Rivalry night to start 50th annual Colmone Classic off with a bang

The Colmone Classic at Hall High School has always been a crowd pleaser when it comes to boys basketball in north-central Illinois.

Hall athletic director Eric Bryant has ensured the 50th annual tournament will start off with a bang.

Bryant has given the people what they wanted, matching rivals Princeton and Bureau Valley on opening night at 6 p.m. Saturday. The nightcap also will match another pair of rivals, Hall and St. Bede, at 7:30 p.m.

“We kinda made the decision for some rivalry games on Saturday,” Hall coach Mike Flippini said. “Should be some really good, competitive games to start the tournament. Get here early and get a good seat, lots of good basketball all day long and really all week long. This tournament is filled with really good teams. Whoever wins this will definitely earn it.”

The Tigers and Storm are no longer scheduled to play each other now that Bureau Valley has left the Three Rivers Conference in favor of the Lincoln Trail Conference this year. Both teams are excited for the opportunity to renew acquaintances sooner than expected.

The Storm are off to a 4-1 start, finishing second at Wethersfield’s Wally Keller Invite.

“Our Princeton and BV kids get to continue to experience this long-standing county rivalry, albeit at a neutral site,” BV coach Jason Marquis said. “It’s a tough way to open the tourney with a very good Princeton team, but we’d prefer it no other way. You combine Princeton and Fieldcrest in our pool, and it’s going to be some great basketball.

“Excited to keep progressing on that front at the Colmone. Lots of great teams there. 50 years, great atmosphere, some good nonconference experience for us.”

The Tigers, who won back-to-back Colmone crowns in 2021 and 2022, went 1-3 at the Dean Riley “Shootin' the Rock” Tournament at Ottawa, working in several players back from an extended postseason football run.

“I think that the Colmone is the best it’s been from a competition standpoint in a long time. It’s my favorite in-season tournament. Hall does a great job running it,” Princeton coach Jason Smith said. “Bureau Valley is playing at a high level and will have some extra motivation in playing the Princeton Tigers. It will be a real challenge to match their intensity, passion, hustle and skill level. They are clicking, as expected, to start this season.

“It should be fun.”

This also will be the only time the Red Devils and Bruins will square off this season.

Fieldcrest (0-0), which won its record 13th Colmone championship last year, defeating Rock Falls 62-42, will join Bureau Valley and Princeton in the White Pool. Hall (3-2) and St. Bede (3-3) have been matched with Eureka (0-0) in the Red Pool.

In other pools, Rock Falls (3-0), Mendota (3-1) and Putnam County (0-5) will play out of the Black Pool, with L-P (2-3), Kewanee (0-3) and IVC (1-2) in the Gray Pool.

Saturday’s openers include PC vs. Mendota at 3 p.m. followed by L-P vs. IVC at 4:30 p.m.

The same pools will apply for the sophomore tournament, which starts Saturday morning in both the main and auxiliary gyms and also runs through Dec. 14.

The original Red Devil Invitational was renamed in 1992 as the Colmone Classic after former Hall athletic director Frank Colmone, who founded the tournament in 1974.

Classic records

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the first Hall tournament won by Western in 1974, then known as the Red Devil Invitational, here’s a look at Colmone Classic champions and records:

Championship honor roll: Fieldcrest 13 titles, Hall 7, Putnam County 4, Western 3, St. Bede 3, Seneca 3, Mid-County/Midland 3, Princeton 2, Bureau Valley 2, Rock Falls 2, Annawan 1, DePue 1, Kewanee 1, Mendota 1, Chicago Leo 1, Wenona 1, Flanagan 1

Most points - one game: 44 by Noel Santiago (Hall) vs. Plano, 2008

Most points - tournament: 124 by Ryan Weir, Pontiac, 2019

Most free throws - tournament: 36 by Mac Resetich, Hall, 2022

Most field goals - one game: 19 by Bill Braksick, Flanagan vs. Seneca, 1980

Most points - one game (team): 99 by Western vs. Wyanet, 1976

Most points - championship game (team): 92 by Western vs. Putnam County, 1974

Largest winning margin: 63 by Putnam County vs. Marseilles, 1979