
UPDATED: Monticello Holds On To Big Lead For Sectional Win Over Bismarck-Henning

The Clinton Maroons defeated the Prairie Central Hawks by a score of 58-53 on Friday night in non-conference action. The Maroons were led by senior Peyton McCubbin with 15 points. Junior Austin Baker also chipped in with 11 points.
Praire Central was led by Tyler Burnett with 23 points.
With the win the Maroons improve to 11-14 overall and the Hawks fall to 11-15 on the season.
Tune in Monday, February 27, as the Maroons take on Taylorville in the Taylorville regional. You can hear the game live on the Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, and on the WHOW app.
In a game heard on WEZC and dewittdailynews.com Friday night, it wasn’t pretty, but the Monticello Sages boys basketball squad came away with a Regional title Friday night with a 66-59 win over Argenta-Oreana in Class 2A postseason action from Unity High School.
The Sages used a 15-0 run to open up a 24-9 lead with 5:37 to play in the first half, but the Bombers fought back to take the lead in the third quarter and it was a back and forth game the rest of the way.
Neither team led by more than four until Monticello’s Calvin Fisher made an and-one free throw with 24 seconds left to give the Sages a 64-59 advantage and then Luke Stokowski’s layup with seven seconds left sealed the victory for the Sages and their fourth Regional title in the last five years.
Four players scored in double figures for the Sages, led by Fisher’s 21 points and 11 rebounds. Isiah Florey scored 17 points, Johnny Dawson added 13 points and Luke Stokowski also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
After being outscored in the paint in the Regional semi-final against Unity, the Sages rebounded to dominate the paint against the Bombers, with a 38-16 edge and controlled the glass 35-18.
The Bombers shot 61% from three Friday night, going 11-for-18, however 12 turnovers resulted in 13 points for the Sages and Monticello scored 17 second chance points.
Argenta-Oreana was led by Derek Jones with 19 points. Pierce Bradford scored 17 points and dished out six assists. Brody Ulrey scored 12 points and hauled in six rebounds.
The Sages will take on Bismark Henning Tuesday night in Monticello. The Blue Devils beat Hoopston Friday night 62-45.
Game time Tuesday night is 7 pm from Monticello Middle School. Hear all the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.
In the three-point showdown, Monticello’s Noah Wright advanced to the Sectional competition next week.
In a game heard on WEZC Wednesday night, Johnny Dawson’s jumper at the baseline as time expired lifted the top seeded Monticello Sages to a win over Tolono Unity 44-42 in Class 2A boys basketball regional semi-final action from Unity High School.
The Sages forced a turnover with just over a minute remaining the game, and held the basketball with just under 20-seconds left, and the Sages called a timeout to set up one final play.
Dawson held the ball at the left sideline until about 10 seconds, drove around a triple team a screen to the top of the key, then lost the ball and forced him to the baseline. After fighting through tight defense on the baseline, Dawson threw up a jumper that only touched the bottom of the net and the Sages bench and fans stormed the floor.
Dawson finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Calvin Fisher added ten points for the Sages and Luke Stokowski finished with eight points and a single rebound after battling foul trouble most of the game.
The Sages were outrebounded 24-19, outscored in the paint 36-30, and only converted two-of-nine from three.
The Sages did not play their finest but survived during a week when teams like St. Joseph-Ogden and Bloomington Central Catholic (top seed in GCMS Regional) lost.
Jonathan Decker tallied a double-double for the Rockets with 16 points, 12 in the second half, and 12 rebounds.
JT Wheeler added 13 points and Steven Migut scored 11 points despite battling foul trouble much of the first half.
The Rockets finish their season 11-13 overall. Monticello will play Friday night opposite Argenta-Oreana who downed Tuscola 49-41 Wednesday night.
Game time is set for 7 pm. Hear it on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.
Monticello will enter action at 19-5 overall.
