No. 3 New London knocks of Pekin

The South Division won the day on Friday in the SEISC boys' shootout. The South won 6-3, taking the top four games in the process, including No. 3 New London's 61-52 win over Pekin in the championship.

The Tigers, who have already wrapped up a South Division title, outscored Pekin 28-19 in the second half to stay undbeaten despite the continued absense of senior Isaac McSorley, who found out on Friday that he'd be out for the year with his knee injury.

It was Pekin that got off to a hot start. The Panthers scored the first eight points of the game, and also led 10-1 in the first quarter.

The Tigers, however, went on a 9-0 run to take a brief 11-10 lead before the Panthers grabbed it right back. Mason Porter had five points in the quarter, and Grant Swanson had four. Pekin led 16-13 after eight minutes.

Jalen Birdsell, who replaced McSorley in the starting lineup, went off in the second quarter. Birdsell scored 10 points in the period and the Tigers won the quarter 20-17. He had 13 points at halftime, and Porter was up to double-digits as well, with 11 at the break.

'Jalen shoots the ball well,” head coach Bryant Porter said after the game. 'He doesn't do too much. He plays solid defense, and he's kind of dirty. I like that. He doesn't care about getting fouls, he just gives me everything he's got. That's what I like about him.”

The third quarter was back-and-forth, but New London held the lead after three quarters. Porter and Keontae Luckett scored four points apiece and the Tigers led 43-40 after three periods.

The Tigers finally began to pull away in the fourth quarter. Darius Whaley put up seven points in the fourth quarter. Luckett added four more, and the Tigers outscored the Panthers 18-12 in the final period to close out the win.

After the game, Coach Porter talked about the team's slow start and said the Tigers have to clean that up before the postseason.

'It started off too fast for us, and obviously we weren't ready to play,” Porter said. 'Maybe the news from Isaac's injury threw them off a little bit, but we've got to move on.”

But moving on isn't an easy task, as the head coach would tell you himself.

'It takes away 17 points, six or seven rebounds (and) four or five steals, and he's our catalyst,” Porter said. 'It's like somebody took both of our legs from us. He's going to be missed. We know that, and we've just got to find pieces together to kind of make up for what we're going to lose with him.”

Porter ended the night with eight points. Birdsell had 15. Luckett finished with 11. Swanson had nine, and Whaley scored eight.

New London is now 17-0 with two more regular season games to go. They'll head to Cardinal on Tuesday, Feb. 5, and Notre Dame on Friday, Feb. 8.