By: Rameen Karbassioon
(Charleston – Eastern Illinois University) – Two Southern Illinois schools battled up north in Central Illinois, in Charleston, at Eastern Illinois University, in a Boys 1A Super-Sectional match-up on Monday Night.
First Super-Sectional game held at EIU since 2007. Christ Our Rock Lutheran faced off against 27-8 Mounds Meridian. Meridian jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the opening minute of the game. The Silver Stallions clamped down on the Bobcats, en route to a 12-0 run the rest of the first quarter.
Jayden Bazile hit a three with just seconds left in the first, to put Christ Our Rock up 14-6 after the first eight minutes of play. The second quarter was all Meridian, 15-4 in the quarter, to go up 21-18 at halftime.
“We quit attacking in the second quarter… we got outscored 15-4, it was the difference in the ballgame,” said Stallions head coach Dan Kueper.
The Bobcats added to their lead, at the beginning of quarter number three, to go up 28-20.
Christ Our Rock answered with a 7-0 run, with Bazile scoring five in a row, and a 13-6 run by the Stallions in the meat of the third, got to within one point of Meridian, at 34-33.
Coach Kueper about the second half, “Meridian did us a favor, letting us stay in the basketball game. Everytime they had stretched it out, we got them to turn the ball over. You can’t shoot 52% from the foul line, and win a Super-Sectional basketball game.”
Poor foul shooting by the Stallions, 10-20 from the line in the final two quarters. Meridian got the lead up to 11 in the final quarter, and the Silver Stallions season comes to a close, falling to Mounds Meridian 60-53.
“You tip your cap to Meridian…they got some men playing on that team… nobody thought we’d be here…It’s been a good group of kids,” said Kueper. Junior Jayden Bazile lead the Stallions with 18 points, and the only two made the 3’s in the game for Christ Our Rock. Senior Da’Mari Dabney, added 15 points.
Game-high individual points went to Meridian’s Javionne Ranson, scoring 23. Christ Our Rock, with their highest finish in varsity boys basketball, making it to the Super-Sectional round.
The Stallions finish with a record of 20-16. Meridian now 28-8, advances to the 1A State Semifinals in Champaign, on Thursday.
Dan Kueper, in his first season coaching the boys team at Christ Our Rock, pleased with his team’s overall play during the 2023-24 season. “I can’t be more prouder of the guys. You see our fans out there, and how we played… one of the biggest things for me… we didn’t whine about the schedule… four of our first six opponents were state ranked opponents. We started 0-6, to finish where we were, to be one of the last eight teams playing, to have a shot in this basketball game, you couldn’t ask for anything else.”
