IMS gets best of Pekin in early north battle

KALONA ? An early season battle against two teams that figure to battle for the SEISC north division crown lived up to expectations Friday night.

From falling behind early, Pekin (1-1, 1-1 SEISC north) put a dent in the deficit time and time again, but in the end it was IMS that had enough for one final surge to win a 74-63 game over the Panthers.

IMS (2-0, 2-0) led by 11 after the first period and by as many as 15 in the first half with the score 32-17, but a Pekin run to finish the half got it back in the game. Pekin closed the half with a 12-1 burst before finally tying the game at 39 late in the third quarter.

IMS then scored the next seven before Pekin climbed back within four points entering the fourth quarter. IMS built another double-digit advantage before the Panthers came back to make it a three-point game, 63-60, with just under three minutes to play.

But that was as close as Pekin made it as IMS free throw shooting salted away the remaining seconds. Ethan Gingerich, Cameron Gingerich, and Peyton Thompson all hit from the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the win.

Trey Sathoff went off for 30 points to lead Pekin while also pulling in seven rebounds. Sathoff did most of his damage from the foul line hitting on 11 of 15 attempts. Bryce Sines and Graham Wittrock each added nine points for Pekin.

Ethan Gingerich finished with 25 points, including eight free throws in the fourth quarter, and Chance Miller scored 21 for IMS.

Pekin will hope to get back in the conference win column with its game Tuesday at Winfield-Mount Union.

Holy Trinity 64, Cardinal 45

FORT MADISON ? Cardinal found itself in a hole early and was never able to dig out in Friday?s 64-45 loss at Holy Trinity.

The Comets (0-2, 0-2 SEISC south) fell behind 11-0 in the opening minutes, clawed back to within six at halftime and made it a three-point deficit in the third quarter before the Crusaders (3-0, 2-0) ran away.

Holy Trinity hit four three-pointers in the fourth quarter to turn the game into a lopsided victory.

?We folded when we had a chance,? said Cardinal head coach Kenny Hamm. ?We even outplayed them most of the way ? aside from the first two minutes and a little bit of the fourth quarter.?

Trevor Kayser led Cardinal with 12 points and nine rebounds while Brandon Warren and Marcus Giltner each scored five.

Next up for the Comets is a visit from conference bottom-feeder New London Tuesday night.

MSAE 43, New London 38

Maharishi School forced 31 New London turnovers, none bigger than a five-second count with the score tied at 38 and 40 seconds remaining, and the Pioneers (1-1, 1-1 SEISC south) came away with a 43-38 victory.

The back-and-forth contest saw New London (0-2, 0-2) put together an 8-0 fourth-quarter run to jump ahead 38-34 before MSAE held the Tigers scoreless the remaining three minutes.

Derek Thatcher hit from downtown to trim the lead to one and Paul DeAngelis hit from the free throw line to tie the game to set up the final moments. After the five-second call, James Francis was fouled going to the rim and calmly sank his two free throws to give the Pioneers a lead for good.

Sky Nite made more free throws in the final seconds to seal the win.

Thatcher led the way with 12 points, DeAngelis scored seven, Nite finished with six and Atreya Dey and Brenton Schwarz each scored five. MSAE finished with a whopping 20 offensive rebounds with Dey pulling in a team-high total of eight boards.

Next up for the Pioneers is another home game Tuesday night vs. Central Lee.

Danville 84, Van Buren 57

KEOSAUQUA ? The Van Buren boys? basketball team fell 84-57 at home to top-10 ranked Danville (2-0, 2-0 SEISC south) Friday night.

Elliott Remick led the Warriors (0-2, 0-2) with 19 points, Colin Weaver scored 17 and Dalton Stine put in 10 points.

Next up for Van Buren is another tough game on the road against Holy Trinity Tuesday night.