Muddy River Sports
ABINGDON, Ill. — Size eventually won out, no matter what the Camp Point Central boys basketball team did to negate it. The Panthers neutralized Illini Bluffs’ height advantage — 6-foot-9 Hank Alvey towers above most Class 1A post players — for the better part of the first half Friday night in the Class 1A Abingdon-Avon…
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QUINCY — Welcome home. After enduring a seven-game losing streak on its season-opening road trip and falling out of the NCBWA Division II Top 25, the Quincy University baseball team used Friday’s home opener as a fresh start and took advantage of the comfortable confines of QU Stadium. Junior left-handed starter Griffin Kirn threw 6…
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CANTON, Ill. — The Macomb boys basketball team went 1 of 12 from 3-point range in suffering a 36-33 loss to Rockridge in the championship game of the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament. Friday night, in a rematch with the Rockets in the Class 2A Canton Sectional championship game, the Bombers hit every target. Macomb went 9…
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QUINCY — For the third consecutive year, Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman earned top-10 honors in multiple writing categories in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing and photography contest. The APSE recognizes the best in sports journalism nationwide through its annual contest with more than 2,000 entries this year. The organization announced the top…
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Class 4A Pekin Sectional Championship Quincy High School (31-3) vs. Normal Community (29-5) Where: Dawdy Hawkins Gym, Pekin High School When: 7 p.m. Friday Livestream: Pekin Community High School YouTube page Radio: WGEM 105.1 FM Scouting the Blue Devils: Led by the inside-outside combo of junior forward Keshaun Thomas and junior guard Bradley Longcor III…
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Class 2A Canton Sectional Championship Macomb (27-5) vs. Rockridge (24-6) Where: Alice Ingersoll Gym, Canton High School When: 6 p.m. Friday Livestream: Bomber Sports Network Radio: WRMJ 102.3 FM Scouting the Bombers: Coming off the sectional semifinal upset of title favorite Peoria Manual, the Bombers’ biggest challenge will be to not have a letdown. Facing…
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Class 1A Abingdon-Avon Sectional Championship Camp Point Central (25-8) vs. Illini Bluffs (32-3) Where: Abingdon-Avon High School When: 7 p.m. Friday Livestream: Central Illinois Sports on YouTube Scouting the Panthers: This group just knows how to win, whether that’s on the gridiron or the hardwood. The Panthers have won 52 basketball games the last two…
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CANTON, Mo. — The Culver-Stockton College men’s basketball team had three players receive postseason honors from the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Senior guard Robert Fry II and junior forward Seth Larson were named to the All-Heart second team, while junior guard Tai Walters-Whitaker received honorable mention. The 6-foot-1 Fry averaged a team-best 14.2 points…
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CANTON, Ill. — The Macomb boys basketball team authored a comeback and an upset Wednesday night that will remain part of Bombers’ lore for decades to come. That’s what never losing faith will do. “There’s a little basketball karma that came our way tonight,” Macomb coach Jerremy Anderson said. Down as many as 18 points…
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ABINGDON, Ill. — Camp Point Central boys basketball James Barnett had complete faith Nick Moore was going to drain the game-clinching free throws no matter what had happened a minute earlier. “It might seem weird, but I felt more confident he was going to make those two because he had missed the previous two,” Barnett…
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LAMONI, Iowa — The Culver-Stockton College men’s basketball team committed a season-high 18 turnovers in a 77-64 loss to Graceland University on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament. The sixth-seeded Wildcats end their first season under head coach Dorian Hobbs Jr. with a 14-15 overall record. Third-seeded Graceland…
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MACOMB, Ill. — Not a week goes by without Western Illinois University freshman Raegan McCowan earning an Ohio Valley Conference women’s basketball honor. This week, she earned two. Coming off a scintillating scoring effort in an overtime loss to Southern Indiana last Saturday, McCowan was named both the OVC Player of the Week and the…
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SHELBINA, Mo. — Belle Roush didn’t come out of the locker room at the start of the second half Monday night. Her teammates didn’t let it faze them. The South Shelby girls basketball team’s all-conference junior forward scored 12 points in the first half to stake the Lady Birds to a 27-21 lead over Elsberry…
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COLUMBIA, Mo. — A perfect day with a perfect ending. A perfect place in history accompanied it, too. That’s what the Hannibal wrestling team earned Saturday. The Pirates had eight grapplers earn individual medals — three won championships — at the Class 3 state tournament at Mizzou Arena, enabling them to pile up an insurmountable…
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Amber Louderback ended the season with her arm raised. The Camp Point Central sophomore pinned Seneca’s Sammie Griesen in the third period of their fifth-place match at 130 pounds Saturday, earning her second state medal in as many years in the Illinois girls wrestling state tournament at State Farm Center on the…
