






Tonight's Live NFHS Broadcasts
January 10, 2022
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~ Boys ~
Ty Pence St. Joseph-Ogden
SJO may have went 1-3 during the week as a team, but Pence's point production was pure gold. The sophomore averaged 29.75 points per game after collecting 39 game-high against BCC and chilled with 24 points in the Spartans' 81-58 win over Olympia.
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~ Girls ~
Chloee Reed Unity
Reed put up 23 points for the Rockets in their 57-20 win over Illini Prairie foe Rantoul. Despite the non-conference loss to a good Warrior squad, she led Unity once again on the following Saturday with a team-high 10 points against Tuscola.
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Last year was the first time since 1989 the Holiday Classic was not played.
East Dubuque and Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin will be joining the boys small school division competition in the state's largest co-ed high school holiday tournament.
Along with these two new programs, St. Joseph-Ogden, led Ty Pence, will face stiff competition from the likes of Annawan, Aurora Christian, Bloomington Central Catholic, Chicago Providence St. Mel, Downs Tri-Valley, El Paso-Gridley, Kankakee Bishop McNamara, Quincy Notre Dame, Rock Falls, Stanford Olympia and Winnebago. Pence, who will be a junior, is ranked #27 in the Class of 2023 recruiting class.
The Spartans finished in sixth place with at 2-2 tournament record in 2019 putting up wins over Annawan in the opener and Bloomington Central Catholic in the championship bracket.
The SJO girls squad, who will be underrated and under the radar going into the 2021-2022 season, will see familiar opponents with Annawan, fellow Illini Prairie Conference mates Bloomington Central Catholic, Camp Point Central/Augusta Southeastern, El Paso-Gridley, Kankakee Bishop McNamara, Normal U-High, Rockford Lutheran, Rock Falls and Sherrard.
New in their division are teams from Aurora Christian, Winnebago, and Stanford Olympia, who were set to join the tournament last winter. They will also be joined Port Byron Riverdale, who will make their tournament debut in December, and the returning Sacred Heart-Griffin program.
In their last appearance, veteran head coach Kevin Taylor's #4 seeded team kicked off the tournament in 2019 with a 46-42 overtime win over Bishop McNamara. The upset victory put the Spartans up against the eventual championship team from Normal University High. The Lady Pioneers prevailed, but that didn't stop SJO from winning their last two contests to finish in 5th place.
The State Farm Classic has awarded $67,000 in scholarships to graduating student-athletes who participated in the tournament. The 2021 scholarship award winners will be announced next month. The tournament has also donated over $70,000 in the recent past to participating high school basketball programs.
~ Boys ~
Blake Kimball Unity
Kimball dropped an impressive 30 points on Paxton-Buckley-Loda in Unity's 54-57 back on February 20. While he only collected 10 points in the Rockets seven-point victory over Olympia, he was instrumental attracting attention to get teammates into open scoring positions.
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~ Girls ~
Taylor Henry Unity
The Rockets leading rebounder recorded a double-double performance in her team's conference game against Prairie Central. Two days later against Olympia, Henry scored 11 points and added another eight rebounds and three steals to her season stats.
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Sentinel: This is the last week of the basketball season. What are your thoughts going into it?
Dave Ellars, Unity girls head coach: "Glad we got to play. The girls gave outstanding effort, win or lose. They are a great bunch of girls and glad I have the opportunity to coach them this year."
Kiel Duval, St. Joseph-Ogden boys head coach: "I hope our guys finish strong. It has been tough knowing there is not a post season. I've been proud of the guys daily approach. They have grown as a team. I just wish we could have had them for an entire year."
Kevin Taylor, St. Joseph-Ogden girls head coach: "It’s hard to believe the season is almost over. It has gone really fast. Overall I’m glad the girls got a chance to play But we would like to finish as strong as we can. Even with no postseason I feel it’s important to have a good finish."
Matt Reed, Unity boys head coach: "I'm just relieved that we got the entire season in. We didn't miss any games. We had a few kids get quarantined, but no one was tremendously sick, so that was a blessing."
Sentinel: How well did you and the team handle the COVID protocols? Of all the things required, what was the hardest to adapt?
Ellars: "I think we handled it very well, we were didn’t have any cases. The hardest thing is playing and coaching with a mask. Not having any fans at most away games was tough on the kids."
Taylor: "No question the girls have done an amazing job dealing with all the covid protocols. It is very difficult to play in a mask and try to maintain social distancing. But they have done the best they could."
Matt Reed: "The kids adapted very well. The biggest issue with all teams was the kids wearing the masks properly. Its hard to tell a kid to constantly pull up their mask when they are playing as hard as they can, but that was the mandate."
Sentinel: What did you learn personally coaching basketball this season and what has been the most memorable moment so far?
Matt Reed: "Our team has really improved from the beginning of the season. We have had a chance to win every game since our game with St. Joe. We competed well in that game, beat PBL and Olympia, then lost two straight games by 2 points."
