Fieldcrest wins State Farm consolation title; Seneca gets first win in Effingham: Illinois Valley Area Roundup

Boys basketball

Fieldcrest 64, Quincy Notre Dame 40; Fieldcrest 71, Bloomington Central Catholic 46: At the State Farm Holiday Classic, the Knights won twice Friday to capture the Small School Boys consolation title, leading throughout and putting the game away with a 24-7 fourth quarter.

The Knights trailed 31-29 at the half against QND but resumed control with a 17-5 third quarter en route to the trip to the late-night consolation title game against BCC.

Seneca 64, Effingham 45; Brooks 49, Seneca 43: At the 10th Effingham/Teutopolis Christmas Classic, the Fighting Irish were in a 26-26 tie game at halftime, but pulled away in the second half to defeat the host Flaming Hearts and record their first victory at the tournament.

The win lifted Seneca’s record downstate to 1-2 after the Fighting Irish fell 49-43 to Brooks earlier Friday despite 15 points from Lane Provance.

Burlington Central 67, La Salle-Peru 54: At the Plano Christmas Classic on Friday, the third-seeded Cavaliers fell to the No. 2 seed Rockets in the fifth-place bracket and will play for seventh place at 1:45 p.m. Saturday. La Salle-Peru (11-5) trailed 30-20 at the half.

Josh Senica poured in 22 points and brought down a half dozen rebounds for L-P. Seth Adams added 12 points and Brendan Boudreau 11, with all three hauling in six rebounds apiece.

Ottawa 68, Yorkville Christian 55: At the Plano Christmas Classic, after a first quarter in which they failed to score in double digits, the Pirates put together their best offensive game of the season so far to best Yorkville Christian and advance to Saturday’s consolation title game.

Cooper Knoll had a monster game for Ottawa, combining 29 points with 16 rebounds and five assists. Aric Threadgill added 13 points, with Huston Hart chipping in nine. Keevon Peterson added six points and five assists for the Pirates, who shot 50% (24 of 48) from the field and 61.1% (11 of 18) from 3-point distance, including Knoll’s 5-of-6 performance from long range.

The Pirates trailed 19-9 after the first quarter, 32-27 at halftime and 47-44 through three before outscoring Yorkville Christian 24-8 in the final quarter.

Sandwich 55, Newark 32: At the Plano Christmas Classic, the Indians (4-8) dominated from the opening tip, leading 26-4 after one quarter on their way to Saturday’s 13th-place game against Mendota.

Dom Rome (19 points), Griffin Somlock (13 points) and Chance Lange (11 points) led the Indians in scoring.

For the Norsemen, Payton Wills had an eight-point, seven-rebound showing.

Mendota 58, Lisle 42: At the Plano Christmas Classic, the Trojans led 27-17 at the half en route to Saturday’s 13th-place game against Sandwich.

Aden Tillman poured in 26 points — including four 3-pointers and a 10-for-10 showing at the free-throw line — for Mendota. Cale Strouss added eight points and six rebounds.

Earlville 47, Flanagan-Cornell 44: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Red Raiders (14-1) bounced back from their first loss of the season to survive a down-to-the-wire contest with the Falcons (11-5) and claim the third-place trophy.

Griffin Cook (19 points) and Ryan Browder (14) led Earlville.

Leading the Falcons were Kesler Collins (19 points), Connor Reed (11) and Logan Ruddy (10).

Woodland 71, Dwight 38: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Warriors (11-5) dominated the Trojans (6-9) to claim seventh place and finish the week 2-2.

Tucker Hill popped in 15 points for Woodland, with Nick Plesko adding 13 points and Zandar Radke bringing down 11 rebounds.

Leading Dwight were Conner Telford with 15 points and Luke Gallet with nine.

Wilmington 58, Somonauk 33: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Bobcats (9-6) fell in the consolation title (a.k.a. ninth-place) game despite nine points apiece from Carson Bahrey and Brock Sexton.

St. Bede 53, Putnam Co. 46: At the Marquette Christmas Tournament, the Bruins (3-14) closed out 2023 with a win in the 15th-place game, led by a dozen points apiece from Alex Ankieicz and Kaden Nauman as well as 11 points courtesy of Phillip Gray.

For Putnam County (3-14), Owen Saepharn scored 13 points, and Orlando Harris added 10.

Leland 53, Hiawatha 50: At LaMoille, the Panthers won a close one over the Hawks in their tournament finale.

Girls basketball

Hall 62, Mendota 31: At the Amboy Holiday Tournament, Hall’s McKenna Christansen and Mendota’s Grace Wasmer were both named to the all-tournament team after the Red Devils’ victory.

Ella Sterling poured in 30 points for Hall. Kennedy Wozniak (eight points) and Charlie Pellegrini (12 points) also led the Devils.

Ella Coss scored 10 points for the Trojans.

Somonauk/Leland 50, Hiawatha 7: At the Amboy Holiday Tournament, Somonauk/Leland’s Haley McCoy was named all-tournament and scored eight points. Abby Hohmann and Macey Kinney scored 11 points apiece.

Bureau Valley 41, Orion 27: At the Warkins Classic in Prophetstown, the Storm led throughout and won paced by 18 points from Taylor Neuhalfen and eight scored by Libby Endress.

Boys wrestling

Seneca opens at ABE’s Rumble: At ABE’s Rumble in Springfield, the Fighting Irish went 3-2 on the event’s opening day and will be heading to the Silver Bracket.

Seneca defeated Sherrard 45-36, Hillsboro 66-17 and Robinson 42-37 before suffering a 34-33 loss to Canton and a 42-39 loss to Anna-Jonesboro in a winner-to-Gold match.

Raiden Terry (106 pounds) and Asher Hamby (175) each recorded five wins for Seneca. Landen Venecia (190) and Chris Peura (215) had four apiece. Adding three were Ethan Othon (126), Nat Othon (150), Gunner Varland (157) and Jeremy Gagnon (285).