BLOOMINGTON – It has been 21 years since any Lexington High School’s boys’ basketball team was last able to be crowned champion of the county’s post-holiday season basketball tournament. But after fighting through the battles against regular season opponents, the Minutemen prepared to do battle against HOIC foes to try to take the HOIC Tournament title.
But before Saturday, Head Coach Doug Yoder’s fifth seeded team first had fallen to fourth seed LeRoy. On Saturday, the Minutemen redeemed themselves claiming 3rd place with a 49-39 win over Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley as a crowd of roughly 800 fans for both schools looked on.
Disappointing as the loss to the Falcons was for the Minutemen, Yoder’s team regrouped and prepared for attempting to take, and then managing to claim 3rd place by beating 7th seed Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, 49-39, after a Saturday mid-afternoon contest in front of 750 fans on Dennie Bridges Court at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center.
Three straight unanswered baskets from senior guard Logan Friedmansky, junior guard Ethan Storm, and senior forward Alec Thomas gave the Minutemen a fast 6-0 start to the game until back-to-back unanswered baskets from senior forward Zach Barnes and senior guard Seth Kollross helped push the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley within two, 6-4 with 3:31 left in the opening quarter.
Minutemen junior guard Griffin Hari then scored the next 3-out-of-4 baskets with one from Storm included to help push the Minutemen to a 12-4 lead. GCMS senior Seth Kollross squeezed a basket past Lexington defenders in the middle of the Minutemen’s barrage narrowing the score to 12-6. A free throw Hari would give Lexington a 13-6 lead going into the second quarter.
A jumper by Storm opened the second quarter giving Lexington a 15-6 lead until Kollross was fouled while making a basket and followed with two free throws to complete a 4-point play, cutting Lexington’s lead, 15-10. Kollross and Barnes quickly added a basket each, reducing LHS’ lead to one, 15-14 with 5:32 left in the half, prompting Lexington head coach Doug Yoder to call timeout. Once back on the court, Storm hit a basket and, having been fouled by GCMS’ sophomore guard Braydon Elliot while shooting, hit a free throw giving Lexington an 18-14 lead. an unanswered deuce by Thomas followed extending Lexington’s lead, 20-14 with 3:09 left in the half.
A jumper by Barnes with 2:58 left in the half helped GCMS pull within four, 20-16, before another Thomas basket would give Lexington a 22-16 lead. GCMS would close out the quarter with a deuce from Barnes followed by an unanswered trey from teammate sophomore Brayden Elliott. Those baskets would shave Lexington’s halftime lead to one, 22-21.
The Falcons opened the third quarter on a 5-0 run courtesy of one basket from Kollross and one basket and free throw from Barnes, giving the Falcons a 26-22 lead prompting GCMS head coach Ryan Tompkins to call timeout with 6:36 left in the quarter. Emerging from that break, Lexington went on a 8-0 run highlighted by baskets from Friedmansky, Storm, and Thomas and two free throws from Storm who had been fouled by senior guard Chase Minion. Minutemen defenders kept GCMS players busy while Friedmansky and Hari sank back-to-back baskets prompting GCMS’ Tompkins to call another timeout with 1:51 left in the quarter. The remainder of the quarter was primarily defensive with GCMS’ Minion the only player able to get off a shot, but Lexington owned a 34-30 lead going into the last quarter.
Back-to-back unanswered baskets from Barnes and Kellan Fanson for GCMS opened the fourth quarter allowing the Falcons to tie the game at 34-all. A trey by Lexington junior forward Michael Olson put the Minutemen up by three, 37-34. GCMS’ Kollross’ next shot responded closing Lexington’s leas, 37-36 with six minutes left in the contest. Another basket by Olson and two Fremansky deuces pushed Lexington in front, 43-36, with 2:23 left prompting GCMS’ Tompkins to call another timeout. But after that timeout, LHS defense stymied GCMS’ offense while Minutemen players Thomas, Storm, and Dino Moran scored the last six points of the game with Thomas’ coming from the free throw line after being fouled and Storm’s and Moran’s coming from the court.
Storm led Lexington in double-figures with 15 points followed by 10 points each from Friedmansky and Thomas. Kollross was GCMS’ lone player to get into double-figures with 12 points.
Fieldcrest Win Sends Minutemen To 3rd Place Game Against GCMS: although the Minutemen had hopes of getting to the championship game, a tough Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley defense made for a rough afternoon for Yoder’s troops. The Minutemen jumped out to a quick 8-0 run with buckets from Storm, Olson, Friedmansky, and Coffman leading the charge before a basket from Brady Ruestman stopped Lexington’s drive. Those scores led to a 12-5 Lexington lead. a free throw from sophomore Jordan Heider closed out the opening quarter with Lexington holding a 12-10 lead.
Two treys from Connor Reichman for the Falcons opened the 2nd quarter, putting Fieldcrest up, 16-12, before Hari and Thomas closed the gap on the Knights, 18-16 with 5:11 left in the quarter prompting Knights head coach Jeremy Hahn to call time. Coming out of the timeout, two free throws by Ruestman, who had been fouled by the Minutemen’s Michael Olson, started an 8-0 run highlighted by baskets by Ed Lorton and Ruestman. As a result of the Knights’ scoring rush, they owned a 24-18 lead with 2:23 left until halftime. Jumpers by Thomas and Friedmansky closed the half with Fieldcrest owning a 26-21 lead.
Thomas’ 3rd quarter opening basket cut Fieldcrest’s lead, 28-23 and two baskets each from Olson and Hari, and another deuce from Thomas helped give the Minutemen a brief 31-30 lead until Ruestman was fouled sending him to the free throw line where he sank two shots giving the Falcons a 32-31 lead. A basket by Friedmansky and a trey from Reichman assisted by Jozia Johnson helped slim the Falcons’ lead to 36-34 with 57.7 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. At that point, Lexington’s Coach Yoder called timeout. A backcourt violation called against Lexington hampered the Minutemen from tying the game going into the fourth quarter.
Ruestman’s next basket and a trey from Fieldcrest’s Johnson opened the last quarter before Johnson went on a 5-0 scoring run pushing the Falcons in front, 39-38. A basket by Ruestman followed by one from teammate Landon Modro gave Fieldcrest a 42-39 lead which got reduced to 42-41 thanks to a jumper by Lexington’s Storm.
Ruestman and Thomas each scored reducing Fieldcrest’s lead, 44-43, and prompting Fieldcrest’s Hahn to call time with two minutes left in the game. A bucket by Lexington’s Hari with 1:46 left gave his team a 45-44 lead followed by a Knights bucket from Modro putting the Knights up, 46-45. Modro was also fouled afterward but missed the single free throw. Minutemen sophomore forward Tyler Steffa’s gave Lexington a 47-46 lead with 43.8 seconds left, prompting Flanagan’s to again call timeout.
When play continued, Storm fouled Reichman with 19.5 seconds left but the junior guard went 1-for-2 on the line, tying the game, 47-all. Reichman fouled Lexington’s Thomas who hit just one free throw putting his team up, 48-47 with 18.6 seconds left. A jumper by Lorton put the Knights up, 49-48 with 2.4 seconds left prompting Lexington’s Yoder to call time. But when play continued, an in-bound pass from Hari slipped out of Thomas’ hands as the final horn sounded.