points and nine rebounds. Brian McGrath was tops in assists with five helpers.

"We practiced to play them tough, and we were hoping we could," said Newark coach Dale Skelton. "It wasn't the outcome we wanted, but we're pretty proud of our kids for the effort they gave tonight.

"We made a few changes to the way we played our offense and our defense, but we also got Mitch Dunlap back, and that helps a bit to give us more presence. ...

"We knew we weren't going to sneak away from these guys, but we hoped we could stick with them and have a chance at the end of the game, and I thought we did that."

SERENA (53) - Finley 4 1-2 11, Kempiak 3 3-3 9, Foreman 0 0-0 0, Westvig 4 1-4 9, Mason 6 2-6 14, Terry 1 1-2 3, DeBolt 2 3-6 7, Kueteman 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 11-23 53.

NEWARK (44) - Janssen 3 0-0 7, McGrath 0 0-1 0, Belinski 4 2-7 10, Gentchev 4 2-2 12, Dunlap 5 0-0 10, Monkemeyer 1 2-2 5. Totals 17 6-12 44.

Serena (20-1) 10 10 16 17 - 53

Newark (10-11) 11 5 14 14 - 44

3-point baskets - Serena 2 (Finley 2), Newark 4 (Gentchev 2, Janssen, Monkemeyer). Rebounds - Serena 34 (Mason 10), Newark 30 (Dunlap 11). Assists - Serena 11 (Terry 3, Westvig 3), Newark 14 (McGrath 5). Steals - Serena 18 (Finley 5), Newark 7 (McGrath 2, Dunlap 2). Turnovers - Serena 13, Newark 19. Total fouls (fouled out) - Serena 15 (none), Newark 15 (Dunlap). Free throw percentages - Serena 47.8, Newark 50.0.

Indian Creek 64, Hinckley-Big Rock 55

There were only five ties and three lead changes in this contest, but neither club ever held a double-digit advantage over its opponent. Hinckley-Big Rock (11-11) closed out the first quarter with a 3-pointer by Joe Jenness and led 14-9 after eight minutes.

The Timberwolves went in front for the first time with 6:17 to play in the second quarter on a trey by Jacob Swanson that started a nine-point Indian Creek run, putting the red-and-black ahead 23-16. Three consecutive field goals by H-BR's Matt Koehling pulled the Royals back to within a point, and after a free throw by IC's Nathan Yaggie, Koehling scored again and Ken Korth put H-BR ahead 26-24. The Timberwolves had the last word in the half and took a 27-26 lead to the locker room when Swanson hit a 3.

Hinckley-Big Rock retook the lead on a steal and bucket from Jake Austin to start the third quarter, and when Tyler Naumann and Koehling added baskets the Royals were ahead and remained on top for most of the period. Indian Creek scored the final five points of the frame, tying the score at 40 apiece when Chris Tidwell scored, drew a foul and made his free throw in the final 10 seconds.

Except for one brief tie, H-BR led for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. With 1:55 to play, Swanson and Yaggie hit back-to-back field goals to put the Timberwolves in the lead, and after the Royals tied it at 55, Indian Creek did all of the scoring over the final minute, making nine of 10 free throws for the win.

"I thought our overall intensity on defense for four quarters was as good as we've had since I've been here," said Indian Creek coach Steve Joslyn. "I'm really proud of them, and I think we beat an outstanding Hinckley team. It's been awhile for us to get them, and we needed this for our program.

Swanson finished with 30 points and seven assists, while Nick Schnorr scored 14 points and Yaggie wound up with 11 for Indian Creek. Koehling scored 16 points with eight boards for the Royals. Jenness added 13 points, four steals and four assists, while Korth and Eric Oros had seven rebounds apiece.

"Give all the credit to Indian Creek," said H-BR coach Bill Sambrookes. "They put the pressure on us and we didn't answer it. We had some stupid mistakes and two turnovers and missed layups at key times. We have to convert on those things when they're there, and we didn't do it."

INDIAN CREEK (64) - Mitchell 2 0-0 4, Tidwell 1 1-1 3, Swanson 9 4-4 30, Sellers 0 0-0 0, Schnorr 4 6-11 14, Leeney 0 0-0 0, W.Poterek 1 0-0 2, N.Yaggie 5 1-2 11, K.Poterek 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 12-18 64.

