Game 44: Metamora vs. Illini Central (Boy's Basketball)

Game 44
(12/29/09)
Metamora vs. Illini Central (Boy's Basketball)
Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament

Another break in session allowed me to wander up to the hospitality room for some lunch. I dined on a spicy chicken and roast beef from Hardee's and sat with B-PC/A baseball coach Dave Arnold, Abingdon baseball coach Joe Nichols, and Bill Horrell (the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament Facebook and Twitter-master).

Got a chance to speak with my old pal Lance Giesler, now an assistant for his dad, John, at Illini Central. He gave me stats on the Cougars, and chatted for a few minutes. Lance went to Western Illinois University, and also served as a volunteer assistant for Danny Watson at Macomb during college.

The Cougars entered this matchup coming off a (54-51) first round win over West Hancock, while Metamora ran past Farmington. Spent a few minutes with coach John Giesler and his honorary coach Dennis Danowski from the Macomb Public Library.

Metamora, or should I say, Kyle Heck and J.D. Kamp, led the Redbirds to a (22-8) lead after one quarter. Kamp hit three three-pointers in the first quarter, and scored 11 points in the first eight minutes, while Heck added 9 points.

From that point on, it was pretty evenly matched, during the final three quarters. Illini Central won the second quarter (9-8), and went into the locker room trailing (30-17). Chris Smith, webmaster at www.holidaybasketball.com joined me at halftime and talked about the new and old features of the website, as it has its own Facebook page and Twitter feed this year, while also bringing back live streaming stats for the second year, and the old favorite, the scorecam, in its ninth year of existence.

The Redbirds edged out further in the third quarter, taking a 41-25 lead into the fourth quarter, and cruised for the (52-34) victory to advance. Kyle Heck scored a game-high 21 points, while J.D. Kamp had 15 points, 10 rebounds for the Redbirds. Danny Harman had 18 points and 7 rebounds for the Cougars.

After the broadcast, I worked on gathering more scores for the IHSSN scoreboard, then took in another round of the hospitality room. Ran into Hall of Fame head coach Tom Wierzba, and asked him out retirement was treating him. He was all smiles, and seemed to be enjoying his time as a spectator at the tournament.

The night was capped off with non-broadcasts, but did do some video work of the Macomb/Pittsfield game and the Illini West/Brown County game. The best game of the first two days was the Bombers holding off the Saukees. Macomb never led until (6:31) to play in the game and won by a point in a back-and-forth physical affair. The best finish of the tournament up through day two was the overtime prayer of a three-pointer by Brown County's Mitch Dormire to lift the Hornets past Lewistown. The most athletic play of the day didn't even involve a player, but rather one of the officials. Mark Neuhauser (sp?), made a leaping hurdle over an Illini West player in Tuesday's final game. Both an Illini West and Brown County player came into contact near scorers table at half court, and fell to the floor while the sprinting referee had to make a fast move and jump the pair.

The Quest File Notes
Game 44
Date: 12/29/09
Result: Pleasant Plains hot start leads to win over Illini Central
Miles: 0