Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament roundup: Saukees return from lengthy break, celebrate coach’s birthday with victory

MACOMB, Ill. — Brad Tomhave’s birthday wish was quite simple.

All he wanted was a victory.

Five minutes into Monday’s first-round game of the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament against Monmouth-Roseville, the Pittsfield boys basketball team didn’t look like it had anything gift-wrapped for the veteran coach.

The Saukees allowed the Titans to score the game’s first eight points and didn’t score themselves until Nate Scranton buried a jumper with 2:59 remaining in the first quarter at Western Hall.

“We weren’t running a bad offense,” said Tomhave, who turned 46 on Monday. “We were just bad at making shots in that first quarter.”

Everything changed when the defense became more engaged. The Saukees went on a 20-0 run from the 6:19 mark of the second quarter to the 1:22 mark of the third quarter and parlayed it into a 44-30 victory and a spot in the quarterfinals of the winner’s bracket.

Pittsfield (6-3) will play Macomb at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

“If we can continue to play defense the way we have been, I like our chances of competing with anybody,” Tomhave said.

That’s not a bad effort for a team that hadn’t played in 14 days.

The Pikeland School District shut down extracurricular activities to help curtail the spread of COVID-19 and engaged all safety protocols to protect the student body and faculty. It meant the Saukees missed five consecutive days of practice and had a game scheduled against North Greene postponed.

They returned to the gym on December 21 and had three days of practice before Tomhave decided to give them both Christmas Eve and Christmas day off.

“In a normal world, if we hadn’t been shut down, I had planned to give them Christmas Eve off because families like to travel and do things,” Tomhave said. “I wondered if we should practice on Christmas Eve, but I decided to give them the day off.

“Well, in the first quarter when we couldn’t hit anything, my mind went right back to Christmas Eve.”

Even Tomhave knew in the moment, one lost day of practice didn’t make the Saukees go 2 of 15 from the field in the first quarter.

“Like if we would have practiced, we would have made all those shots,” Tomhave deadpanned. “Yeah, right.”

Pittsfield went 13 of 26 from the field (50 percent) over the final three quarters. Keller Personett led the Saukees with 15 points, going 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. TJ Reel added 10 points and four assists, while Carter Klatt had seven points and 11 rebounds.

In other first-round action, state-ranked Liberty and Central each won to set up their third showdown already this season, while Illini West, Brown County and West Hancock all fell into the consolation bracket.

Liberty, seeded fourth in the tournament and ranked seventh in Class 1A, outscored Illini Bluffs 20-7 in the first quarter and rolled to a 50-19 victory. Clayton Obert led the Eagles with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Breiton Klingele added 10 points.

Playing in the tournament’s opening game at 9 a.m., Central scored 22 points in the third quarter and pulled away for a 65-52 victory over Canton. Nick Moore went 5 of 8 from 3-point range and matched Isaac Genenbacher with a team-high 19 points. Genenbacher also had seven rebounds and five assists.

Liberty (10-1) and Central (5-5) will meet in the first quarterfinal at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Illini West suffered a 49-47 loss to Farmington when the Farmers’ Logan Morse scored with one second remaining in regulation. The Chargers trailed by four points with a minute to play, but they scored twice off offensive rebounds to tie it with 14 seconds left on Bradyn Robertson’s layin.

Max Richardson led Illini West with 16 points and Nolan Deitrich added 13 points.

Brown County suffered a 58-52 loss to Rockridge, the 2019 tourney champion. The Rockets outscored the Hornets 9-3 over the final four minutes of the second quarter and pulled ahead by as many as 13 points in the third quarter. Cole Behymer led Brown County with 20 points, while Tate Fullerton added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

In the final game of the day, West Hancock fell 59-44 to Lewistown. Colin LeMaire led the Titans with 15 points, while Alec Hymes added 10 points.