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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Cody Culp wasn’t making the same mistake twice. A year after finishing as the Class 3 state runner-up at 138 pounds, the Hannibal senior wrestler didn’t allow his emotions to alter his approach before wrestling for the title at 144 pounds Saturday night at Mizzou Arena. “Last year, I was super nervous…
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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Tristen Essig’s familiarity with his opponent in Saturday night’s 132-pound championship match at the Class 3 state wrestling tournament gave him a blueprint for succes. “He knew I was going to be coming at him in neutral and pressuring forward,” Essig said of North Point’s Kaden Purler, who he had beaten twice…
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COLUMBIA, Mo. — The experience of battling with seniors daily in the wrestling room continues to pay off for Austin Brown. Now a state champion, he’ll be the one setting the tone in the future. Brown changed the momentum of the 113-pound title match against Carl Junction’s Carter Foglesong by getting a reversal with 18…
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QUEEN CITY, Mo. — Preston Brewer’s 6-foot-7 presence in the lane becomes a focal point for every opponent the Canton boys basketball team faces. Chris Alspaw’s job is to alleviate some of that pressure and force teams to extend their defense. Saturday, Alspaw and Brewer did their duties to perfection. Alspaw softened Schuyler County’s defense…
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DANVILLE, Ill. — Trailing by 18 points with 16 minutes remaining in one of those must-have games, the John Wood Community College men’s basketball team didn’t do anything drastic or dramatic. “We just plugged away and plugged away,” JWCC coach Brad Hoyt said. The Trail Blazers avoided mistakes, too. JWCC limited Danville to 22 second-half…
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COLUMBIA, Mo. — To win the Class 3 state championship, the Hannibal wrestling team needed more than its three individual titleists to separate itself from the field. That’s where the depth in the Pirates’ lineup paid off. Senior Koen Ramage finished second at 157 pounds and four others navigated the wrestlebacks to reach the podium…
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COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Hannibal wrestling team made history Saturday night, winning the Class 3 state championship to become just the second boys team in school history to hoist a crown. The Pirates join the 1930 boys indoor track team as state champions. The Pirates had three individual champions — sophomore Austin Brown at 113…
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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — Once the Quincy University women’s basketball team managed to grab the lead, the Hawks weren’t giving it up. Freshman forward Ashlynn Arnsman made back-to-back critical field goals in the final two minutes, junior guard Karsyn Stratton made four straight free throws and point guard Mikayla Huffine capped a career-best scoring effort with…
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KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — The Truman State men’s basketball team is one of the best 3-point shooting squads in the Great Lakes Valley Conference this season. Quincy University is one of the worst. That’s how it looked Saturday. The Bulldogs shot the ball as efficiently as any QU opponent has this season from the perimeter, knocking…
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MACOMB, Ill. — Western Hall feels like home once again. Fighting for a top-four seed in the Ohio Valley Conference postseason tournament, the Western Illinois University men’s basketball team ended a four-game home losing streak Saturday by beating Southern Indiana 82-76 at Western Hall. Western Illinois (18-11, 11-5 OVC) remains in fourth place in the…
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PARKVILLE, Mo. — Park University scored the final 10 points of the game to upend the Culver-Stockton College men’s basketball team 77-72 in the regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at the Breckon Sports Center. The Wildcats end the regular season with a 14-14 overall record and a 12-12 mark in the Heart of America Athletic Conference…
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PARKVILLE, Mo. — Addison Newbon scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Culver-Stockton College women’s basketball team to a 76-72 season-ending victory over Park University on Saturday afternoon at the Breckon Events Center. Newbon was one of four players to score in double figures for the Wildcats, who end the season with an 11-17…
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FARMINGTON, Ill. — A three-point halftime deficit wasn’t cause for alarm, but Macomb boys basketball coach Jeremy Anderson knew everyone needed to take a deep breath. The first half of Friday night’s Class 2A Farmington Regional championship against Sherrard had been too frantic. “The first thing we had to do was be poised and be…
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QUINCY — Here are the results of the Illinois boys regional championship and Missouri girls district championships and the sectional matchups from both sides of the Mississippi River. The Missouri boys district championships will be decided Saturday. Illinois girls Class 3A Decatur MacArthur Sectional Tuesday, February 20 Game 1 — Quincy Notre Dame 63, Mahomet-Seymour…
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Pirates' pursuit of state wrestling championship off to solid start with eight grapplers still alive
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The title pursuit is in full swing. The Hannibal wrestling team had six grapplers each win twice Thursday and reach the semifinal round of the Class 3 state tournament, while two others rebounded from losses to remain alive in the wrestlebacks to give the Pirates a shot at the team title. Hannibal…
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