Winnebago junior Chas Cross led the list of local boys basketball players who were named to this year’s Illinois Basketball Coaches’ Association All-State Team for classes 1A and 2A.
Cross, a 6-foot-7 center who led Winnebago to a fourth-place finish in the state, was one of 15 players in the state named to the first team. Cross averaged 16.9 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 blocks a game for the Indians (31-2).
Two area players made the fourth team — Eastland senior forward Tyler Zumdahl and Rock Falls sophomore guard Jake Junis.
Scales Mound 39, Galena 35: The Scales Mound boys basketball team opened the Stockton Regional final with a flurry and closed it out at the free throw line, beating Galena 39-35.
Garrett Homb opened the game with a long trey as Scales Mound went on a 9-0 run early.
It took Galena more than five minutes to get on the board, as Adam Hocking (10 points) hit a three, followed by a layup and foul he converted to get six back quickly.
Homb hit his fourth basket of the quarter and scored nine of his 14 points in the first as Scales Mound led 11-8.
Galena 56, Stockton 52: The Pirates rallied from a 43-40 third-quarter deficit in the Stockton Class 1A regional. Adam Hocking led Galena with 20 points. Stockton’s Jared Hess had 17.
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Galena 67, River Ridge 57: Nathan Bingham scored 10 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter for the Pirates. Adam Hocking added 19 points for Galena, while Jeff Steele and Brandon Beyer scored 12 and 11 for River Ridge.
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Galena 73, Warren 45: Nathan Bingham scored 25 points for Galena, and Garrett Cox had 17 for Warren.
Galena 49, Lena-Winslow 40: Galena outscored Lena-Winslow 31-22 in the second half. Galena’s Matt Hillard scored a game-high 14 points. Brian McCabe had nine points for Lena-Winslow.
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Galena 64, Warren 22: Galena led 47-18 at the end of the third quarter and rolled to victory. Nathan Bingham scored 16 points and Michael Staver scored 14 points to lead Galena. Garrett Cox scored 11 points to lead Warren.
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East Dubuque 59, Galena 43: Sara Selle and Sam Belken scored 15 points apiece for No. 4 East Dubuque, which plays No. 1 River Ridge on Wednesday. Simina Lewis scored 18 for Galena.
Stockton 65, Galena 35: Keeley Schulz (16 points), Haley Magee (11) and Emily Korth (10) scored in double figures for Stockton.
Simina Lewis led the Pirates with 12 points.
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Stockton outlasts Forreston in nonconference play: Stockton pulled out to a 12-2 lead and kept its distance to outlast visiting Forreston 53-36 Thursday.
Stockton’s Haley Magee scored 16 points and Jessica Brunner added nine, and they each grabbed nine rebounds in the nonconference showdown. Forreston was led by Stephanie Conkey and Morgann McCoy, each with 10 points, while Hannah Collman finished with 12 boards.
Galena 50, Scales Mound 46: Nathan Bingham (14 points) hit two late free throws to seal the win for Galena. Adam Hocking led the Pirates with 18 points. Garrett Homb scored 16 and Joe Kelly 11 to lead Scales Mound, which made only 4 of 14 free throws.
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Erie 55, Galena 42: Lucas Jepson led Erie’s scoring effort with 22 points. Nathan Bingham tallied 19 points for Galena.
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Warren 53, Galena 31: Megan Rogers scored 15 points and Danielle Balbach had 10 in Warren’s win. Courtney Schultz led Galena with eight points.
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Galena 55, River Ridge 43: Nathan Bingham had a game-high 17 points for the Pirates.
Galena 37, Pecatonica 28: A 16-9 halftime lead helped Galena grab a close win over Pecatonica.
Miranda Muchow and Simina Lewis each scored 9 points for Galena. Vona Valenti had 8 points for Pecatonica.
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East Dubuque 55, Galena 45: Tricia Mulgrew’s 13 points was the team-high for East Dubuque, while Miranda Muchow led Galena with 16.
