The Mercer County Golden Eagles emerged as repeat LTC Tourney champs after defeating Princeville 56-44 Saturday at Mercer County High School in Aledo.
The Golden Eagles are now 21-6 on the season and 8-0 in the LTC title chase, while Princeville is 23-3 and 7-0 in the conference.
Mercer County took a 12-7 lead after the first quarter and expanded their lead to 26-15 at the half. The lead grew to 13 heading into the final eight minutes of play at 38-25.
Lucas Collison led the Golden Eagles with a game-high 19 points and Tayshaun Kieser scored 17 for the Princes.
Third Place game
The Annawan Braves won a close, 55-51, game against Wethersfield to claim third place honors in the 12-team LTC field.
With the win, the Braves are 21-4 overall and 6-0 in the tight LTC title race and the Geese are 9-14 and and 4-3 in the conference.
Annawan set the tone early by taking a 18-13 lead after the first quarter and holding a 29-23 lead at the half.
Brody Childs scored 11 points for Annawan in the first quarter and had 15 at the break. Landon Sauer led Wethersfield with seven first half points.
The Braves would never relinquish the lead, but Wethersfield wouldn’t go away without a fight. The Geese outscored Annawan 15-13 in the third quarter to cut the lead to four at 42-38.
Sauer led the third quarter charge for the Geese with nine points. Childs and Dillon Aton-Ketelson combined to score nine for Annawan.
The final eight minutes were played to a 13-13 draw, but the Geese were forced to foul Annawan in the waning minutes.
The Braves capitalized, making 9 of 10 at the foul line. Childs was 4-4 and scored six points in the fourth quarter as Annawan pulled out the 55-51 win.
“We battled this grinding week,” said Wethersfield Coach Tom McGunnigal. “Fighting travel distance on back-to-back nights and a stomach bug that hit over half our team,” he added.
“I’m really proud of the guys for their effort and growth as we get ready for the postseason,” noted McGunnigal. “I really like how we are rising upwards and I’m very excited to see how we continue to develop over the next weeks of some very competitive LTC basketball.”
Childs claimed high-scoring honors with 26 points for Annawan and Logan Davis followed with seven.
Sauer led Wethersfield 20 points, Dillon Horrie added 10 and Rashid scored eight.
Semifinals
Princeville defeated Wethersfield 71-38 in one semifinal game and Mercer County topped Annawan 46-24 in the other semifinal matchup.
Princeville 71, Wethersfield 38
Princeville led 38-19 at the half and used a big 22-9 third quarter to extend the lead to 60-28 after three quarters of play.
Tucker Sennett led all scorers with 18 points, Josh Hunt had 13 and Jake Williams added 11 points for Princeville.
Zeb Rashid and Landon Sauer each scored seven for Wethersfield and Collin Hornback added six.
Mercer County 46, Annawan 24
Jude Hofman led Mercer County with 12 points.