As heard on WHOW, the Clinton Maroons fell to the Mt. Zion Braves by a score of 72-54 on Tuesday night. The Maroons were led by senior Peyton McCubbin with 14 points. Senior Noah Griffin was named the Country Financial representative Stephan York Maroons Player of the Game. Griffin added 9 points for the Maroons.
For Mt. Zion, they were led by Nate Ewing with 21 points.
With the loss the Maroons fall to 10-14 overall and 2-6 in Central Illinois Conference action. Mt. Zion improves to 18-9 on the season and 8-2 in conference play.
Tune in Monday, February 27, as the Maroons take on Taylorville in Taylorville for regionals. You can hear the game live on the Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, and on the WHOW app.
PORTA held Maroa-Forsyth to one second quarter field goal and outscored the Trojans 28-7 to pull away in a 74-46 in Sangamo Conference boys basketball action Friday night at PORTA.
The Trojans led 15-13 after the first quarter but trailed 43-20 at the break and could not overcome the slow second quarter.
Daanish Mahmood scored nine of his team high 12 points in the first quarter and Jaxson Nelson added eight points for the Trojans.
Max Muller led the Bluejays with 23 points.
The Trojans will wrap up the regular season Saturday at Unity High School.
In a game heard on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com Friday night, Calvin Fisher scored a career high 27 points and the Monticello Sages wrapped up the regular season with a big win over St. Joseph-Ogden, 50-46 from Monticello High School.
The Sages faced their largest deficit, 35-27 with 3:21 to play in the third quarter and outscored the Spartans 23-11 the rest of the way using lockdown defense.
Fisher scored 16 points in the second half, including 11 in the third quarter with a three just before time expired to give Monticello a 39-38 lead.
Isiah Florey and Luke Stokowski each added eight points. Florey grabbed five rebounds while Stokowski grabbed four boards.
The Sages were outrebounded 25-20.
Monticello shot 12-for-15 from the floor in the second half and shot all ten of their free throw attempts in the second half, sinking six.
The Sages held Spartans star Brandon Trimble to 14 points and Kolten Taylor added 12.
St. Joe-Ogden ends their regular season, 18-9 and 3-5 in the Okaw Valley Conference.
Monticello ends the regular season 18-5 and 5-3 in the Okaw.
The Sages will play at Regionals Wednesday against the winner of Monday’s game between Broadlands-Heritage and Unity. Wednesday’s game time is set for 6 pm. Hear the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.
Luke Stokowski and Calvin Fisher each recorded double-doubles as the Monticello Sages used an 18-4 third quarter to open up a big second half lead en rout to a 63-43 win over Champaign St. Thomas More at Monticello High School in Okaw Valley Conference boys basketball action Tuesday night.
Calvin Fisher scored a game high 20 points and grabbed ten rebounds while Stokowski scored 16 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, seven offensive, as the Sages dominated the glass, 36-20 and scored 14 second chance points.
Jarron Roy and Isiah Florey each had nine points. Florey had five assists and three rebounds as well.
The Sabers were led by Albion Francis, who scored 15 points and Nick Fruehling added 13 points.
The Sabers shot just 32% while Monticello scored at a 62.5% clip.
The Sages improve to 17-5 overall and are 4-3 in Okaw Valley play.
The Sabers drop to 10-15 overall and 2-5 in conference.
Monticello wraps up the regular season Friday night at Monticello High School with senior night, hosting St. Joseph-Ogden at 7:30 pm. Hear all the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.
The Clinton Maroons defeated the Meridian Hawks by a score of 72-66 on Friday night. The Maroons were led by senior Peyton McCubbin with 22 points. Junior Seth Westfall added 15 points and junior Austin Rauch also chipped in with 14.
The Hawks were led by Cameron Getz with 15 points and Nate Durbin with 10 points.
With the win the Maroons improve to 9-12 overall and 1-4 in the CIC. Meridian falls to 10-15 on the season and 1-5 in conference action.
Tune in Friday, February 17, as the Maroons take on Sullivan. You can hear the game live on the Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, and on the WHOW app.
The Monticello Sages boys basketball squad is the number one seed in the Monticello Class 2A Sectional and will begin Regional play in Tolono on February 20 with a first round bye.
