Boys basketball: Area teams ready to tip off the new hoops season

The Princeton Tigers will take the court at iconic Kingman Gymnasium Monday night at Ottawa High School as defending champions of the Dean Riley Shootin’ the Rock Thanksgiving Tournament.

They will face Coach Mark Cooper’s Ottawa Pirates right out of the gate at 6:30 p.m. Monday with remaining pool games against Marengo (11:30 a.m.) and Pontiac (5:30 p.m.) on Friday.

“It’s very good competition for us. Any time you get a chance to play bigger schools you always welcome it,” PHS coach Jason Smith said.

Ottawa will return to action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against Pontiac and at 4 p.m. Friday vs. Marengo.

Streator will tip off play in Pool B at 8 p.m. Monday against Plano and meet up with LaSalle-Peru in the Cavs’ debut at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

L-P will come back with two games Friday against Plano (1 p.m.) and Oak Forest (7 p.m.) while Streator will meet Oak Forest at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday’s finals will start at noon with the championship slated for 4:30 p.m.

At Wethersfield: The Wally Keller Invitational gets underway Monday at Wethersfield, where six teams, including Annawan, Bureau Valley and Putnam County, play in a round-robin format through Saturday, Nov. 25.

PC is the defending champion.

The Storm open at 8 p.m. Monday against Wethersfield followed by games with Annawan at 5 p.m. Tuesday, PC at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Stark County at 2 p.m. Friday and Elmwood at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25.

PC tips off at 6:30 p.m. Monday vs. Elmwood with games at 8 p.m. Tuesday vs. Wethersfield, 3:30 p.m. Friday and 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25 vs. Stark County.

At Seneca: Six area teams will open up the season at the Seneca Thanksgiving Tournament. Hall, Seneca, Somonauk and Herscher will play in Pool A with Mendota, Newark, Serena and St. Anne in Pool B.

Monday’s openers match Newark vs. Mendota at 5:30 p.m. followed by Newark vs. Mendota at 7 p.m.

On Tuesday, Hall will meet Somonauk at 5:30 p.m. with Herscher facing Seneca at 7 p.m.

There will be four games on tap Wednesday and Friday with the schedules slated for Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. with the championship set for 5:30 p.m.

At Woodland: St. Bede, Flanagan-Cornell, Colfax Ridgeview and host Woodland will form the Woodland Pool as part of the Route 17 Thanksgiving Classic, which starts Monday.

The Bruins and host Warriors will meet at 8 p.m. Monday with St. Bede to meet Flanagan-Cornell at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Ridgeview at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Woodland will play in the 8 p.m. games on Tuesday (Ridgeview) and Wednesday (Flanagan-Cornell).

The same schools will meet at the F/S level in prelims each night.

Defending champ Momence will be joined by Earlville, Grant Park and Dwight in the Dwight Pool.

The finals will be held at Woodland on Saturday, Nov. 25 with the crossover of pools beginning at noon. The varsity championship is set for 6:30 p.m.

At Ashton: LaMoille will open the season back at the AFC Thanksgiving Tournament with pool games at 6 p.m. Monday vs. West Carroll, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday vs. AFC and 6 p.m. Friday vs. Leland. The tournament concludes Nov. 25.