It’s been a grand week for the Tillman brothers.

Just three days after his brother, Aden, scored his 1,000th career-point, Mendota sophomore Cole Tillman hit the same milestone, scoring 32 points to lead the Trojans to an 80-54 Three Rivers East victory at Princeton‘s Prouty Gym.

Tillman’s milestone basket came early in the third quarter, netting his 21st point of the night to give the Trojans a 45-35 lead. The game was momentarily paused as Prouty Gym public address announcer Mike Vrana announced the visitor’s achievement. Mendota coach Steve Wasmer handed Cole Tillman a commemorative basketball, which he took up in the stands to give to his father, Luke.

Tillman, who became the 21st player in program history to score 1,000 points, couldn’t have scripted it any better, hitting his milestone basket in the same week as Aden, who is two years older.

“It means a lot,” he said. “My brother’s a real good scorer. I learned from him when we were little and I just carried it over to high school with him. What a coincidence. I always looked up to him. Definitely cool.”

The younger Tillman said he first beat his brother in 1-on-1 around the seventh or eighth grade and joked that Aden didn’t like it.

“(Our) 1-on-1s are alway good. Still to this day they’re always close. He can shoot the rock,” Cole Tillman added.

Wasmer said the brothers are a lot alike.

“They’re both such good kids. They always come to work. Great teammates,” he said. “They got their thousand very unselfishly. They’re both excellent passers. They’ve got to hunt for their points and take what the other team gives them.

“I think Cole could score 40 if he wanted to and say, ‘I’m going to shoot, I’m going to shoot.’ But he’s a team player and more about we than me.”

“Tillman’s a nice player and they run everything through him and they share the ball really well,“ Tiger coach Jason Smith said. ”He’s improved so much physically from a year ago. Congrats to Cole and his brother Aden for both getting a thousand points this year.”

Mendota (22-5, 6-1) found a Tiger team (4-21, 1-6) full of determination to give the Trojans a game, and they did.

Oliver Munoz scored twice on the break to put the Trojans up 19-13, but the Tigers used two free throws by Jack Oester and a scoring drive by Daniel Barnes to close within 22-17 at the end of the first quarter.

Hayden Sayler sandwiched two Tiger baskets around three by Tillman, the middle a 3, to keep Princeton close at 29-22 early in the third quarter.

Sayler added a 3-pointer and after a drive by Oester, freshman Julian Mucha nailed another Tiger trey to keep the Tigers within seven. Drew Becker hit two free throws to give Mendota a 41-32 halftime edge.

It was not until late in the third quarter that the Trojans were able to put the game away. They scored nine straight with baskets by Dane Doyle and Becker and a 3-pointer and a putback by Cole Tillman to go up 58-39.

Cole Tillman added a 3-pointer from the left corner as the Trojans took a 61-43 lead at quarter’s end.

“We battled them the whole way. It was not just the first half. We battled them the second half, too,” Smith said. “I know it’s 26 on the scoreboard. It really was a 20-point game. They beat us by nine in the first half, and in my eyes, they beat us by 11 in the second half so it was a 20-point game. They knew they were in a dog fight.

“Were they more talented than us? Absolutely. Are they better basketball skill-wise than us? Absolutely. We did what we could to win a basketball game and that’s all I can ask out of these kids at the end of the day.”

Oester finished with 17 points for the Tigers with Jackson Mason adding eight and Hayden Sayler seven.

Along with Cole Tillman’s 32, the Trojans got 11 by Becker and 10 each from Doyle and Munoz.