Bureau Valley earns gritty win over Eastland on Brad Bickett Appreciation Night: Saturday BCR Roundup

Boys basketball

Bureau Valley 45, Eastland 42: The Storm paid homage to their former coach with a gritty, nonconference victory over the Cougars (15-7) in a Saturday matinee on Brad Bickett Appreciation Night.

Corban Chhim hit two free throws to give the Storm a 43-42 lead, then dished off to Landon Hulsing for the final basket to send the Storm to victory.

“Win, lose or draw at the end of the day, did we play with passion and leave it on the floor and was it our best effort? I thought it was,” said BV coach Jason Marquis, who played for Bickett.

Bryce Helms led the Storm (13-8) with 11 points while Elijah Endress, Chhim and Hulsing each added nine.

Bickett led the Storm to three straight third-place state finishes from 2000-02 and won eight straight regionals (1996-03), 10 overall, while posting a 15-year mark of 287-150 (.657) at BV.

The BV Boosters hosted a postgame reception with cookies and drinks in honor of Bickett in the Commons. A special video presentation of old BCR photos was on display.

Reed-Custer 48, Hall 46: The Comets outscored the Red Devils 16-5 in the third quarter to take a 40-30 lead at quarter’s end and hung on for a nonconference win in Spring Valley Saturday.

St. Bede 39, Henry 35: The Bruins won for the second day in a row, defeating the host Mallards in the Tri-County Conference tournament play. Jake Migliorini led the No. 9 Bruins with 13 points.

St. Bede advances to play No. 1 Seneca on Monday in Granville.

Putnam County 66, Dwight 60: Orlando Harris scored 22 points as the No. 10-seeded Panthers topped the No. 7 Trojans, also in Tri-County Conference Tournament play-in game in Dwight.

Owen Saepharn had 19 points for Putnam County, which advances to play No. 2 Marquette on Monday.

Orangeville-Aquin 72, LaMoille 62: The Lions got off to a slow start, falling behind 16-2 to start the game and trailed by 18 points at the end of the third quarter. They closed within six, but no closer falling in nonconference play at Dean Madsen Gymnasium in LaMoille on Saturday.

Tyler Billhorn had 24 points and 15 rebounds, Bradyn Klein had 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and Josh Martin had 12 points with six rebounds.

Mendota 63, Amboy 48: The Trojans made a victorious trip up Rote 52 in nonconference play Saturday. Cale Strouss and Izaiah Nanez each had 13 points and Aden Tillman added 11 for the Trojans.

Quinn Leffelman led the Clippers with 20 points and Eddie Jones added 13, including a break-away dunk.

Girls basketball

Princeton 59, Orion 37: The Tigresses crossed over in the Three Rivers Conference to beat the Chargers at Prouty Gym Saturday afternoon.

Camryn Driscoll had 14 points and Olivia Mattingly had 13 for PHS (15-6) with Keighley Davis and Pagie Jesse adding eight each and Miyah Fox six.

Kamryn Brown led Orion (3-19) with 16 points.

Orion won the F/S game 27-26 with Riley Rauh netting 10 points for PHS.9,

West Central 69, Annawan 65: Kaylee Celus had 19 points, Olivia Goodley 16 and Zoey Vance 14 for the No. 3 ranked Bravettes, who were upset on their home court Saturday.

Wrestling

Tigers second at LeRoy: Princeton landed three first-place finishes, one runner-up and seven top 6 finishes overall en route to a second-place team showing in Saturday’s LeRoy Invitational.

Champions on the day for the Tigers were Augustus Swanson (106), Casey Etheridge (165) and Cade Odell (275).

Swanson won by fall in 1:34 in the semifinals before defeating LeRoy’s Brady Mouser, who is ranked No. 1 by www.illinoismatmen.com, by a 7-1 decision, avenging an overtime loss to Mouser at the Princeton invite on Jan. 6.

Etheridge recorded two pins to reach the title match where he pinned Pittsfield’s Waylon White in 3:09, while Odell won twice by pin to advance to the title match before edging LeRoy’s Tate Sigler 3-2.

Also for Princeton, Ace Christiansen placed second at 138 and recorded his 100th career win.

Other medalists for PHS were Ian Morris, fourth at 215, Preston Arkels, fifth at 157 and Eli Berlin, sixth at 190.

Logan 8th at Rockridge: Princeton Logan Junior High placed eighth as a team with eight individual place-finishers in Saturday’s Rockridge tournament. For Logan, Corbin Brown (126) and Dominic Lewis (145) placed second, Hawk Amy (90) and Brennen Emmett (155) were third, brothers Eric Giaquinto (112) and Andrew Giaquinto (167) were fourth and Easton Wolf (65) and Jacob Paull (85) were fifth.