December 28, 2001 12:18 AM
Boys bounced from Bloomington championship round
By Steve Tappa, Dispatch/Argus staff sports writer BLOOMINGTON -- Larry Schulte
was only talking about his team Thursday.
Yet, the Alleman boys' basketball coach said it all for the area contingent at the
State Farm Holiday Classic in the Bloomington-Normal area.
``Just when you think we're turning the corner, we turn back,'' an exasperated Schulte
said following his squad's 50-43 setback to Tolono Unity.
The Pioneers were not alone in avoiding Saturday's championship round of play with a
second-day setback at the 23rd annual tournament.
Rock Island and Sherrard also dropped into today's consolation finales, assuring the
local boys will return home empty-handed for a fourth straight year.
Second-seeded and state-ranked Rockford Boylan brushed off Rocky (77-63) while
third-seeded and defending Class A event champ Rock Falls stopped Sherrard (78-54).
Kewanee and Galesburg -- the Class A and AA champs at this event in 1997 -- each lost
for the second straight day. Rockton Hononegah kept Galesburg winless (64-42) while
Kewanee fell to 1-8 with a loss to Olympia (62-45).
Rock Island, Alleman and Sherrard conclude this Christmas-time tourney today at
Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center. Rock Island meets Greenwood of Bowling Green, Ky., at 9
a.m.; Alleman draws top-seeded Princeton at noon; and Sherrard takes on Mt. Pulaski at
1:30 p.m.
Kewanee and Galesburg also close this tourney today in consolation play. At Bloomington
High School, Kewanee plays Dunlap (9 a.m.) and Galesburg meets Chicago St. Rita (1:30
p.m.).
Rockford Boylan 77, Rock Island 63: The Rocks played even for 27 minutes with
the state's 10th-ranked Class AA team. Unfortunately, the game runs 32 minutes in
regulation.
Boylan (10-0) closed the first half with a 16-2 run that ruined a 6-0 start and
excellent effort by Rocky (7-4), which led most of the first half.
``I was pleased with the effort; we just had a few lapses,'' Rock Island coach Thom
Sigel said after Boylan shot 56-percent from the field (28-for-50).
``They put a good press on us in the second quarter, and that got guys trying to do
more than their capable of doing, forcing up a lot of bad shots. That stretch shows we're
not quite there yet, that we still have a lot of work to do.''
After falling behind by 11 at halftime, Rocky never got closer than seven points.
However, Boylan also failed to pull away until the last two minutes.
David Wilson (18 points), Brandin Smith (14 points, team-best 6 rebounds) and Ray
Muskeyvalley (12 points, 4 assists) all scored in double figures for the Rocks.
Tolono Unity 50, Alleman 43: Alleman overcame another sluggish start, but a
frustrating finish proved fatal.
The Pioneers (5-7) managed just two points in the first quarter and did not score their
first basket of the second quarter until two more minutes were gone.
Yet, Alleman rallied to force five ties, including two in the fourth quarter. In fact,
the Pioneers were within 41-40 with 2:30 remaining after a 3-ball by Jeff Jacobs.
However, Alleman followed with four straight possessions where it went
one-shot-and-out, and Tyler Smith hit 6 of 8 free-throws down the stretch for Tolono Unity
(10-2).
``It's frustrating because this team puts as much effort into the game as any I've
coached, yet we're just not a very smart team,'' Schulte said after his club shot just 30
percent from the field (15-for-50) and was outrebounded, 29-22.
``We're good students in the classroom, but not good students of the game yet. ... We
just got beat by a one-man team because we let them beat us. We let them pack in their
defense, and we settled for too many 3-point shots (2-for-12).''
Smith finished with game-bests in points (29) and rebounds (11), knocking down 11 of 15
free throws. No other Rocket was in double figures.
Alleman was led by nine points each from Jacobs, Lance Young and Ryan McCracken. The
team's point guard, McCracken fouled out late -- contributing to the Pioneers lack of
production down the stretch.
Rock Falls 78, Sherrard 54: A tough opponent was made tougher without Nate Sim.
The Tigers' star forward was suspended for two weeks and sent home after violating
school rules at the team hotel following Wednesday morning's tourney-opening win.
``You lose 17-18 points out of your lineup, and all the rebounding Nate provides, you
know it's going to hurt,'' Sherrard coach Brian Hutton said after his club fell to 6-5.
``It's a regrettable situation, but you hope this is a blessing in disguise. You hope
it forces some other people to perform in roles they're not familiar with and make us a
better team in the long run.
``We talked about needing to pick up the slack as a team. And, people tried. A guy like
Ryan Hamerlinck (7 points, 3-for-4 shooting) was as aggressive as he's been offensively.
It just wasn't enough to get the job done against these guys.''
Rock Falls got off to a sizzling start and never cooled down. The Rockets (9-1) ran out
to a 15-5 lead, and knocked down 10 of their first 17 shots for a 25-13 edge after one
quarter.
The Rock Falls advantage grew to 18 in the second quarter and 27 in the third period.
The Rockets finished with a 30-20 rebounding edge despite shooting 56.9-percent from the
field (29-for-51). That included an 8-for-18 performance from 3-point range.
Isaiah Johnson (19), Robbie Minor (14) and Josh Coward (10) all scored in double
figures for Rock Falls. Brock Luxmore (19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) was alone in that
distinction for the Tigers.
Olympia 62, Kewanee 45: Mike Miler had a game-high 18 points, but Olympia
outscored Kewanee 37-15 in the middle quarters.
Rush Olson (14 points) and Eric Elliott (13 points, game-high-tying 6 rebounds) paced
Olympia (4-6). Kewanee (1-8) shot a dismal 36-percent from the field (13-of-36) despite a
respectable 6-for-13 performance from Miler.
Rockton Hononegah 64, Galesburg 42: Game-highs in points (18) and rebounds (6)
from Southern Illinois-bound Ryan Walker wasn't enough to keep Galesburg from the first
0-8 start in school history.
A day after losing a late lead to another Western Big 6 Conference school -- Rock
Island -- Hononegah (5-6) built a 34-21 halftime lead and pulled away from there.
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