HINCKLEY-BIG ROCK (55) - Naumann 3 1-2 8, Austin 1 1-2 3, Oros 1 2-2 4, Jenness 5 0-0 13, Koehling 8 0-2 16, Rooney 1 2-2 4, Korth 3 1-2 7. Totals 22 7-12 55.

Indian Creek 9 18 13 24 - 64

H-BR (11-11) 14 12 14 15 - 55

3-point baskets - IC 5 (Swanson 5), H-BR 4 (Jenness 3, Naumann). Rebounds - IC 25 (Mitchell 6, Tidwell 6), H-BR 31 (Koehling 8). Assists - IC 20 (Swanson 7), H-BR 17 (Jenness 4, Austin 4). Steals - IC 7 (Tidwell 4), H-BR 5 (Jenness 2, Koehling 2). Turnovers - IC 11, H-BR 14. Total fouls (none fouled out) - IC 10, H-BR 13. Free throw percentages - IC 66.7, H-BR 58.3.

Third Place Game

Newark survives late H-BR run to snag LTC third-place

By Brian Hoxsey - Ottawa Times

Newark 45, Hinckley-Big Rock 43

One night after falling to tournament champ Serena, the Newark Norsemen switched attention to bringing home the third-place trophy.

Newark (11-11), though it held the lead for most of the game, had to hold on late to capture the third-place game of the 87th annual Little Ten Conference basketball Tournament by downing H-BR 45-43.

"It is wonderful the time of year we have our conference tournament," said Newark head coach Dale Skelton, feeling like he was at the Super Bowl with three microphones in his face. "Even though you may have stubbed your toe here and there, you get to come in here with a fresh slate and get a chance to redeem yourself. Your season is not over; you have things to play for."

The Norsemen led after one quarter 15-12, with Mitch Dunlap scoring eight of his 10 points in the opening period. H-BR cut the margin to two at halftime (26-24).

Newark, using a 3-2 zone -- a rare defense in this day and age -- held the Royals scoreless in the third frame, extending its lead to 35-24 heading to the final eight minutes.

"I don't think it was anything special we did," said Skelton on his team's defense in the third period. "I think our 3-2 zone which you don't see a lot of perplexed them a little bit, not knowing how to attack it."

The Royals (11-12) made one final fourth quarter push as they went on a 14-3 run to tie the game at 38 with 1:36 to play.

Dunlap's spin and back shot was followed by Kyle Janssen's coast-to-coast layup after rebounding an errant H-BR trey attempt, increasing the lead to four (42-38). Janssen's pair of charity tosses and another by Brian McGrath were just enough to hold on to the lead, giving Newark the third-place prize.

Newark placed four players in double figures -- Kyle Janssen (11), Tom Belinski (11), Mitch Dunlap (10 and nine rebounds) and Ivo Gentchev (10).

"We were happy with that," said Skelton. "It was a good team effort, we have struggled to score points this year and we were fortune to get enough tonight, just a couple more. We obviously wanted to win the championship, but we thought if we could get two out of three we'd be doing pretty well -- we are happy with the results."

Joe Jenness and Naumann led H-BR with 12 points each, with the former collecting eight rebounds and sinking two treys.

NEWARK (45) -- McGrath 1 1-2 3, Janssen 4 2-4 11, Dunlap 5 0-0 10, Belinski 5 1-2 11, Gentchev 3 2-2 10, Thanepohn 0 0-0 0, Marcley 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 6-10 45.

H-BR (43) -- Oros 1 2-4 4, Jenness 4 2-2 12, Naumann 4 1-3 12, Austin 1 0-0 2, Koehling 2 0-1 4, Korth 1 0-0 2, Rooney 0 0-0 0, Harper 1 0-0 2, Withaar 2 0-0 5. Totals 16 5-10 43.

Newark (11-11) 15 11 9 10 - 45

H-BR (11-12) 12 12 0 19 - 43

3-point baskets -- Newark 3 (Gentchev 2, Janssen); H-BR 6 (Naumann 3, Jenness 2, Withaar). Rebounds -- Newark 29 (Dunlap 9); H-BR 26 (Jenness 8). Turnovers -- Newark 10; H-BR 15. Total fouls (fouled out) -- Newark 9 (Gentchev); H-BR 12 (none).

