Mount Pulaski picks up another win in Bill Rucks Memorial Tournament
Mount Pulaski 60 - Illini Central 53

[November 28, 2015]  by Teena Lowery

Dalton Litterly led Mount Pulaski with 15 points while Lukas Aylesworth chipped in 14 points for the Hilltoppers during the Wednesday night win over Illini Central 60 - 53 in the Bill Rucks Memorial Tournament.

The balanced scoring from the Toppers also featured 12 points from Brett Huff, 10 points from Will Stewart and 8 points from Peyton Taylor.

Illini Central was led by Max May and Riley Entwistle with 12 points apiece and Wyatt Hilst contributed 10 points. Illini Central was on the board with an early lead but spent the rest of the game trying to catch the speeding Toppers.

Cody Thompson connected for a three just seconds into the game and Wyatt Hilst scored a layup to give the Cougars their only lead of the game, 5-2.

It would be Lukas Aylesworth who would give the Toppers a lead that they would only build on all night long. Aylesworth hit nothing but net on a beautiful turnaround jumper from the paint at the 3:54 mark and the Toppers were up 6-5. Brett Huff's steal near half court on the next play allowed for him to just stroll towards the free throw line and it was nothing but net from the 6'2" senior. After Will Stewart nailed two free throws near the end of the first quarter, it was Mount Pulaski up 10-7.

The Toppers were steaming rolling to start out the second quarter. Litterly launched a three that swished into the basket, while the big men in the paint, Stewart and Taylor, each scored to give Mount Pulaski an 18-9 lead.

Illini Central was hanging tough though. Points from Entwistle, Hilst and Jacob McKinley kept the Cougars in pace and narrowed the Toppers lead to 22-18 late in the second quarter. Litterly then scored a buzzer beater off the rebound for Mount Pulaski and the Toppers took a 24-18 lead into the locker room.

The Litterly-Huff show was in the spotlight in the third quarter, with the two seniors combining for 13 points and putting Mount Pulaski up 37-25. Stewart scored on the offensive rebound for the Toppers late in the third and the lead was stretched to 39-27.

The Toppers continued to impress in the fourth quarter with Taylor getting in on the action, not only scoring in the paint but finding Aylesworth camping out under the basket and firing the nice pass into the 6'0" junior. Aylesworth continued to show nice moves of his own in the fourth quarter, scoring through the defenders who may have been a little taller, but none as focused on the basket as him. Aylesworth put the Toppers up 47-35 around the 4:40 mark.

But at this time the Cougars mounted their own comeback and made the game exciting. They pulled to within six points around the 2:00 mark but then were forced to foul the Toppers over and over in every effort to claw their way back.

The Toppers were 7 for 8 from the free throw line in the final minutes, with Aylesworth, Litterly and Huff all calmly sinking buckets. The Toppers won out in the end by a 60-53 margin.

The Toppers are now 2-0 on the young season.
Tournament action resumes Friday night with the following schedule:

5:00 p.m. Springfield Calvary vs. Tri-City
6:30 p.m. Illini Central vs. Decatur Christian
8:00 p.m. Mount Pulaski vs. Central A & M

Mount Pulaski scoring
Dalton Litterly 15
Lukas Aylesworth 14
Brett Huff 12
Will Stewart 10
Peyton Taylor 8
Eli Griesheim 1

Illini Central scoring
Max May 12
Riley Entwhistle 12
Wyatt Hilst 10
Cody Thompson 6
Emilio Rivera 5
Gage Wherley 2
Matt Painter 2
Jacob McKinley 2
Hoover 2

[Teena Lowery]