Keith tops R. Christian in semi-finals
Lamish Al-Basha scored a game-high 21 points to lead Keith past Rockford Christian 54-49 in the semifinals of the Rockford Christian Tournament.
Keith will play Indian Creek in today’s 8 p.m. championship game.
Trinesha Cornell added 14 points for Keith.
Rockford Christian, led by Amy Hicks’ 18 points, outscored Keith 26-25 in the second half, but was held to six points in the third quarter. Brianna Hellyer also had 10 points for the Royals.
Winnebago 72, C. Life 27
GALENA — For Galena it was the best of times. For Aquin, it was the worst.
Galena’s Matt Hillard took the opening kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown giving the Pirates a 7-0 lead with just 13 seconds off the clock. Galena never looked back in a 49-13 victory, dominating Aquin in all aspects of the game.
The Pirates totally controlled the first quarter, putting 28 points on the board. Hillard, who gained 160 yards in the first half, accounted for three of the four touchdowns, including an 85-yard thriller down the Aquin sideline.
GALENA — It wasn’t pretty, but for Galena, it was good enough.
At times Friday night, the Pirates (8-1, 7-1 in the NUIC-Upstate) were their own worst enemy, incurring killer penalties and committing a big turnover in the red zone.
But in the end, Galena was good enough, topping Polo 21-7.
“I thought we shot themselves in the foot a couple times,” Galena coach Ed Freed said. “But Polo’s a good team, and they’re going to do that to teams.”
STOCKTON - Matt Hillard gained 104 yards on 15 carries to help Galena jump to leads of 21-0 and 35-0 at the first two quarter stops and won 49-14 over Stockton.
Josh Yaeger led Stockton’s defense with 16 tackles. The Blackhawks were held to 105 yards of total offense.
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GALENA - The Pirates outscored Durand 28-0 in the first quarter and led 38-7 at halftime. Matt Hillard led Galena with 117 yards and three touchdowns on eight carries, and Trevor Harris followed with 110 yards and one TD on 12 rushes.
Jake Pelley led the Bulldogs with 66 yards on 16 carries.
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MILLEDGEVILLE — There will be a new No. 1 team in Class 1A next week.
The No. 3 Missiles shocked No. 1 Galena by rallying from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to win, 22-16, Friday and put themselves in the driver’s seat for a top ranking in the state and a conference title.
Milledgeville quarterback Kirk Engelkens had several key runs down the stretch, but said that when the Pirates built their 10-point lead in the beginning of the second half, he was worried the team was tiring out already.
GALENA — The Pirates easily handled East Dubuque, sending them back home on the short end of a 34-8 game.
Galena had a fourth-and-one at its own 41 on its initial drive of the game, and coach Ed Freed decided to keep the offense in. Matt Hillard (17 carries 112 yards and one touchdown) burst up the middle for three to keep Galena rolling. He then finished the 11-play drive with a 10-yard run to open the scoring.
FREEPORT — Galena expected Freeport Aquin to compete Friday night, but it probably didn’t expect the Bulldogs to be the first to score within the first six minutes of the game.
But after a Cody Gallagher (108 yards on 21 carries) 61-yard touchdown run, the Bulldogs did just that.
“That was definitely a wake up call for us tonight,” Galena running back Matt Hillard said. “But Aquin is a good team and they were going to come at us hard tonight.”
PEARL CITY — Defending state champ Galena stretched its winning streak to 16 games in a row — and has now won 26 of its past 27 games — bout outscoring Eastland/Pearl City, 49-32.
GALENA — Matt Hillard had 210 yards and three touchdowns on seven carries to lead the defending state champion Pirates to a 47-0 victory over Ashton-Franklin Center. Hillard scored on runs of 32, 81 and 61 yards in the first half, and Galena led 34-0 at halftime. Ben Pluemer added 106 yards on three carries for Galena, which outrushed A-FC 347-157. Kris Bridgeman led the Raiders with 75 yards on 18 carries.
