Cougars roar past Steamers at tourney
Rock Falls routs Riverdale at Tabor
The Eastland Cougars rode an 18-7 third-period advantage to a 59-45 victory over Fulton on Saturday, the first day of pool play in the West Carroll tournament.
Dalton Shaner paced Eastland (3-1) with 17 points, and Ty Hartman added 15. T.J. Huizenga had a team-high 15 points for Fulton (0-8), which shot 23-for-31 from the free-throw line as a team. The Cougars, who led 24-19 at the half, were just 12-for-25 at the line.
West Carroll 58, Warren 51: Trevor Jones and Jordan Bacero scored 18 and 15 points, respectively, and helped the hosting Thunder create some space in the second half.
But while the rest of the Thunder (2-4) shot 9-for-12 in the fourth period, Jones missed all four of his throws after hitting all four he took in the third.
Erie 70, Freeport JV 35: Jacob Johnston nearly outscored the Pretzels, despite not scoring in the fourth period.
The Erie senior scored 26 of his game-high 34 points in the first half, and the Cardinals used an 18-8 third-period advantage to pull away after leading 37-24 at the break. Connor Saad added 12 points for Erie (5-3), which held Freeport to three points in the fourth.
Rock Falls 68, Riverdale 38: The Rockets jumped out to a 36-12 lead at the half in a nonconference game at Tabor Gym.
Jace Anderson, Steven Armoska and Daegan Wharff all scored 12 points for the Rockets (6-2), who saw all 13 rostered players receive minutes. Riverdale (5-3) shot just 6-for-18 from the free-throw line and was outscored 18-6 in each of the first two periods.
Forreston tournament
Pecatonica 53, Polo 45: A dry spell of a second period spelled defeat for the Marcos, who were ouscored 12-4 in that period and 13-10 in the last one.
Zach Quaco scored a team-high 11 points for Polo (5-2), which led 15-13 after one and trailed just 40-35 after three. Eli Karvelis hit three 3s and scored a game-high 20 points for Pecatonica (3-4).
Oregon 60, Orangeville 26: Led by Caleb Mowry’s game-high 17 points, 12 Hawks nestled into the scoring column.
Oregon (6-2) led 22-8 at the half and blew things open with a 20-8 surge in the third. Orangeville (1-6) scored just three points in the second period.
Aquin 62, Morrison 42: A 24-8 deficit after one period was too much for the Mustangs to overcome.
Matt Wilkens and Brock Deter tied for a team high with 11 points for Morrison (1-9), which got back into the game with a 25-21 advantage in the middle periods and trailed 45-33 after three. Andrew Martin led Aquin (6-0) with 16 points.
Byron 62, Milledgeville 28: Similar to the hole Morrison found itself in after one period, the Missiles trailed 22-6 deficit after 8 minutes of play.
Dalton Payton had a game-high 18 points for Byron (5-3), which led 35-14 at the half. Jordan Harris led Milledgeville (2-5) with 13 points.
Saturday’s stars
Jacob Johnston, Erie, 34 points
Trevor Jones, West Carroll, 18 points
Dalton Shaner, Eastland, 17 points
