Mahomet-Seymour boys’ basketball picks up State Farm Classic Consolation Championship

By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

Mahomet-Seymour’s prowess at the free throw line on Saturday enabled the Bulldogs to salvage two wins and capture the consolation championship in the State Farm Classic in Bloomington-Normal.

M-S (7-5) ended the event with three consecutive wins after losing its opener by three points to third-seeded North Lawndale. M-S was the No. 14 seed in the large-school division.

“Overall, the tournament was a resounding success as the team played our best basketball of the early season,” head coach Ryan Bosch said. “We showed a balanced attack, handled pressure and tempo from some very good teams and displayed real grit on Saturday.

“The team is gelling well and looking to keep it rolling into the New Year.”

In both Saturday wins at Normal West High School, the Bulldogs were outscored from the field but emerged victorious by hitting a high percentage of their free throws.

M-S opened Saturday with a 65-58 triumph over Thornwood, which held a 53-37 edge on points from the field.

The Bulldogs countered by sinking 28 of 32 free throws, including 4 of 4 accuracy from Kobe Essien, Luke Koller and Eli Warren.

Grant Coleman enjoyed his second-best scoring performance as a senior, landing a game-high 32 points. Essien scored 12 points.

“We also got great contributions from Cole Lener on the defensive end of the floor and some clutch play by senior Nic Liagradonis off the bench down the stretch, including two clutch free throws late that iced the victory,” Bosch said.

Lener registered seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. Coleman and Koller each hauled down six rebounds. Warren and Braden Finch handed out three assists apiece.

In the consolation finals, the Bulldogs rallied for a 60-56 victory over Springfield. The Senators led 27-25 after one quarter and 40-39 at halftime.

Coleman was held to a season-low one field goal and six total points.

Essien picked up the slack with a season-high 18 points. Finch reached double figures for the seventh time in his last eight games, firing in 17 points. Warren connected for 12 points.

“The Bulldogs were losing for much of this back-and-forth contest before finally taking the lead for good at the start of the fourth quarter,” Bosch said. “Grant Coleman and Cole Lener also both were great under pressure and shared the ball with open teammates as needed.”

Warren delivered six assists, Coleman had five assists and Lener added four assists to go with three rebounds and two steals.

Essien and Koller also totaled three rebounds each.

M-S hit 15 of 19 free throws against the Senators, who held a 52-45 advantage on points scored from field goals.

Earlier in the tournament, M-S defeated Joliet Central 56-40 on Friday at Normal West High School and lost to North Lawndale 72-69 on Thursday.

Against Joliet, Coleman scored 23 points and Finch chipped in with 16.

The M-S defense limited Joliet to six first-half field goals as the team carried a 29-18 lead into the break. Finch hit 10 points in the opening period and Coleman fired in eight during the third stanza.

Coleman cleared six rebounds and Koller handled five.

“Luke Koller gave us great minutes off the bench,” Bosch said.

The Bulldogs were close against North Lawndale despite a 5-for-25 showing from three-point range. M-S led 12-7 after one quarter and 28-25 at halftime.

Finch netted a season-high 24 points in a game played at the Shirk Center in Bloomington. Coleman added 19 points.

Essien was the team’s top rebounder with six, followed by Warren (five) and Coleman (four). Warren was credited with four assists.

“The Bulldogs handled North Lawndale’s pressure for stretches, but were inconsistent in their attack and found themselves down by as many as 10 in the third quarter,” Bosch said. “A late rally and clutch free throw shooting from Nic Liagradonis (five total points) got the Bulldogs back within three with the ball underneath their own hoop and a little over four seconds left.”

Without a timeout, the Bulldogs executed their out-of-bounds play perfectly, but missed a three-pointer.

“A deflection out of bounds off of Lawndale gave the Bulldogs a second chance and they again executed perfectly to get Coleman another wide-open look at the buzzer that just rimmed out,” Bosch said.

“I was pleased with so much from the game. North Lawndale is a very strong team and, if nothing else, I hope our kids have started to have faith that we can play and beat anyone in the state.

“There is a lot to take from the game on the positive side. We simply have to have consistency for 32 minutes and we had a poor stretch in the second quarter and third quarter where we got turned over too many times. We’ll continue to work on cleaning up our mistakes with the goal to have learned these lessons in December, so we are able to convert opportunities in February and March.”

M-S returns to action on Saturday (Jan. 4) at the Taylorville Shootout.