Hall girls try shot clock at IVC: BCR basketball notebook

The Hall girls got an early look at the shot clock, which is coming to Illinois soon, at Monday’s game at IVC in Chillicothe.

The shot clock will be implemented in all IHSA games beginning with the 2026-27 season. Schools have had the option in recent years to use it in tournament play and in the regular season.

IVC has been using the shot clock this season for their nonconference home games and asked Hall if the Red Devils were willing to try it.

Hall coach TJ Orlandi became a quick fan.

“I actually liked it and think it will be good for the game,” he said. “There was some extra strategy that went into our game plan and then some different scenarios came into play in-game as well. I like that you can’t stall or hold the ball and you essentially have to play a full quarter.

“Down the stretch with a lead you’re trying to burn some clock, but also have to still work to get a good quality shot. We used a soft press on every make and ball that went out of bounds just to force them to burn seven to nine seconds bringing it up each time. It was a new experience, but we enjoyed it and had fun with it.”

Orlandi said the Red Devils practiced for it a little bit Saturday on both sides of the ball and the girls reacted to it well.

“The girls said they didn’t really notice it, for the most part, in the game,” he said. “We had one possession where Ava (Delphi) hit a shot with about one second on the shot clock, but other than that, I don’t think we were ever close to a violation. IVC had a handful of possessions where the horn went off after they shot, but no violations.”

Billhorn red hot for Lions

Tyler Billhorn had a week and then some for the LaMoille Lions.

The senior averaged a double-double (23 points, 10.5 rebounds) with a 16-point, 10-rebound effort against Earlville, followed up by a 30-point, 11-rebound game to lead the Lions to an upset over No. 7 IMSA in the Little Ten Conference Tournament.

Billhorn almost averaged a triple-double, averaging eight assists in those two games.

“He’s been playing great lately and brings it every night,” Lions coach Brandon Blumhorst said.

Billhorn is no Johnny-come lately. In December, he scored 36 points against Woodland and followed it up with a school-record 41 versus Alden-Hebron. He’s now the eighth 1,000-point scorer for the Lions with 1,177 career points.

“He also did some amazing things not shooting-wise,” Blumhorst said. “Lots of assists and rebounds and his best defense I’ve seen him play.”

Milestones approaching

There have been two other Bureau County players to join the 1,000-point club this season: Princeton junior Keighley Davis and Bureau Valley senior Landon Hulsing.

With 1,088 points after Tuesday’s game at Ottawa, Davis should approach Tiah Romagnoli’s program record of 1,506 next year.

Hulsing became the ninth 1,000-point scorer for the Storm.

LaMoille senior Brayden Klein is fast approaching the 1,000-point scoring mark, now at 927 after Saturday’s game with IMSA.