The Centralia Orphans are in the Elite 8 after winning the Triad 3A Sectional Championship over the Mt.Vernon Rams 49-33 Friday night in front of a sold out crowd in Troy. The game started with the Rams getting a three from Cole Maurer and Navontae Nesbit and taking a 13-12 lead after the first quarter. Orphans junior Dustyn Collins would score 6 in the 1Q.
The second quarter was all Centralia outscoring Mt.Vernon 14-5 led by Collins’ 6 points including a monstrous 2 handed dunk that sparked the Orphans to a 26-18 halftime lead. Logan Meier and Cruz Harlan each had a three in the quarter as well.
Harlan led Centralia with 16, Dustyn Collins added 14 and Daryle Jones finished with 8. Navontae Nesbit finishes his fantastic career at Mount Vernon with 13, freshman Dave Barnes added 7.
The Orphans improve to 32-2 and will play the 34-1 Mt. Zion Braves in the Super-Sectional Monday night at the Bank of Springfield Center at 7:30 after the Braves knocked off MacArthur at Lincoln 61-48.
Christ Our Rock Moves On To Elite 8
Christ Our Rock moved to 20-15 on the season with a 49-39 win over No. 4 seed Arcola in the championship game of the Class A Sectional at Effingham St. Anthony.
Christ Our Rock led 37-33 after the third quarter. Arcola’s Jackson Miller made his third 3-pointer of the game to get the Purple Riders within 37-36. A Jayden Bazile three-point play put the Silver Stallions up 40-36. Miller made his fourth 3-pointer of the game to Arcola within 40-39. Christ Our Rock scored the last nine points of the game. Parker Boehne led the Stallions with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Omari King added 13 and 9 with Jayden Bazile scoring 11 points.
Christ Our Rock plays Mounds (Meridian) in their first ever super-sectional at 7 p.m. Monday at Eastern Illinois University after Mounds eliminated defending 1a state champ Waterloo Gibault at NCOE 50-41.
Benton Holds Off Top Ranked Central In Classic 2a Battle
The Benton Rangers made 11 of 12 free throws in the 4th quarter to secure a hard fought 34-32 victory over the state’s top-ranked team in Class 2a, Breese Central. Docker Tedeschi led Benton with 12 points. Isaac Billington added 11. The Cougars were led by Zane Schrage with 12. Benton led 14-4 after the first quarter, but the Cougars used a 13-4 second quarter to cut that deficit to 18-17 at the half. The 31-3 Rangers advance to the Carbondale Super Sectional on Monday against Teutopolis after they upset state ranked St Joseph Ogden 61-55 at Shelbyville in overtime.
