Hoopers split Senior Night against Mascoutah
By Ray Popkess
Triad fans and staff flooded The Rich last Friday night to celebrate and honor the senior cheerleaders and basketball players that dedicated their time and effort to the Knights’ programs.
The Lady Knights had already locked in their Regional matchup set for Tuesday, Feb. 17 prior to Friday night’s tip-off. Senior night saw them handedly take care of Mascoutah on home court, only for their next rematch to occur in Carbondale for the Regional.
Triad’s boys sought to clinch the final MVC Boys’ Basketball title with a win but the Indians had something else up their sleeve for the Knights.
Girls’ Varsity
Five seniors were honored prior to the game. Erica Boyce, Ellie Holloway, Emerson Guidry, Lexi Metcalf and Presley Thompson were all presented with gift baskets and bouquets to hand off to their families and thanked generously for their contributions to the basketball program.
Triad had come off a victory against the Columbia Eagles earlier in week and had one final conference contest before the postseason.
Presley Thompson gathers the ball before her corner three attempt in front of the bench. (Ray Popkess photo)
Friday’s result did not have any impact on league standings, as the Highland Bulldogs locked up the conference title last week when they defeated the Lady Knights.
In the first quarter, the Knights got out to an early lead that they wouldn’t surrender thanks to an Erica Boyce layup and an Emerson Guidry three.
After acquiring their lead, Triad looked to a full-court press on defense, leaning on their strategy to quickly flip forced turnovers into easy points. Triad held a double-digit lead going into the second quarter, 19-9.
Steals were aplenty in quarter two, when Boyce, Juliette Duff and Addy Gentemann all collected at least one that turned into layups on the other end for Triad.
Gentemann scored the last five points of the half for the Lady Knights, while Boyce led the charge with 13 points at the midway break. Triad took a lofty lead into the locker room, 41-20.
Halfway through the third quarter, all five seniors for the Lady Knights had earned a bucket while they turned up the pressure defensively. Almost every time down the court, Mascoutah coughed the ball up, allowing the Knights to balloon their lead to 48-26 at one point.
Seniors Lexi Metcalf, Emerson Guidry, Ellie Holloway and Erica Boyce share a moment on the bench after being subbed out late in their victory against Mascoutah. (Ray Popkess photo)
Boyce had 21 points through three quarters and finished with a career-high 27. She hit three of seven three point attempts and added four steals and two rebounds to her line.
Duff was second on the team in scoring, dropping 16 points with three steals and three assists. Gentemann finished with 10 points and seven steals. Holloway finished with eight points, making all four of her shots and hauling in three rebounds.
Coach Hunt and the Lady Knights took on Mascoutah again on Tuesday, Feb. 17 in Carbondale with the winner advancing to the Regional Finals against the victor of Carbondale vs. Waterloo. The winner of Feb. 19’s Regional Final game will take on the champion of the Highland Regional in the Sectional Semifinals hosted at Waterloo High School. That semifinal game will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
From left to right, each senior player holding a ball: Tyler Thompson, Nolan Keller, Mac Musgrave, Zac Scott and Brayden Riney. (Ray Popkess photo)Boys’ Varsity
In addition to the varsity boys’ basketball players being honored prior to their game, two senior cheerleaders for the Knights were also honored before tip-off.
Maddi Dean and Sammy O’Donnell were fresh off a fourth place finish at the IHSA State Cheer Championship when they were presented with their bouquets and gift baskets.
Seniors Sammy O’Donnell (left) and Maddi Dean pose at center court with their families prior to the tip-off of the boys’ varsity game. (Ray Popkess photo)
Next up was Brayden Riney, Zac Scott, Mac Musgrave, Nolan Keller and Tyler Thompson to receive their senior gifts, as well as a special basketball with one panel on each of the balls depicting photographed action shots of the player during the season.
Triad began the game on a quick 8-0 run, with baskets sunk by four different Knights to get the scoring started. Their lead grew to 21-7 by the end of the frame, with the Knights doing a little bit of everything on both ends of the court.
Mascoutah fought their way back into a close game in the second quarter, hitting plenty of threes to narrow their deficit to 11 by the halftime break.
The beginning of the second half was where Mascoutah really made Triad sweat. Deep threes got them within six points with a little over four minutes to play in the third quarter.
By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Indians could’ve had the lead, but missed free throws still had them on the wrong side of the scoreboard, 41-40.
With two minutes left to play, Riney gave the Knights the lead again with a deep three. Both teams had exchanged leads a handful of times prior to his clutch shot.
With 47 seconds on the clock, Triad found themselves up three points and with possession of the ball as they called a timeout to get their final shot up and extend their lead for good. After the timeout, the Knights chewed up as much clock as they could before throwing up a miss, giving the ball back to Mascoutah and forcing another Indian timeout with 12 seconds left to play.
Mascoutah drew up a play that got one of their shooters open on the left wing. Despite a defensive shot contest from Keller, the ball floated into the basket with 2.8 seconds left on the scoreboard. A half-court heave from Riney landed a foot and half short of the rim at an attempt to steal the victory back from Mascoutah with one last Hail Mary.
The Mascoutah win was still not enough to bump them past the Knights in the MVC standings, but with one conference game left to play on Feb. 20, the final MVC Boys’ Basketball Champion will be crowned this week. Triad travels to Jersey to take on the Panthers in the final game of the regular season, while Mascoutah hosts Civic Memorial. Triad is 8-1 in league play and the Indians trail them by a game with a 7-2 record.
Seedings for the Regional tournament have been released, with Triad earning one of two number one seeds in the Waterloo Sectional. Triad will host the Regional Tournament from Feb. 25-27, the first game being played on Wednesday, Feb. 25 when Triad takes on the winner of Highland and Charleston at 6 p.m. Game two of the Regional will occur directly after game one and be between Taylorville and Glenwood. The Regional Final will be played on Friday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.
