By Fred Kroner
The M-S seventh-grader boys’ basketball team raised its winning streak to four with a series of recent wins.
The Bulldogs started the month with a 42-33 conquest at Rantoul on Monday (March 1).
Cade Ashby hit a team-high 13 points. Jackson Bohm and Nolan Franz each contributed eight points. Landon Hannah had six points, Parker Wilkins had five and Kyle Popovich tallied the team’s other two points.
On Tuesday (March 2), M-S blitzed Champaign Jefferson 47-22 at home. The victory enabled the Bulldogs to sweep the season series from the Champaign-Urbana middle schools (Edison, Franklin and Jefferson, as well as Urbana).
Nolan Franz’s 10 points led the M-S effort. Hannah added eight points, Henry McMurry scored five points. Finishing with four points apiece were Ashby, Bohm and Wilkins.
On Thursday (March 4), M-S doubled the score on visiting Paris Crestwood, 44-22.
Wilkins led the way with eight points, making the fifth consecutive game where the team had a different top scorer.
Max Young contributed six points. Jake Sampson and Franz each scored five points. Bohm chipped in with four points. Wade Manual tallied three points.
On Monday (March 8), the Bulldogs handled North Ridge a 49-25 setback in Danville.
Hannah netted 22 points, the team’s top scoring output of the season. Bohm tossed in 12 points. Scoring four points apiece were Ashby, Nolan Sanderson and Young.
On Tuesday (March 9), M-S ended the season in the same manner as it began the year five weeks earlier, with a loss to Mount Zion.
Mount Zion posted a 43-34 win in the Bulldogs’ gym.
Bohm hit a season-high 18 points. Ashby scored seven points. Franz had five points and Sanderson ended with four points.
The seventh-graders had a record of 10-4 to finish the regular.
Two of the team’s losses were to Mount Zion, another was to an unbeaten Tolono Unity team and the other was by one point to Monticello on a last-second shot.
“Unbelievably proud of these boys and all they overcame this year to be able to play,” M-S coach Jon Adkins said. “Great group of kids that had an amazing season with great accomplishments.”
After starting the season with back-to-back losses, M-S won 10 of its next 11 games.
Five different players led, or shared, the team in scoring in at least one game.
Bohn was the leader in six games, followed by Hannah in four, Franz in three, Ashby in one and Wilkins in one.