Ellars: "Kids are willing to adjust so they can play. Senior night, In January I never thought we would have a season."
Taylor: "This year, seeing the emotional struggle of the pandemic and seeing how it has affected everyone. The thing I had the chance to realize is how important the team atmosphere is. Seeing everyone go through tough times but In the end how the girls have come together and develop that team bond and support each other has been a really good thing to see as a coach."
The St. Joseph-Ogden girls basketball team didn't score a single point the first quarter of their road game against Teutopolis in their non-conference game on Saturday. By the end of the first half, Taylor Wells led SJO's scoring effort in the 43-27 loss to the Lady Wooden Shoes on Saturday.
The Rockets got the first basket of the game and enjoyed their only lead of the conference contest for a brief moment. It lasted until SJO's Ty Pence took control of the ball in Unity territory, dribbled it down the floor past two defenders to score on a layup making the score 2-all.
SJO went on a scoring spree tallying seven more points for 11-2 run before the Rockets' Austin Langendorf drilled a pair of free throws that marked the start of a short rally for his team.
Blake Kimball, the game's leading scorer, and Nate Drennen scored on the next two possessions to close the scoring deficit to three, 11-8. Kimball, whose was 9-for-18 overall performance proved to be a sharp thorn in the Spartans' side, finished the night with 22 points.
"He got in the lane almost every possession," said St. Joseph-Ogden head coach Kiel Duval about the junior guard's play. "We have to keep guys out of the paint because it never leads to good things for us. Kimball did a great job using his body and change of pace to put us on our heels. He was tough on Friday."
Late in the third quarter the Spartans doubled their five-point, 25-19 lead at half to eleven. Unity whittled it down to nine before the start of the final period of play.
But Friday, Unity head coach Matt Reed wisely chose to double team him, a move that limited Pence's output - he had just six first half points - to finish with a season-low 20 points.
Reed's strategy however, created an opportunity for SJO's Evan Ingram to step out of the shadows. The team's second leading scorer with 12 points, Duval says the junior guard has what it takes to be a top notch basketball player.
"I have said it from the beginning, I think Evan will be a very good high school basketball player. He has all the tools," Duval explained. Ingram was 2-for-2 from the charity stripe and hit two of his six shots in three-point territory. "Evan doesn't shy away from the big moment. He never has. He doesn't care if he is facing the #1 team in the state, all-state player, or a guy that is six inches taller than him. He will not back down and he wants to hit the big shot."
The coach added: "Those tools are starting to come together one at a time and that is why he is performing this year."
After starting the final quarter down 38-31, the Rockets made a gutsy come-from-behind effort behind Kimball and his two teammates Nate Drennan and Brady Porter. The trio positioned the team within range to tie the game score five times.
Drennan finished with 11 points for Unity, and chalked three steals and nine rebounds. Porter rounded out the Rockets' top three scorers with nine points.
Unity | 8 | 11 | 10 | 22 | - 51 |
St. Joseph-Ogden | 17 | 8 | 13 | 20 | - 58 |
St. Joseph-Ogden
Brazelton 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0,
Costa 0 (2) 0-0 -- 6,
Hutcherson 2 (0) 0-0 -- 6,
Smith 0 (0) 1-2 -- 1,
Burch 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0,
Grindley 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0,
Wetzel 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0,
Rydell 3 (0) 2-5 -- 8,
Beyers 1 (0) 5-5 -- 7,
Atwood 0 (0) 0-0 -- 0,
Pence 4 (1) 9-14 -- 20,
Ingram 2 (2) 2-2 -- 12.
Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
Unity | 16 | 3 | 3 | 7 | - 29 |
St. Joseph-Ogden | 9 | 6 | 15 | 14 | - 44 |
After weather forced yesterday's home game against Central Catholic to be postponed until later in the season, St. Joseph-Ogden made a last minute addition to their schedule about 16 hours ago. SJO will play host to the Oakwood Comets boys junior varsity and varsity squads tonight. Like all SJO home games this season, the contest will be broadcasted via live stream on the NFHS website.
A day earlier, the Spartan boys' program added a non-conference game on Saturday, February 20 with Robinson High School. The JV game is scheduled to start at 1:00 PM and the Varsity game after that at 2:30 PM on the road. Both games will be available via live stream.
If you are not already a subscriber, follow this link sign up for a monthly or annual subscription to watch SJO or Unity sports via live stream or archived by the NFHS Network. Monthly passes are just $10.99 each or save 47% and purchase an annual subscription at $69.99.
St. Joseph-Ogden Boys Junior Varsity Basketball vs Oakwood | 5:25 PM Central
St. Joseph-Ogden Boys Freshman Basketball @ Central Catholic | 5:55 PM Central
Unity Girls Middle School Volleyball vs Argenta-Oreana | 6:00 PM Central
St. Joseph-Ogden Boys Varsity Basketball vs Oakwood | 6:55 PM Central