Rockets end losing streak with six-point win over Blue Bullets

MORTON -- After back-to-back losses in the past week, the Unity basketball team survives a near loss to the Blue Bullets of Knoxville (15-5) to win 60-54 at the Morton Basketball Shootout on Saturday.

The Rockets' 12th win of the season was yet another nail-biting affair. The score was knotted at 25-all at the end of the first half after a productive 20-point quarter by Knoxville. Will Cowan and Thomas Henry drilled two threes apiece in the third quarter to help construct an 11-point Unity lead.

Despite a valiant effort by the Blue Bullets to rally back into the contest with four players reaching double figures, Unity was able to hold off the surge in the final quarter.

David Hise and Braden Downs led the Knox County team with 12 points each. Bryar Fleisher and Beau Honeycutt chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Meanwhile, Unity had three players turn in double-digit performances.

After a 19-point output against Paxton-Buckley-Loda less than 24 hours earlier, Blake Kimball scored 18 points to lead both rosters in the shootout game. Will Cowan found his stroke from beyond the arc, draining five treys and finishing with 17 points for the Rockets.

Starter Tristan Price hit a couple of three-pointers and went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line to finish with 10 points.

Unity (12-4), currently tied 5th in the Illini Prairie standings, will have a chance to polish their record a bit. Tuesday, the Rockets host St. Thomas More at the Rocket Center and take on the Eagles in Rantoul on Friday.

Box Score

Final: Unity 60 - Knoxville 54


  1 2 3 4 OT F
Unity 11 14 22 13 0 60
Knoxville 5 20 11 18 0 54


Unity --
Kimball 6 (1) 3-5 -- 18, Cowan 1 (5) 0-0 -- 17, H. Thomas 0 (2) 1-2 -- 7, Rawdin 2 (0) 0-0 -- 4, Warfel 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Saunders 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Porter 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, O'Neil 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Price 1 (2) 2-2 -- 10, A. Thomas 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Langendorf 2 (0) 0-0 -- 4, Maxwell 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0

Knoxville --
Downs 3 (0) 6-6 -- 12, McClay 3 (0) 3-3 -- 9, Hise 4 (1) 1-2 -- 12, Wallace 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Fleisher 0 (3) 2-2 -- 11, Nolan 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Tuckey 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Curey 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Honeycutt 5 (0) 0-2 -- 10, Shreves 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Saulte 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Morris 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Bent 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0, Bentz 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0