Varsity

For the third night in a row the Boilermakers were in action at the Colmone Classic, this time against an old conference friend in the bracket of 1-1 teams. 

Mendota jumped out to a quick first quarter lead but the Boilers were able to make a run themselves and knot the score at 14-14 after 8 minutes.

In a fast-paced back and forth second quarter the Boilermakers were able to take a 30-26 lead to halftime. Greyden Lewis and Brayden Conley combined for 18 of the 30 points in the first half.

Mendota would tie the score at 43 at the end of the third quarter. Brayden Conley added eight of his own in the third quarter to bring his point total to 16.

Like the rest of the game the fourth quarter was tight and heightened the focus on every possession. With some big shots by Greyden Lewis and Colson Welgat the Boilermakers were able to edge out Mendota with a 57-52 win.

Brayden Conley was the leading scorer with 18 points and Greyden Lewis added 14.

Sophomores

The Riveters won their semifinal game 39-31 over a very good Mendota JV squad.

A balanced scoring distribution had eight Riveters scoring in this ball game. They were led by Dayvon Robinson off of the bench with seven, followed by Jesus Martinez and Leeam Slover with six, Isaiah Ince and Chris Crowe with five, Adiel Arjun with four and Carter Ensley and Damein Taylor with three.

Down two at half the Riveters outscored their opponent by 10 to close out their fifth victory in a row.

“With consistent defensive effort and gritty rebounding the Riveters were fueled by great bench energ from their teammates,” Coach Matt Costenson said. “This game was for sure a team win,

Freshmen

The freshman Boilers took first place in the St. Bede freshman tournament last week.

Tuey.started off the St. Bede Freshman tournament going 2-0 in a double header against Bureau Valley and St. Bede. 

The first game against BV, the Boilers won 44-26. Leading scorer was Jaxon DeReu with 10, followed by Noah Barreto with 9 and Jacob Coombes with 8. “The defense was able to force a lot of turnovers, causing many transition buckets,” Coach Trenton Terry said. “The team started out hot scoring 18 in the first quarter and kept flowing from there. 

“All Boilers on the team got some valuable minutes throughout the game,” Terry said.. 

The Boilers defeated St. Bede 40-27. 

“The team was able to force St. Bede out of their 2-3 zone after knocking down five threes in the first half,” Terry said. “The second half scoring didn’t come as easy, but once again the energy and effort from the entire team allowed all players present to get some great minutes. 

“Leading scorer was Noah Barreto with 11.

The freshman played their next tw0 games of the t0urnament against Indian Creek and Putnam County. The first game, the Boilers came out hot right from the jump, winning the first quarter 24-6. They made four threes that quarter, three from Noah Barreto.

The second quarter was much of the same, with good shooting and a tough defense, with Kewanee leading at the half 38-14. 

The big men this game, Alex Ramos and Jacob Coombes, dominated all four quarters, clearing the rebounds and both scoring 13 points. 

The final of that game was 55-22. 

The Boilers also defeated Putnam County, 56-31. Jaxon DeRue had one of his more dominant games of his freshman year, scoring 24 points, 11 of which came during the third quarter. 

The team made 12 threes that game (four for Jaxon DeReu, tw0 f0r Manuel Arjon, one for Noah Baretto, two for Kane Minton, one for Jacob Coombes and two by Derek Bernal right before his birthday. 

“It was an overall great weekend for the team, going 4-0 and earning a first place plaque for their achievements,” Terry said.

The freshman won their sixth straight game in the span of a week, beating sterling in OT 47-44.

“Sterling was definitely one of the toughest matchups, playing tough man to man defense and attacking the paint aggressively,” Terry7 said. 

The Boilers started out hot, winning the first half 24-8. “The team played some great defense early on and knocked down some tough shots to earn the lead,” Terry said.

The secnd half did not start the same; starters Alex Ramos, Jacob Coombes and Kane Minton all had at least three fouls. The Boilers allowed Sterling to shoot 16 free throws in the third quarter, shifting their momentum their way.

Kewanee’s lead got cut down to 31-27 heading into the fourth quarter. Both teams continued battling back and forth in the fourth quarter, where the score was tied 39-39, forcing overtime. 

The Boilermaker defense stepped up in OT, making a lot of big stops. DeReu knocked down a big 3 towards the end of the game, followed by another stop to force Sterling to begin fouling. 

Noah Barreto led the team with 17 points (four 3’s) followed by Jaxon DeReu had 15. 

The team moved on to 10-3 on the season.