Bureau Valley storms to top of Lincoln Trail

MANLIUS – Bureau Valley hasn’t tip-toed its way into the Lincoln Trail Conference this season.

They’ve taken it by Storm.

The Storm met Annawan in a showdown of undefeated leaders in the Lincoln Trail on Friday and sent the Braves packing with a resounding 54-36 defeat at the Storm Cellar.

The Storm improve to 10-0 all alone atop the league, 17-9 overall. The Braves fall to 20-4, 9-1 with their first league loss.

“Now everyone knows we’re here to play and we’re here to win. We want to send a message our first year,” BV senior point guard Bryce Helms said. “Now we’re 10-0 in conference. We’re looking to be champions, and that’s what we’re wanting to make this culture.

“We’re champions, and we want everyone to know that.”

“We want to set a tradition and culture, stepping in to a new conference, that Manlius is a place that teams feel like they’ve got to come in here and win if they want to win a conference championship,” BV coach Jason Marquis said. “I think to defend the home floor like that, against a team that’s as good as anyone around here, it was a good win for our boys.”

Senior Landon Hulsing said the Storm wanted to make amends on a 64-42 loss at the hands of the Braves in the Wethersfield Tournament at Thanksgiving the second game of the season.

“I think we were all excited to play. They got us early in the year, so it means a lot. Revenge game,” he said. “To get a conference win in our new conference, I think it shows we’re here to play.”

Annawan jumped out to an early 9-4 lead with two baskets by Brady Heitzler, including a 3-pointer, and one each by Landen Park and Brody Childs.

“They hit a couple shots we didn’t contest super well early, but as the night wore on, I thought we got better in the quarter-court,” Marquis said. “Copp (Annawan coach Alex Coppejans) always has them super prepared. They had some unique wrinkles to kind of get open looks against us, so that will be good for us to see on film and learn from.”

Then it was all Bureau Valley.

The Storm turned the tables with an 11-0 run, capped by a Helms' 3-pointer. Landen Birdsley hit a trey of his own before the buzzer to give the Storm an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“I think we upped our defense. Got a couple steals, got some fast breaks, that really helped us,” Hulsing said. “We didn’t let our mistakes snowball. If we made a mistake, someone else picked us up.”

Elijah Endress, Birdsley and Helms all hit 3-pointers as the Storm outscored the Braves 15-6 in the second quarter to jump out to a 33-18 halftime lead.

Hulsing opened the third quarter with a three-point play and followed two baskets by Birdsley with two more of his own as the Storm opened up a 45-22 lead, their biggest of the night.

“We had a lot of guys stepping up in big moments, everybody reminding people that we know who we are and what we can be,” Helms said. “A lot of people have bought into our culture. A lot of people have believed in our team and coaches, and we stepped up tonight.”

Coppejans said the Storm were just the better team Friday.

“All credit to Coach Marquis, staff and players. We were not ready to play, and they were,” he said.

Marquis said the Storm executed well, much better than the first go around with the Braves.

“They pounded us by 20 earlier in the year. I think they just had better discipline than us at that time, and for our kids to step up tonight with a lot of young kids in the house wanting to be a Bureau Valley basketball player, that was fun,” he said.

Hulsing finished with a game-high 17 points for the Storm. Birdsley added 13, and Helms had 10.

Maddux Heitzler led the Braves with 11 points, while Dillon Ketelson-Anton and Heitzler added seven each.

Bureau Valley, which travels to Hall for a Saturday showdown, will have a final LTC game remaining at Monmouth United (16-10, 6-4) on Tuesday.

The Braves will wrap up conference play at Abingdon-Avon (14-12, 8-2), also on Feb. 11.