Amidon leads Toppers win with 22 points and 10 rebounds

[February 11, 2015]  MOUNT PULASKI - Tuesday night in Mount Pulaski was all about Amidon. Matt Amidon, who is also known as "Towels," although he prefers Matthew, scored a career high 22 points to lead the Toppers to a 72-50 win over the New Berlin Pretzels. The 6'0 senior opened the game with the first seven points for the Toppers.

As the first quarter came to a close, Amidon had tallied eleven points, scoring the final basket at the buzzer. Mount Pulaski held a 17-9 first quarter lead over New Berlin.

The Pretzels, however, started the second quarter by going on a 13-0 run and went ahead of the Toppers 21-17. Michael Lowery was fouled on a drive to the basket with 3:35 remaining in the second quarter and his two free throws finally broke the scoring drought for the Toppers. Then it was time for Amidon again as his layup and one put the Toppers up 22-21 at the 3:07 mark. Amidon continued to be in the zone and he padded the lead with his basket off of the offensive rebound next time down the court, 24-21. On the Toppers next possession it was Lowery driving the lane and getting one to fall after it spun all the way around the rim before finally dropping in for two and the 26-22 lead belonged to the Toppers. Dalton Litterly's nice layup that twisted up the Pretzel defenders, extended the lead to 29-24. Beau Collier's three at the 1:00 minute mark gave the Toppers a little cushion with a 32-24 lead. It was Beau Collier again, surrounded by orange players, getting the rebound and fighting his way back up to basket for two more points as the half was coming to an end.

Mount Pulaski held the 34-26 advantage at the half over New Berlin. The Toppers had possession of the ball to start the second half and Lowery found Peyton Taylor under the basket for two and the 36-26 lead belonged to the home team. Just when the Pretzels were beginning to chip away at the lead, it was Brett Huff scoring back to back twos to put Mount Pulaski up 52-40 as the third quarter came to a close.

Litterly's first four points scored in the fourth quarter kept Mount Pulaski in a comfortable lead, 56-43. It was Litterly again with a layup to extend the Toppers lead to 61-43 as the Toppers were in the midst of their own 9-0 run on these Pretzels. Amidon was not done scoring either. He would contribute four more points here and his assist to Beau Collier put the Toppers up 67-49.

Then it was Brayden Curry, who finally came off the Toppers disabled list and scored his first basket in a month. Curry had been injured since the Toppers game at the St. Anthony Shootout on January 10th so it was nice to see the senior back in action. Following a free throw by Lukas Aylesworth and a baseline jumper by Caleb Przykopanski, the Toppers 14th win on the season was in the books, 72-50 over New Berlin.

Amidon led the Toppers with 22 points and 10 rebounds and simply played out of this world the entire game. It's been said that Amidon always plays a much bigger game than his 6'0 frame. That was certainly the fact Tuesday night. He can rough up even the biggest opponents.

Meanwhile, the Toppers hot-shooting Beau Collier scored 14 points for the Toppers.

Michael Lowery rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Jake Hunt led the Pretzels with 24 points.

The Toppers are now 14-10 on the season and will play again at home Friday night versus Illini Central. The JV game will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. with the Varsity scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Toppers scoring:

Amidon 22
Beau Collier 14
Lowery 10
Huff 8
Litterly 8
Taylor 2
Aylesworth 2
Curry 2
Przykopanski 2

[Teena Lowery]