Game 45: Midwest Central vs. Illini Central (Boy's Basketball)

Game 45
(12/30/09)
Midwest Central vs. Illini Central (Boy's Basketball)
Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament

Following another night of staying up until 3 a.m. the 7 a.m. wakeup call was quite dreadful. The thought of coffee in the near future was very gratifying. I hit the road around 8 a.m. and hit Ayerco for my routine morning coffee. Today, it was a 24 oz. coffee instead of the traditional 16 oz. Another long day and night were on tap to finish out the 2009 tournament.

Arriving at the gym around 8:15, I entered at the same time as the Midwest Central Raiders, who were set to face the Illini Central Cougars in the 9:00 a.m. game. Very few bodies were at Western Hall this early. Jake Croxton, the P.A. announcer for the tournament was the only soul on press row. I took the time to fill out my scorebook before going on air, and talked with Raiders coach Kevin Burks and Cougars coach John Giesler.

Dennis Gordy stopped by, in early for the morning session games. His son, Matt, is a senior guard for the Macomb Bombers. By tipoff, a small smattering of people showed up, but the roads were fairly slick with a light snowfall. Talking with the WBBA (Pittsfield) radio guys, they said a woman at the hotel told them it took her 45 minutes to make the normally 15-minute drive from Industry to Macomb.

The Cougars jumped out to a lead, holding the Raiders scoreless until 4:30 to play in the first quarter. Michael Berg hit a free throw to break the scoreless run, and the first Raiders field goal came at the (3:06) mark.

Midwest Central took their first lead with 2:17 to play in the opening quarter and never looked back, leading 14-10 after the first quarter. Brice Reining came out on fire in the second quarter, drilling three three-pointers, but Illini Central hung in the game, trailing by just a point at halftime (29-28).

The second half was a much different story, with Midwest Central jumping out to a (15-2) run, and finished the third quarter with a (56-39) lead. The Raiders dropped another four three-pointers in the third quarter, two of them by Zach Schmidgall.

Two more three-pointers were made by the Raiders in the fourth quarter, and they finished with nine three-pointers on the night. Midwest Central beat Illini Central (74-60). Michael Berg finished with 22 points, and Ian Gaskill added 11 points. The Cougars were paced by freshman Jared Entwistle's 18 points.

It was learned after the game, that Barry Western arrived about five minutes before their schedule game against Lewistown. Apparently, they didn't even warm up, they got dressed and hit the floor against the Indians, would upset the number three seed in overtime in the consolation bracket.

The Quest File Notes
Game 45
Date: 12/30/09
Result: Midwest Central uses third quarter run to beat Illini Central (74-60)
Miles: 3