Mount Pulaski play Saturday night for the championship in the Bill Rucks Memorial Tournament

[November 28, 2015]  by Teena Lowery

As the Toppers took care of Central A & M 69-56, Peyton Taylor carried a game-high 14 points Friday night, while G Oliver also had 14 points for the Toppers, who will be playing for the championship Saturday night at 8 p.m. against PORTA.

This is the first time the Toppers will be in the championship of this tournament. The Toppers were off to a hot start Friday night, jumping out to a 13-2 lead before Central A & M came storming back to cut the deficit to 16-10 at the end of the first quarter.

A three by Jameson Smith to open the second quarter narrowed the gap to 16-13. The Raiders managed to pull within a point, 16-15, after a basket by Jordan Miller. Mount Pulaski's Oliver then made consecutive threes for the Toppers, and overheard from the crowd was "G is on fire" as the 6'1" sophomore had his third three of the half. With the Toppers leading 22-18 Central A & M was pressing but Mount Pulaski was handling the pressure well. Brett Huff managed to sink a basket off the pick, textbook style, and junior Eli Griesheim hit a jump shot from the corner to give Mount Pulaski the 26-18 lead with 2:07 left to play in the half. After Lukas Aylesworth sank his free throws with just under two minutes left, the Toppers headed into the locker with the lead, 28-19.

Coach Ryan Deibert's squad entered the third quarter fired up and it was Taylor and Aylesworth leading the way. Both underclassmen combined for 19 of the 24 points scored in the third and showed the crowd some nice moves along the way. Taylor proved he could score from outside the paint with a nice jump shot. Meanwhile Aylesworth was going coast to coast and making good use of the backboard on his drives. Senior Dalton Litterly closed out the third quarter with a nice move, a reverse layup thru baseline traffic, and with that Mount Pulaski had a comfortable 56-36 lead.

Central A & M did outscore Mount Pulaski 20-13 in the fourth quarter, as Deibert pulled subs from his bench in order to give the starters a little rest, after all with the 69-56 win the Toppers (3-0) would be back for the late game on Saturday night taking on the PORTA Blue Jays (3-0).

Mount Pulaski was led in scoring by Peyton Taylor and G Oliver with 14 points and Lukas Aylesworth added 13 points. Central A & M was led by Jameson Smith with 17 points and Jordan Miller and Kohlby Ohl each scored 10 points.

Mount Pulaski scoring

Oliver 14
Taylor 14
Aylesworth 13
Litterly 8
Griesheim 8
Brett Huff 7
Stewart 4
Hagenbuch 1

Saturday's schedule
3:30 p.m. Decatur Christian vs. Springfield Calvary
5:00 p.m. Illini Central vs. Tri-City
6:30 p.m. Central A & M vs. Decatur LSA
8:00 p.m. Mount Pulaski vs. PORTA

[Teena Lowery]