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 The Warriors won the opening tip over the Toppers but Brett Huff
wasted no time stealing the ball and dishing it over to Dalton
Litterly for the first two points of the game. A three by Oliver
with 5:04 on the clock gave the Toppers a 9-0 lead and the home team
was just getting warmed up. Eli Griesheim's baseline jumper for two
followed by a trey from Caleb Przykopanski put the Toppers up 21-0
and this game had blowout written all over it.
Decatur Christian would finally get on the board with 2:29 remaining
in the first quarter as Mount Pulaski was called for a technical
foul for a scorebook violation. The two free throws made by Decatur
Christian would be half of their points scored in the first quarter.
At the end of one quarter of play Mount Pulaski was up 28-4 and
Coach Deibert had to be pleased with not only the hard-nosed defense
played by the Toppers but also the quick ball movement and unselfish
play the team showed on offense.
The second quarter was pretty much the same story as the Toppers
struck early and often. First it was Przykopanski with a three, then
6'7" Peyton Taylor hit a baseline jumper, then Lukas Aylesworth
fought his way around in the paint to score two and finally it was
"G for 3" again as Oliver hit another trey and the Toppers were up
38-10.
With 2:25 left in the second quarter the first Huff in the scorebook
was 5'8" sophomore Seth Huff, who drilled a three to put Mount
Pulaski up by 30 points, 41-11.
At the half Mount Pulaski led 43-19 over the Warriors. Brett Huff,
one half of the senior twins, connected from downtown early in the
third quarter for his first points of the game. In fact, Huff got
hot offensively, scoring all of his 10 points in the third quarter.
Senior Will Stewart would score four of his points in this quarter,
two off the offensive rebound and two on a nice pass through the
lane from Aylesworth.
The latter would give Mount Pulaski a 60-26 lead and force the
Warriors to call timeout to regroup. The way Mount Pulaski was
playing on this night though, it was already too late for a Warrior
comeback.
[to top of second column] |
A 65-26 Mount Pulaski lead at the end of the third quarter meant a
running clock once the final quarter started. Mount Pulaski just
scored four points in the last quarter and Decatur Christian did not
score much more than that.
The Toppers came away with a 69-33 victory with newcomer G Oliver
leading the way with 12 points and Dalton Litterly, Brett Huff and
Caleb Przykopanski all chipping in 10 points apiece. Zach Drake led
the Toppers with 8 rebounds.
Mount Pulaski also had 15 steals as a team and they accomplished
Coach Ryan Deibert's goal of holding the opponent to under 40
points. All in all it was a great defensive effort by the Toppers
and an outstanding offensive effort as well, again emphasizing great
ball movement.
Thirteen Toppers saw playing time on the court and it looks like
another season where the bench will be deep for the purple and gold.
For Decatur Christian, Garrett Guske led the team with 12 points,
Caleb Jefson tossed in 8 points and Ben Wilson scored 6 points.
In earlier tournament action PORTA defeated Decatur LSA 65-47 and
Central A&M defeated Illini Central 71-64.
The tournament resumes tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m. with Decatur LSA
vs. Springfield Calvary, 6:30 p.m. with Tri-City vs. PORTA and 8:00
p.m. with Decatur Christian vs. Central A&M.
Mount Pulaski will play again in the tournament at 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday night vs. Illini Central.
Mount Pulaski scoring vs. Decatur Christian
Oliver 12
Brett Huff 10
Litterly 10
Przykopanski 10
Griesheim 8
Stewart 6
Aylesworth 4
Taylor 4
Seth Huff 3
Drake 2
[Teena Lowery] |
