Hilltoppers breeze past Storm in Tuesday night basketball action

[January 17, 2018] 

Mount Pulaski set the tone early in Tuesday night’s matchup with Sangamon Valley at the Ed Butkovich Gymnasium. Peyton Taylor scored the first four points of the game, which included an alley-oop pass from Gezus Oliver. Seth Huff poured in the next bucket on the quick assist from Oliver. Nate Dyer dished one off to Brandon Kretzinger for two points after that. Then it was “G for three” and the Hilltoppers were on a roll in the first quarter.

The fun didn’t stop there. Dyer stole the ball under the Hilltoppers basket as the Storm attempted to inbound the ball and just like that Dyer had an easy two. Mount Pulaski closed out the first quarter action with a couple free throws and a 16-3 lead.

The second quarter action started with Oliver tossing another alley-oop pass to Taylor and the 6’8 senior just dumped it in nonchalantly. Dyer was on fire from behind the arc and he made the first of his four three-pointers at the 6:17 mark to give Mount Pulaski a 21-4 lead. The buckets were falling easily for Mount Pulaski on this night and by the half the Hilltoppers were up 35-14.

The third quarter just got worse for the Storm. Dyer’s three around the 4:00 mark made the score 47-17. But the worst wasn’t over for the visitors. Huff and Taylor combined for the final eight points of the quarter and Mount Pulaski was up 55-20. It’s worth mentioning that Taylor had a successful dunk in the midst of that scoring run late in the third quarter. That’s always a crowd pleaser.

Mount Pulaski cruised in the fourth quarter as the starters rested and the bench took over. The final in this one was 67-27.

Mount Pulaski improves to 14-5 on the season.

The Hilltoppers host Delavan Friday night in Tomahawk Conference action at the Ed Butkovich Gymnasium. The JV will tip-off at 6 p.m. with Varsity to follow.

Varsity scores by quarter:

Mount Pulaski 16 35 55 67
Sangamon Valley 3 14 20 27

Mount Pulaski (67)

Taylor 21
Dyer 14
Huff 10
Kretzinger 10
Oliver 6
Murphy 2
Rule 2
Combs 2

Sangamon Valley (27)

Wiese 14
Hemingway 5
Pollard 3
Campbell 2
Calhoun 2
Deaton 1

The Hilltoppers JV team also defeated Sangamon Valley easily by a score of 62-29. Dustin Murphy led Mount Pulaski with 16 points. Brandon Kretzinger poured in 14 points and Grant Davis tossed in 11 points for the Hilltoppers in the win.

JV scores by quarter:

Mount Pulaski 10 27 47 62
Sangamon Valley 7 16 22 29

Mount Pulaski (62)

Murphy 16
Kretzinger 14
G. Davis 11
Combs 5
Lawson 5
Pharis 3
Hagen 3
Kirk 2
J. Davis 2

Sangamon Valley (29)

O. Floyd 7
D. Floyd 4
Fryman 4
Hood 4
Centola 2
Calhoun 2
Campbell 2
Finley 2
Parrish 2

[Teena Lowery]