The Trinity Celtics outlasted the Beloit Trojans and left the Gleason Center victorious 62-57.
Both Trinity and Beloit came out hot, combining for thirty-five points in the first quarter. Tate Thompson paced the Trojans in the first quarter, Trinity’s scoring was spread among the Celtics. Conor Remar(18 pts) dominated the second period, but Beloit kept it close and the Celtics went into the break ahead by five 36-31. The third period was a back and forth affair, a balanced Trinity offense had three double-digit scorers, Beloit; led by Vincent Palen (18 pts) and Hudson Smith (11 pts) nearly matched the Celtics point for point, Trinity led 50-44 into the fourth quarter. Trinity’s Hammeke brothers, Lucas and Kaleb who had 13 and 15 respectively kept the Celtics ahead; despite the efforts of Hudson Smith(11 pts) and Tate Thompson(8 pts). In the last two minutes, Trinity struggled from the charity stripe, this along with a couple of timely three by Beloit, had the Celtics with a one-possession lead in the last 20 seconds with Beloit in possession. A well-timed steal by the Celtics iced the game. Trinity will face Sterling for the SIT championship at 7:30 pm at the Gleason Center. Sterling defeated Trinity earlier this year 91-75. Trinity last won the SIT in 2009, Sterling in 2012. Beloit will face Southeast of Saline in an all NCAA 3rd Place game. With a spot in the SIT Championship on the line, the Sterling Black Bears and Southeast
of Saline Trojans went to battle. Through the first quarter, it appeared to be a contest primarily between Kenan Comley(20 pts) of Sterling and Jake Huffaker(20 pts) of Southeast; going backand forth and ending in a 19-15 Southeast advantage.However, this was just the warm-up for oneof the most explosive quarters for Sterling all season. Led by a 13 point single quarter performance by Lucas Briar(30 pts), Sterling went 4/4 from beyond the three-point arc, Blake Richter(11 pts) capped off the quarter with a buzzer beater trey to take Sterling ahead 39-24 into the break. The Bears picked up where they left, in the first half, extending the lead to a 21 point gap near the end of the third quarter. Hunter White(15 pts) and Seth Eklund (6 pts) helped the Trojans stay within striking distance, however, the Black Bears held a strong 55-37 lead into the fourth. John Schweizer of Sterling helped keep White, who had given Smoky Valley headaches, in check until late in the fourth quarter. Late in the game Southeast ramped up the pressure and attempted to mount a comeback, at one point dropping the Sterling lead to nine; however, the Bears responded, sunk some late free-throws and emerged with a 70-57 win. The Trinity Celtics never led in the opening round of the Sterling Invitational against Hugoton. That was until Celtic freshman Lucas Hammeke’s layup with 2.5 seconds remaining in the game sealed the victory over the Eagles 60-59.
The Eagles felt no ill effects of a three-plus hour trip to the Sterling Invitational as they dominated the first quarter jumping out to a 19-6 lead. The Celtics wouldn’t go away quietly. With 1:09 left in the half the Celtics knotted the score at 29-29. Two Carlos Montiel free throws with forty-seven seconds helped the Eagles regain the lead, 31-29 at the half. Hugoton would once again jump out to a quick 8 point lead 39-31 to start the third and finish the quarter up by 9, 52-43. The fourth quarter saw the Celtics once again whittle away at the Eagle lead finally chopping it to one point with just under 40 seconds left. With 7 seconds remaining Hammeke took the inbound pass and drove for a left-handed layup to give Trinity the win. Hugoton was led by Mitchell Hamlin with 19 and Damien Lewis with 16. The Celtics were led by Kaleb Hammeke with 19 and Alex Hammersmith and Connor Remar with 13. Trinity will face Beloit in the second semi-final on Thursday while the Eagles will meet Remington in the 3 pm consolation game. Waiting one more day to play didn’t slow the Beloit Trojans who opened the Sterling Invitational with a dominating performance defeating Remington 60-41.
The Trojans jumped out to an early 19-7 lead and never looked back. Remington would trail 31-17 at halftime and 45-30 after three. Carson Cox of Beloit led all scorers with 21 points all coming from beyond the arc. Vincent Palen would add 13. Remington’s Shane Tillotson was the only Bronco to reach double figures, with 10. Beloit will face Trinity who escaped Hugoton with a one-point win in one semi-final on Thursday night. That winner facing either Sterling or Southeast of Saline in the championship on Friday night. Remington falls to the consolation bracket and will face Hugoton at 3 pm on Thursday afternoon. The Smoky Valley Vikings rolled to a consolation bracket victory over the Lyons Lions 62-37 at the Sterling Invitational Tournament.