Championship Game

Huskers claim second straight LTC title

By Brian Hoxsey - Ottawa Times

Serena 56, Indian Creek 42

In the 87th Little Ten Boys Basketball Tournament title game, one team was hoping to make a statement, the other was looking to repeat the one it made last year.

After trailing at halftime, top-seed Serena, as it has all season long, found a way to prevail and did over No. 3 seed Indian Creek, claiming its second straight title with a 56-42 victory at Somonauk High School Friday night.

"They just have good composure this group, they know how to win and they know how to make adjustments on the floor," said Serena coach Randy Goodbred. "Both teams did a good job defensively; Indian Creek's defense is really good, but it was a typical championship game, both teams really wanted it."

Indian Creek (11-11) scored the first four points of the game and led 10-9 after the first eight minutes. Jacob Swanson then scored the next eight points, including a pair of treys, while Chris Tidwell's drive and a free throw from Nick Schnorr had the T-Wolves up 21-13 with 2:22 left.

Serena's Connor Finley banked home a short jumper and Cooper Westvig added a coast-to-coast lay up before IC's Ben Leeney scored a lay up off a great pass from Nathan Yaggie with ten seconds left. Jeremy Foreman's tip at the buzzer bounced around and in for the Huskers slicing the lead to 23-19.

The Huskers started doing a better job of getting inside to start the second half. After a Schnorr put back basket, Serena (21-1) reeled off eight straight points, with center Kyle Mason ending the 8-0 run with a driving lay up, two of his 13 second half points, thus giving Serena the lead 29-28.

The T-Wolves had the lead back briefly, but Serena closed out the stanza on an 8-2 run to grab an 8-point advantage (35-30) heading to the fourth quarter.

Early in the final quarter Serena still lead by five, then pushed their margin to 11 (43-32) by converting three consecutive lay ups by Zach Terry, Mason and Westvig in just under a minute.

The T-Wolves got within 10 after a Tidwell drive at 5:44, before having to foul. The Huskers made their free throws in the final couple of minutes to clinch the title.

"Our poise and aggressiveness on defense was a carry over from the four quarters against Hinckley-Big Rock last night with our two solid quarters here tonight," said IC head coach Steve Joslyn of his team's first-half performance. "We just couldn't quite sustain it, not that we were ever to bad on defense."

Serena received a huge game from Mason. The senior scored a game-high 17 points and gathered 12 rebounds, and Westvig added 15 points and nine boards.

Sophomore Jacob Swanson scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead Indian Creek, while Chris Tidwell fired in 10 markers. Ben Leeney took team honors with 10 rebounds and Austin Mitchell had three assists.

"Jake is stepping up his defense," said Joslyn. "On offense, they were hounding him, which is good for his growth chart."

INDIAN CREEK (42) -- Mitchell 0-1 0-0 0, Swanson 5-13 0-1 12, Tidwell 4-20 2-4 10, Sellers 2-3 0-1 4, Schnorr 2-6 2-3 6, Leeney 2-4 0-0 4, Yaggie 2-12 0-0 4, W.Poterek 0-0 2-2 2, K.Poterek 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-59 6-11 42.

SERENA (56) -- Finley 2-13 2-4 7, Westvig 6-14 3-5 15, Mason 7-17 3-4, Kempiak 4-8 1-2 9, Foreman 1-2 2-2 4, DeBolt 0-1 2-2 2, Terry 1-3 0-0 2, Kueteman 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-58 13-19 56.

Indian Creek (11-11) 10 13 7 12 -- 42

Serena (21-1) 9 10 16 21 -- 56

3-point baskets -- Indian Creek 2-12 (Swanson 2-4, Tidwell 0-5, Yaggie 0-3); Serena 1-6 (Finley 1-4, Westvig 0-1, Mason 0-1). Rebounds -- Indian Creek 30 (Leeney 10); Serena 44 (Mason 12). Assists -- Indian Creek 11 (Mitchell 3); Serena 10 (Finley 5). Turnovers -- Indian Creek 10, Serena 5. Total fouls (fouled out) -- Indian Creek 19 (Mitchell); Serena 15 (DeBolt).