Spartans win season opener at tournament of champions, Pence drains 36

Washington -- The St. Joseph-Ogden boys basketball team claimed their first win of the season with a 63-52 win over the Denmark Vikings at the Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions Tournament.

Ty Pence, who went 10-for-12 from the free-throw line, scored 36 points. The D1 recruit has offers from Illinois, Eastern Illinois University, Bradley and Illinois State also had eight rebounds.

Logan Smith, who was the leading scorer after the first quarter, contributed 10 points to the team effort. Meanwhile, Evan Ingram hit a pair of treys in the first quarter to finish with six points.

The Spartans led at 37-28 at the half and outscored the Vikings 26-24 after the break.

SJO returns to action next week at the Toyota of Danville Classic with tournament games against Cissna Park Park on Tuesday and then tipping off with Oakwood on Wednesday evening. After a day of rest, St. Joseph-Ogden will play Schlarman for its last pool-play contest. All eight teams will play on Saturday for their various places in the final standings.

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Cobb leads Urbana scoring effort in loss

Washington -- Kevin Cobb led the Tigers with a team-high 15 points at the Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions game against St. Rita. His effort wasn't enough to lift Urbana over St. Rita in the team's 76-47 loss on Tuesday.

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St. Joseph-Ogden girls suffer first loss of the season

St Joseph -- The SJO girls' basketball team dropped their first game of the season 50-41 to visiting Paris.

The Spartans (3-1) trailed 17-4 at the end of the opening quarter in their first non-tournament home game on Tuesday. Behind Paris' Madyson Rigdon's 13 points in the first half, the Tigers widened the scoring gap by 22 points in the second quarter.

St. Joseph-Ogden started digging their way out of the huge deficit on the scoreboard much too late. Peyton Jones (5 points) got the team within striking distance in the third quarter closing the gap to seven points. A plethora of missed shots combined with the Tigers' effort to stall and run down the clock didn't limit the Spartans' scoring opportunities.

Starter Ella Armstrong finished the game with 16 points. Payton Jacob delivered eight points in the fourth quarter to collect 13 total in the loss. Peyton Jones rounded out the top three SJO scorers with five points.

Rigdon finished with 18 points and the Lady Tigers got another huge 15-point push from Katelyn Littleton.

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Uni-High suffers tough loss

The Illineks fall on the road to Decatur Lutheran, 73-46.

Spartans cruise past Chargers at Turkey Tournament

St. Joseph-Ogden's Ella Armstrong dribbles between Centennial's Aleah Emers and Kennedy Ramshaw on her way to the basket. Armstrong scored a game-high 18 points in the Spartans' third game of the season. See more photos from this game here.

St. Joseph -- St. Joseph-Ogden had 17 points on the scoreboard before the Centennial Chargers lit up digits on their side in the last 18 seconds of the first quarter with a couple of free throws during the third game of the Toyota of Danville Turkey Tournament last Thursday. Building up a comfortable 25-6 first-half lead, the Spartans went on to a convincing 54-26 victory.

Senior Ella Armstrong scored eight points in the first half and ten in the second, finishing with a game-high 18 points.

Ashlyn Lannert had 11 points, Payton Jacob finished with eight, and Peyton Jones added another seven to round out the top three scorers for the Spartans (3-0).

"It's amazing. I'm so proud of our girls," said first-year SJO girls coach Drew Arteaga, who now coaches on the very same hardwood he played on himself as a Spartan. He was proud that his team won their inaugural girls' holiday tournament. "It happened because of all of their hard work."

The Chargers scoring effort was led by Mia Dejesus and Avery Loschen, both with nine points apiece. Centennial finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.

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Box Score

St. Joseph-Ogden 54 - Centennial 26

St. Joseph-Ogden -
Lannert 11-0-11, Frick 2-0-2, Jacob 8-0-8, Wells 2-1-3, Jones 5-2-7, Martinie 0-1-1, Kearney 2-0-2, Armstrong 17-1-18.
Totals: 49-5-54

Centennial -
Ramshaw 4-0-4, Loschen 7-2-9, Dejesus 6-3-9, Yahnke 0-2-2, Emers 2-0-2
Totals: 19-7-26