The Vikings got a dominant inside game from Jacob Adams and Ben Weldy. Adams was found early and often in the post on his way to 27 points on 9-11 shooting from the field and 9-11 from the free throw line. Weldy grabbed 10 caroms and 8 points. Smoky Valley led only by three after one quarter 14-11. The Lions would go cold from the field shooting 37 percent from the field and scoring only 9 points combined in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The Vikings led at the half 30-15 at the half and would run out to a 27 point lead early in the fourth quarter. Brayden Fundenberger and Jonathan Gomez led the Lions with 14 and 11 points respectively. Smoky Valley will play on Friday at Sterling High School’s Ora Shields Activity Center at 4:30 pm. against Thursday’s consolation game winner. Lyons will play in the 7th place consolation game 3 pm against the loser of Thursday’s consolation game. Approximately 22 miles is all that lies between Smoky Valley and Southeast of Saline. In terms of play, it came down to the free-throw stripe with the Trojans squeaking out a 55-51 victory in the opening round of the 2018 Sterling Invitational Tournament.
Smoky Valley would take an 8-2 lead early on, and ending the first quarter ahead 10-6. The largest lead gap of the game went to the Vikings early in the second quarter taking a 13-6 lead. Southeast responded to close the half to tie the game 23-23. The third quarter was just as tight as the first two, with 4 ties and three lead changes. Nick Reinert and Blake Heble were able to provide the scoring for Smoky Valley. For the Trojans Hunter White continued to give the Viking defense trouble, scoring eight in the period. After three quarters the score was still knotted, 37-37 In the fourth period, it continued to be a deadlock battle, with White of Southeast continuing to give the Smoky “D” a headache, assisted by Nick Montgomery with a large three down the stretch. Cole Brumbaugh kept the Vikings in the game with threes of his own in the fourth quarter. A one possession game in the final minute, the Vikings had a chance to take the lead at the free throw stripe but failed to convert giving the Trojans the victory 55-51. Smoky Valley will play Lyons tomorrow at 4pm while the Trojans will play Sterling on Thursday. The Sterling Black Bears defeated the Lyons Lions in the first round of the 46th Annual Sterling Boys Invitational.
In the first half, Lucas Briar of Sterling and Jonathan Gomez of Lyons stole the show, Briar scoring 14, Gomez with 11. A solid Black Bear defense forced 9 turnovers in the first half, and converted those turnovers into 18 points. This, along with a strong performance by the Sterling bench, outscoring the Lyons bench 13-2 led to a 36-21 halftime advantage for the Bears. The story of the second half was defined by the first four minutes of the third quarter. Unveiling a full court press the Bears forced 4 turnovers in the process of the four minutes. Sterling on the offensive end came out of the lockerroom smoking hot from the perimeter, going on a 13-2 run to open the period extending the Black bear lead to 26. Blake Richter paced Sterling with 9 points in the third quarter, Max Dutton and Kenan Comley added treys as well. Lyons responded to close out the quarter, with Terek Smith scoring 8, also leading the Lions in rebounding. With a 22 point lead into the fourth quarter, the Black Bears cruised the rest of the game out with final 73-51. The 2018 Sterling Invitational The 46th Annual Sterling Invitational Tournaments hosted by Sterling College and Sterling High School begins on January 15, 2018. On the boys side the Sterling Black Bears received the number one seed and will face off with their Rice County rivals on the opening night of the tournament. Perennial 3A power Beloit Trojans enter as the two seed and will face the Remington Broncos on Tuesday. The three seed Hutch Trinity Celtics will play the two time defending Invitational champion Hugoton Eagles who are the 6th seed. The final matchup of the first round will be the four seed Smoky Valley Vikings and the Southeast of Saline Trojans who will be the 5th seed. 46th Annual Sterling Invitational Team Capsules Sterling Black Bears 7-3 The number one seeded Black Bears enter the tournament with losses to 3A number one state ranked Cheney Cardinals, 7-1 Hillsboro Trojans, and the Bennington Bulldogs. |
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