Richmond Burton takes 3rd at E.C. Nichols Holiday Tournament

MARENGO – Fourth-seeded Richmond-Burton played well as a team, especially in its dominant second half, en route to a 56-44 victory over third-seeded Stillman Valley in the third-place game at Marengo’s 74th annual E.C. Nichols Holiday Tournament.

Throughout the night, the Cardinals had no answer for the Rockets, who moved the ball well from the start and saw five different players score in the first quarter.

Six-foot-6 sophomore forward Jace Nelson was one of those five players. He sank a 3-pointer and then was fouled on a dunk attempt before making both free throws.

The Cardinals never got into a rhythm, and some of their impact players got into foul trouble, including an eventual foul out by 6-5 forward Ethan Szarkowicz.

Sophomore point guard Gavin Radmer got the Rockets on the board and showed off his scoring versatility throughout the evening with seven field goals, including a pair of 3s, and also a pair of free throws in the contest. Radmer said his team turned good defense into good offense.

“Everyone just tries to play as one, as a team,” said Radmer, who scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the first half.

Even with a 31-25 lead at the half, Rockets head coach Rich Petska said his team played at a different level after the break.

“We figured out how to start boxing out. We weren’t doing too much of that in the first half,” Petska said. “Once we locked down the rebounds, it was good for us after that.”

However, the third quarter got off to a rocky start when junior Dane Gardner instantly committed a foul. The Cardinals then pulled within four points on an Evan Eddy (team-high 14 points) basket, but Gardner got an immediate second chance. He made good on the redemptive opportunity, sinking a 3-pointer. Seconds later, he recorded a steal, quickly looked up, and found Radmer downcourt to finish the fast-break with a layup. The Rockets never looked back.

Gardner, who scored all of his eight points in the second half, including muscling his way to a layup in the paint against a tough double team, said the Rockets played a clean game.

“I thought we handled the pressure really well,” Gardner said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of sloppy turnovers, and we played as a team really well.”

The Rockets had been looking for a bounce-back game after taking a pair of competitive losses to good teams earlier in the tournament.

Rockford Christian defeated Glenbard South 54-43 in the championship game of the tournament.

The Rockets also got help off the bench as senior Ben Roberts (eight points) sank a pair of first-half 3s.

Luke Robinson and Ryan Wisniewski each chipped in seven points for the Rockets.

“Just the growth from the beginning of the season with some of these young guys has been tremendous,” Petska said. “The more we play together, the more we feed off of each other, then the more we play better in our offense and defense and everything else.”