The Sages, at 16-6 overall for the season, will head to the Unity Regional where they will play the winner of a Monday, February 20 matchup between Tolono Unity and Broadlands-Heritage (6 pm).
On the other side of the bracket, Argenta-Oreana earned a four-seed in the Monticello Sectional and will take on the winner of the second matchup from February 20, between Tuscola and Georgetown-Ridge Farm (7:30 pm) from Unity High School.
The Unity Regional final matchup is set for Friday, February 24 at 7:30 pm.
Hear each Monticello postseason matchup on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.
Class 2A regional quarter-final pairings:
At Pana
#8 Toledo Cumberland
#10 Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond
#5 Pana
#12 Sullivan
At GCMS
#6 Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley
#9 Tri-Valley
At Meridian
#9 Maroa-Forsyth
#10 Cerro Gordo-Bement
At Farmington
#7 El Paso-Gridley
#11 Eurkea
#6 Dee-Mack
#12 Knoxville
Class 1A Regional Quarter-final pairings:
At Astoria
#9 Illini Central
#12 Augusta Southeastern
At Abingdon-Avon
#3 Delavan
#14 Sciota West Prairie
At Peoria Quest Charter Academy
#6 Hartsburg-Emden
#11 Peoria Christian
At LeRoy
#6 Flanagan-Cornell
#7 Lexington
#3 Decatur Lutheran
#12 Blue Ridge
#5 LeRoy
#9 Bloomington Cornerstone Christian Academy
At Mt. Pulaski
#10 Roanoke-Benson
#11 DeLand-Weldon
#4 Mt. Pulaski
#14 Decatur Christian
#8 Sangamon Valley
#13 Normal Calvary Christian Academy
Calvin Fisher scored ten of 18 points in the second quarter as the Monticello Sages opened up a 30-16 halftime lead, then pushed it to 22 in the third quarter as they topped Unity 64-35 Tuesday night in Okaw Valley Conference boys basketball action from Tolono.
Fisher also grabbed nine rebounds.
Johnny Dawson scored 14 points. Luke Stokowski added 11 points and Ben Singleton came off the bench and contributed 11 points for Monticello, who snapped a two game, conference skid and evened their conference record at 3-3 and got back to ten games over .500 at 15-5 overall.
A group effort on defense frustrated Unity’s star junior, JT Wheeler, as they held him to 12 points. Jonathan Decker added 11 points for the Rockets.
After getting outrebounded in the first half, Monticello outrebounded Unity 17-7 for a 33-24 advantage for the game.
The Sages turned 16 Unity turnovers into 16 points and had 14 second chance points on 13 offensive rebounds.
Unity drops to 8-11 on the season and 1-6 in Okaw Valley conference action.
The Sages return to action Saturday evening when they travel to Central Illinois Conference leading Decatur St. Teresa for a 6 pm tip.
Hear all the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.
Kevin Williams and missed free throws were too much for the Monticello Sages as Rantoul held on to beat Monticello 69-65 in overtime Friday night from Monticello High School in Okaw Valley Conference boys basketball action.
The Eagles led by 13 in the first half, but Monticello battled back in the second half to take a lead, only to have Rantoul force overtime.
Williams, the 6-foot-6 senior led Rantoul with 35 points and 15 rebounds despite fouling out late in overtime.
Additionally the Sages shot just 13-for-35 from the free throw line for the game.
The Eagles turned the ball over 24 times Friday, leading to 24 Monticello points.
Rantoul dominated Monticello on the boards 46-27.
Calvin Fisher led Monticello with 24 points. Isiah Florey finished with 21 points.
Ben Singleton dished out eight assists and pulled down six rebounds.
Rantoul improved to 5-0 in the Okaw Valley and 17-6 overall.
The Sages are now 2-3 in the Okaw Valley and 14-5 on the season and have lost two straight.
They head to Tolono Unity Tuesday night for a 7:30 pm start time.
Hear all the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.
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