Prep players nail down Sunday's titles
BY KEVIN MURPHY
SVN SPORTS REPORTER
sports@svnmail.com
STERLING - Eternal avenged an earlier loss against Twenty Five with two wins to take the Red L championship at the Gus Macker Tournament on Sunday.
Eternal's Justin Johnson led the team with eight points and seven rebounds in the second championship game. The Rock Falls senior also added a steal in the 15-10 victory.
Johnson scored all the points in a 7-2 Eternal run that gave them a 13-7 lead. During that run, Johnson hit two 2-pointers.
"His ability to drive went real well," cousin and teammate Kevin Johnson said.
In the first championship game, Justin made a key 2-pointer to send Eternal to a second game after missing his previous five 2-point attempts.
Eternal defeated Preganent Orca Whales 15-10 to play to advance to the championship.
O-for-3: The third time wasn't the charm for Three Hornets and a Dog on Sunday on the Red N court.
They lost to the Bad Boyz 15-4 in the teams' third meeting of the tournament for the title after forcing a second championship game with a 13-9 victory.
In the first championship game, Three Hornets and a Dog's Micah Trancoso led the team with eight points, and Nathan Terveer added five points.
"Revenge was on everybody's mind," Trancoso said. "I can say that for the whole team. I'm just happy to have a trophy."
Trancoso made a foul shot that broke a 7-7 tie. The sixth-grader scored on the ensuing possession to give his team a 9-7 lead.
"I see that (Rock Falls's) Seth Blair and (Sterling's) Joseph Bertrand, they're so good and I want to be better than them," Trancoso said.
Trueblood's team loses: You Know's combo of Sterling's Greg Kendrick and Dixon's Nate Trueblood lost to Team Shiz 15-11 in the championship game on the Red N court.
"They doubled down and we couldn't hit the shot," Trueblood said. "They're a quick team. They're able to drop down and recover."
Mix-up on Court Red L: The toilet bowl championship game in the loser's bracket on the Red L court was thrown out because of confusion in the brackets.
The Cardinals played two extra games they didn't need to because of the confusion. The other team was also not supposed to be there, so a Macker official called off the game.
Cardinals' captain Austin Kinman said it was good tournament despite the mix-up. Kinman will be sophomore at Stillman Valley.
