MSJHS boys’ basketball finishes season in IESA tournament

By Fred Kroner

Mahomet-Seymour’s eighth-grade boys’ basketball season came to an end on Saturday (Feb 12) with a 61-44 loss to Rockford Eisenhower in the quarterfinals of the IESA Class 4A state tournament at Taylorville.

Wyatt Bohm and Landyn Hannah were the Bulldogs’ top scorers. Each tallied 15 points.

Bohm nailed three three-point shots.

Nolan Franz contributed seven points to the Bulldogs’ cause. Also reaching the scoring column were Cade Ashby (two points), Wade Manuel (two points), Ryan Pruitt (two points) and Isaiah Benson (one point).

The 14-player M-S tournament roster also included Austo Li, Henry McMurry, Kyle Popovich, Jack Stelle, Cole Thrasher, Parker Wilkins and Max Young.

The Bulldogs qualified for state for the first time in 19 years on Wednesday (Feb. 9) with a pulsating 51-49 triumph in their own gymnasium against Mount Zion.

With less than one minute to play, M-S faced a 45-40 deficit.

The improbable comeback was sparked by Hannah, who scored 15 of his season-high 30 points during the final six-minute quarter.

His basket with 57 seconds remaining cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 45-42. On a night when he was 6-for-6 from the free throw line, Hannah deposited two free throws in the hoop with 38.4 seconds left to pull the Bulldogs to within a 45-44 score.

Hannah swished a three-pointer 10 seconds later, following a Mount Zion turnover, and M-S went ahead to stay, 47-45.

At the 22.9-second mark, he finished his scoring for the night, connecting on two more free throws as M-S captured a 49-45 lead.

Mount Zion pulled within 49-47 on a basket with 15.8 seconds to play. The visitors had a shot to tie with 8.9 seconds left, but only hit on the second of two free throw attempts.

M-S’ Bohm was fouled and nailed 2-of-2 free throws with 7.5 seconds remaining, lifting the Bulldogs into a 51-48 advantage.

With 1.7 seconds to go, Mount Zion’s 6-foot-5 J.C. Anderson made his first free throw attempt and intentionally missed the second, but his team was unable to get off a potential game-tying shot and the Bulldogs escaped with the narrow 51-49 triumph.

Anderson led Mount Zion with 20 points.

M-S’ other points came from Franz (seven points), Ashby (seven points), Bohm (five points) and Pruitt (two points).

The difference – besides Hannah’s prolific scoring performance – was at the free throw line.

M-S made 14 of 19 attempts. Mount Zion was successful on 6-of-18 tries from the charity line.

In the decisive fourth quarter, the Bulldogs were 9-for-9 from the line and Mount Zion was 2-for-6, including the intentional miss.

M-S has now qualified a total of seven teams for the IESA eighth-grade state tournament, including the championship season of 1996 and the third-place finish of 2003.

Other state-qualifying teams for the eighth-graders were in 2000, 1989, 1987 and 1986.

Coach Matt Clark’s M-S team finishes the season with an overall 18-7 record.

Hannah led – or shared – the team in scoring in 14 games. Bohm was the leader in 10 games, followed by Ashby (four games), Franz (one game) and Pruitt (one game).

Hannah led the Bulldogs in scoring (11.5 average) and three-pointers made (34). Bohm drilled 19 three-pointers and Franz connected on 14 shots from beyond the arc.

Bohm (8.5 average), Ashby (5.5 average) and Franz (5.3 average) were the team’s other top scorers.

Bohm was the most accurate free throw shooter (74.5 percent) among players who averaged at least one attempt per game.

Young hit 83.3 percent of his attempts, but went to the line just 12 times, making 10.

Hannah shot 69.2 percent from the line. Franz’ accuracy rate was 65.9 percent.