Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers open season with big win in the Bill Rucks Memorial Tournament

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[November 24, 2015]  MOUNT PULASKI - G Oliver scores his first points as a Topper with the second basket of the ballgame Monday night at the Ed Butkovich Gymnasium. Oliver led the Toppers with 12 points in his debut.

Mount Pulaski defeated Decatur Christian 69-33 in the late game of the Bill Rucks Memorial Tournament.

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.

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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]

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