Mount Pulaski boys sweep Springfield Lutheran on the hardwood

[February 05, 2017]   The Mount Pulaski boys basketball teams swept the Springfield Lutheran Crusaders on Senior Night Friday night in Springfield with the JV winning 54-47 and the Varsity coming out on top 47-39.

JV

The JV contest was a low scoring affair in the first quarter, with Mount Pulaski leading 5-3 after one.

Mount Pulaski’s Zac Hinds scored seven points in the second quarter to guide the Hilltoppers to a 21-12 lead at halftime.

The Crusaders were on fire in the third quarter and put up 23 points to the Hilltoppers 11 points scored. This allowed the home team to jump ahead 35-32 in front of an already packed gymnasium on Senior Night.

But the Hilltoppers prevailed in the fourth quarter as Jonathan Shehorn scored all seven of his points here to lead the 22-point quarter attack.

Defensively the Hilltoppers held the Crusaders to 12 points in the final eight minutes and the 54-47 victory belonged to Mount Pulaski when the buzzer sounded.

Varsity

The Varsity game started out at a very fast pace and looked like it was going to be a battle of the big men. For Mount Pulaski 6’8 Peyton Taylor took on Springfield Lutheran’s 6’8 Jacob Pfeiffer in the opening jump.

While Springfield Lutheran controlled the opening tip and ran off the first five points of the game, the rest of the quarter belonged to Mount Pulaski. Mount Pulaski was running the court fast and using quick ball movement as they jumped out to a 15-10 lead at the 3:12 mark.

A minute later Seth Huff grabbed a rebound and tossed a full court pass out to Brandon Kretzinger, who finished the layup nicely. Then it was Huff hitting a three with 1:35 showing on the clock to give the Hilltoppers a 20-12 lead. To end the first quarter, Lukas Aylesworth snuck into the lane and tossed up two points for a 22-12 Hilltoppers lead.

It was an outstanding first quarter of basketball for Mount Pulaski, with quick ball movement and guys lurking around the perimeter ready to shoot. Mount Pulaski had 3 threes in the first quarter, as even Aylesworth swished one from behind the arc as he poured in eight first quarter points.

The Hilltoppers cooled off a lot in the second quarter and only got four points from Taylor. Luckily the Hilltoppers held the Crusaders to just eight points so Mount Pulaski managed a 26-20 lead going into the half.

Gezus Oliver’s acrobatic reverse layup to start the third quarter got the Mount Pulaski crowd fired up but by the end of the quarter it was the blue and white crowd that was pumped up.

While Mount Pulaski held a 34-26 lead at the 3:44 mark after Kretzinger nailed a three, the Crusaders came charging back and thanks to a couple steals and buckets that followed, the Crusaders made a game of it. Mount Pulaski held onto a slim 34-32 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Springfield Lutheran used their momentum to carry them over and took the lead 35-34 on a three by Hank Hayer just seconds into the fourth.

Oliver would put Mount Pulaski back up, but that was short-lived. Sidney Squire’s shot in the lane was good and the game was tied 37-37 with about five minutes left to play in the game.

Peyton Taylor would give the lead back to Mount Pulaski and then Oliver took matters into his own hand.

Gezus Oliver’s ten points in the fourth quarter led the Hilltoppers to a 47-39 win Friday night over Springfield Lutheran.  Oliver led all scorers with 16 points.  

The Hilltopper fans have seen this more often than not this season from the junior. Oliver scored 10 fourth quarter points and led the Hilltoppers to the 47-39 win. Seven of those points coming in the final couple minutes of play.

Oliver led all scorers with 16 points. Peyton Taylor contributed 11 points in the win.

Mount Pulaski (14-8) hosts New Berlin Tuesday night at the Ed Butkovich Gymnasium.

Mount Pulaski Varsity 47

Oliver 16
Taylor 11
Kretzinger 9
Aylesworth 8
Huff 3

Springfield Lutheran Varsity 39

Hayer 7
O’Connell 6
Taylor 6
Squires 6
Pfeiffer 6
McQuinn 4
Whitaker 3
Cowles 1

Mount Pulaski JV 54

Hinds 10
Rule 10
Hayes 8
Shehorn 7
Murphy 5
Fricke 4
Farris 3
Trimmer 3
Dyer 2
Freer 2

Springfield Lutheran JV 47

Benning 15
Wiegand 11
Morenz 8
McCloughan 6
Davis 4
Williams 2
Vespa 1

[Teena Lowery]