Sycamore dance heading to state: Saturday’s Daily Chronicle sports roundup

Competitive dance

Sycamore Sectional: At Sycamore, the second-place Spartans finished less than a point away from winning the sectional.

The Spartans finished with 87.2 points, behind Montini’s 87.93 in Class 1A.

In 2A, DeKalb took eighth with 77 points. Harlem was in the sixth and final qualifying spot with 80.57 points. Geneva won with 92.03 points.

Sycamore advances to the IHSA Competitive Dance State Finals at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington starting Friday.

Boys wrestling

Terry Kramer Open: At Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, Carson West (106) and Jayden Dohogne (138) won championships to help Sycamore win the tournament.

Sawyer Davis (113), Michael Olson (120), Tyler Lockhart (126), Cooper Bode (175) and Collin Hughes (285) took second for the Spartans. Charlie Olson (113) was third for Sycamore.

Girls wrestling

Interstate 8 Girls Championship: At La Salle-Peru, Kaneland rolled to the title with 163 points, while Sycamore was fifth with 61.

For the Knights, Angelina Gochics (110), Brooklyn Sheaffer (130), Dyani Torres (135), Caitlyn Manier (155), Carly Duffing (170) and Sadie Kinsella (190) all took first. Thalia Paton (115) placed second.

For Sycamore, each wrestler took first or second. Ema Durst (140) won her bracket, while Gretchyn Dunbar (130), Avelina McMurtry (155) and Winter Beard (170) took second.

Men’s basketball

NIU 76, Ball State 66: At DeKalb, the Huskies (5-14, 1-6) led most of the way in the win over the Cardinals (9-10, 3-4), their first MAC victory and second against an NCAA Division I team this year.

Nasir Muhammad led the way with 19 points, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range, James Dent Jr. and Quaran McPherson each had double-doubles with identical 18-point, 10-rebound outings, while Quentin Jones also scored in double figures with 11 points and a game-high six assists.

“Tonight was an unbelievable environment,” NIU head coach Rashon Burno said. “The fans did an unbelievable job of giving us energy. The kids really fed off that. We came out and got off to a good start. We had some difficult news with Ethan Butler not feeling well, but these guys had to make a decision. We could feel sorry for ourselves, or we could go out and fight.

“That has been the message all year, whoever suits up has the ability to go out and win a game, we just have to do it together. I thought we had the right mindset, we led for 37:20, and you can’t get that done if you don’t do it as a team.”

Milwaukee Area Technical College 92, Kishwaukee 59: At Malta, Brayden Johnson scored 15 and Braxton Highbaugh 12 in the loss.

Boys basketball

DeKalb 58, Auburn 44: At Rockford, the Barbs rolled to their fifth straight win.

Kaneland 77, Rantoul 34: At Rantoul, Marshawn Cocroft scored 25 to lead the Knights.

Jeffrey Hassan added 11 for Kaneland (19-1), which faces DeKalb on Tuesday in Maple Park.

Hinckley-Big Rock 67, Lena-Winslow 66: At Fulton, the Royals (16-6) trailed by 10 in the fourth, but Martin Ledbetter hit a free throw with 2 seconds left to take the lead for good.

Ledbetter finished with 23 points. Max Hintzsche led the way with 34.

Byron 60, Indian Creek 48: At Shabbona, Payton Huber scored 14 points in the loss.

Logan Schrader had 12 points, and Everett Willis scored 10.

Women’s basketball

Ball State 81, NIU 62: At DeKalb, the Huskies (8-11, 2-6) fell to the first-place Cardinals (16-4, 8-0) despite 17 points and eight rebounds from Brooke Stonebreaker.

“We knew we had our hands full with Ball State and the success they’ve had this year,” head coach Lisa Carlsen said. “I thought defensively in the first half we did a decent job of containing them and executing the game plan. Ball State is one of those teams that’s going to take full advantage of your miscues, and we had spurts in the second half where we let them go on a run.”

Alecia Doyle and Brooke Blumenfeld each had nine points for the Huskies. Chelby Koker had eight points with a team-high five assists and four rebounds.

Milwaukee Area Technical College 56, Kishwaukee 47: At Malta, Mariah Drake scored 22 and Precious French 14 in the loss.

Boys bowling

Oregon Sectional: At Dixon, the season came to an end for Sycamore and DeKalb, as neither advanced past the sectional.

Sycamore had its team there after winning the Maple Park Regional but finished in 11th with a 5,875 - 200 pins behind Huntley in the final qualifying spot.

The Barbs sent Esteban Cardoso and Michael Sciabras, but neither advanced. Individual scores outside of advancing teams and individuals were not available.