The boys are back.

The Bureau County boys basketball season will start up next week at a tournament site near you.

At Ottawa: Princeton returns to the Dean Riley “Shootin’ the Rock” Thanksgiving Tournament for a fourth year. The Tigers will open the season at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24, against the host Pirates. They will also play Pontiac at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25, and Sterling at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28, in pool play heading into the finals round on Saturday, Nov. 29.

Pool B consists of La Salle-Peru, Oak Forest, Plano and Streator.

Ottawa beat Streator for the title last year.

Princeton took the title in their first year in 2022-23 on the way to a 24-0 start and No. 1 state ranking and stands 7-5 in its first three years at Ottawa.

At Serena: Hall heads to the Huskers Hardwood Tip-Off at Serena starting Nov. 25 at 6:30 p.m. against Newark, with pool games to follow with Somonauk on Nov. 26 at 1 p.m. and Seneca on Friday, Nov. 28, at 5:30 p.m. ending with crossover finals on Saturday, Nov. 29.

On the other side of the tournament, Earlville, Marquette, the Peoria Notre Dame sophomores and Serena play in Pool A.

Seneca is the defending champion, defeating Marquette 49-39 for the title. Nathaniel Meiss has taken over as the Irish coach following the retirement of Russ Witte.

At Woodland: St. Bede will be at the dual-site Route 17 Tournament at Woodland starting Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. against Woodland. The Bruins will come back with pool play against Flanagan-Cornell on Nov. 25 at 6:30 p.m. and against Ridgeview on Nov. 26 at 6:30 p.m.

The Woodland Pool will meet the Dwight side in the crossover finals on Saturday.

E-P Thanksgiving Tournament: Bureau Valley has left the Wally Keller Invite at Wethersfield to form a new tournament with host Erie-Prophetstown, Rock Falls and Riverdale with games at multiple sites.

The Storm will open at the Storm Cellar on Tuesday, Nov. 25, against E-P. Remaining games will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, at Rock Falls and at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 29, vs. Riverdale at Prophetstown.

At Ashton-Franklin Center: LaMoille will return to the AFC Thanksgiving Tournament, opening with the host Raiders on Nov. 24. Their winner will meet up with the winner between West Carroll and Leland. The bottom bracket matches up Durand vs. Milledgeville and Hiawatha vs. Amboy.

Moving up

Princeton seniors Keighley Davis and Camryn Driscoll have already climbed up a rung on the ladder of the girls team’s all-time scoring list.

Davis has scored 20 points in two games to overtake Anna Murray (1,169) at the No. 3 spot with 1,178 points. Murray is now an assistant for the PHS boys basketball and volleyball teams,

Driscoll became the sixth 1,000th-point scorer for the Tigresses with 17 points in Monday’s season opener, passing Jasmine Kunkel, who scored 1,002 from 2009-12. With 23 points Tuesday, Driscoll now has 1,026 points, just three points behind No. 5 Tina Forth (1,029), who was the first 1,000-point scorer in 1988-91.

Tiah Romagnoli leads the PHS scoring charts with 1,506 points from 1996-99. She is followed by Brooke Jensen at 1,283 points from 2003-07, Davis (1,178), Murray (1,169), Tina Forth (1,029) and Driscoll (1,026).