LDN - Sports

Mount Pulaski falls to Edinburg Saturday night in the Bill Rucks Tournament

[November 28, 2016] The Bill Rucks Tournament concluded Saturday at Mount Pulaski with the Porta Blue Jays going 4-0 and winning it all. Saturday night Porta defeated Decatur LSA 58-43 for the championship, while Illini Central took third in the tournament as the Cougars handed Central A & M a 68-58 loss. In the fifth place game Edinburg bounced back to defeat the host Hilltoppers 53-50 and it was Tri-City over Calvary 57-43 in the seventh place game.

Mount Pulaski let one slip through the cracks Saturday night. The Hilltoppers led the Edinburg Wildcats for three out of the four quarters but that doesn’t really matter now. That fourth quarter was brutal for the Hilltoppers, with Edinburg outscoring and out hustling the hosts 16-9 and coming away with the 53-50 victory.

Mount Pulaski had a couple chances late in the game but just could not get the job done. Brandon Kretzinger missed a three at the buzzer for the Hilltoppers that was close, but that doesn’t really matter now either.

For the fourth game in a row the Hilltoppers came out looking good in the first half. Gezus Oliver may have missed the first shot he took, but 6”8 Peyton Taylor came flying through the lane to grab the rebound out of the air and put it back up for two points and the Hilltoppers were on the board.

Oliver’s three then put the Hilltoppers up 5-4, while a steal by Lukas Aylesworth seconds later only increased the lead, as the 6’0 senior went all the way for the layup.

Lukas Aylesworth led a late game charge for Mount Pulaski Saturday night at the Bill Rucks Tournament with 6 points in the fourth quarter but the Hilltoppers fell to Edinburg 53-50.

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Eli Griesheim rattled off the next four points and Mount Pulaski was up 11-8 at the 1:23 mark. Oliver finished off the quarter with a steal and a layup to ignite the crowd and give Mount Pulaski a 13-8 first quarter lead.

The second quarter was highlighted by junior Nate Dyer coming in off the bench and scoring eight points and when he wasn’t scoring he was dishing the ball off to the man in the middle, Taylor, who in turn dropped in six second quarter points for the Hilltoppers. In fact, Dyer gave Mount Pulaski a 12 point lead after hitting back to back threes. Not bad for a guy who hobbled off the court just days before with a badly sprained ankle. It was Dyer’s assist to Taylor that would give the Hilltoppers a nice 29-21 halftime lead.

Mount Pulaski was on fire to start the third quarter and within a minute had built the lead up to 15 points, just after Oliver’s long range three that was nothing but net.

Mount Pulaski was up 36-21 at this point. And then what happened, you might be wondering.

Edinburg went on a 9-0 run, scoring those points all in two minutes of play. Finally, Oliver made a layup with 3:37 on the clock to break the scoring streak by the Wildcats, 38-30 now the Hilltoppers lead. Two late third quarter baskets by Edinburg’s Payton Price kept the Wildcats in the game and diminished the Mount Pulaski lead.

At the end of the third quarter the Hilltoppers held onto a 41-37 lead.

That lead disappeared at the 5:55 mark in the fourth quarter when Edinburg’s Dylan Pop, a 5’8 senior, dropped in a bucket over the Hilltoppers and just like that the Wildcat crowd went, well, wild.

Finally, the score was tied at 41-41 for the scrappy team that had fought hard to get to this point, and they weren’t done yet. Fifteen seconds later, they stole the ball and the lead from Mount Pulaski. This time it was Jordan Brunk with the basket to put Edinburg up 43-41.

Brunk was fouled on the shot and would actually miss the free throw but the foul was called on Mount Pulaski’s Oliver and this one hurt. Oliver picked up his fifth foul with 5:39 left in the game and the Hilltoppers would have to fight the rest of the battle without their leading scorer.

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Junior Nate Dyer drives to the basket Saturday night in the Hilltoppers game versus Edinburg. Dyer came off the bench to contribute eight points and play an all-around solid game for Mount Pulaski. Photo credit: Rob Siebert

An arsenal of players showed up to play for Edinburg in the fourth quarter and it was Dawson Williams hitting a basket to give the Wildcats a 45-41 lead. Trent Higganson knocked down two free throws to increase the lead to 47-41and then it was Brunk again coming up huge with two free throws and the lead just kept getting bigger, 49-41 the score with 2:43 left to play.

Aylesworth tried to lead the charge back for the Hilltoppers, driving and scoring a couple buckets, but time was running out for the host team. Mount Pulaski was down 52-45 with a minute to go and would have to act quickly.

Following a turnover by Edinburg, Mount Pulaski did have another slim chance in this one and it was Griesheim knocking down a three with 25.9 seconds giving the fans hope.

Edinburg’s lead was now 52-48 and the Hilltoppers were coming alive. Kretzinger got a good look at the basket with 15 seconds left and his attempt at a three rolled in and out of the basket as the crowd let out an exhale. So close.

Then Aylesworth knocked down two free throws with 10.5 seconds remaining and the lead was down to 52-50.

Even though Brunk connected for a free throw for the Wildcats one last time, Mount Pulaski got the ball back and had one more chance with 5.3 seconds left.

Down by three, with the clock ticking, Kretzinger tossed up another three and just missed at the buzzer.

Edinburg’s crowd erupted and the Wildcats valiant effort paid off to the tune of a 53-50 victory. Pop led the Wildcats with 13 points, while Brunk dropped in 10 points.

For Mount Pulaski, Oliver led the way with 12 points and Taylor had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Both Aylesworth and Griesheim had 9 points apiece. Dyer came in off the bench to score 8 points.

The Hilltoppers will have to regroup at today’s practice in preparation for a really tough opponent from just up the road. Mount Pulaski will host Warrensburg-Latham Tuesday night with the JV tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Hilltoppers record dropped to 1 win and 3 losses on the season.

Mount Pulaski scoring

Oliver 12
Taylor 10
Aylesworth 9
Griesheim 9
Dyer 8
Kretzinger 2

Edinburg scoring

Pop 13
Brunk 10
Blevins 8
Williams 6
Thomas 5
Price 4
Barton 4
Higganson 3

[Teena Lowery]

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