Quincy Catholic, Brown County to play for third place in respective IESA state tournaments

The Quincy Catholic and Brown County seventh grade boys basketball teams will play for third place in their respective Illinois Elementary School Association state tournaments on Thursday.

Quincy Catholic won its quarterfinal game on Saturday morning in the Class 3A tournament at El Paso-Gridley High School by the score of 33-25 over previously undefeated Crest Hill Richland. The Crusaders trailed 16-9 at halftime, but they scored the first seven points of the second half to tie the score. They outscored Richland 13-2 in the third quarter and never relinquished the lead.

Rowan Stegeman led the Crusaders, scoring 10 of his game-high 16 points in the second half. The victory was the first at the state tournament by Quincy Catholic’s seventh graders in program history.

Metamora scored the first 12 points of Saturday night’s semifinal game against Quincy Catholic and went on to win 52-23. The Crusaders got within 33-20 in the third quarter, but the Redbirds scored the last six points of the third quarter and outscored Quincy Catholic 12-3 in the fourth quarter.

Stegeman had 11 points and Kaden Marth had seven for the Crusaders (18-6), who will play Abingdon-Avon (27-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the third-place game. Kayden Turner made five 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 19 points for Metamora (27-0), which has beaten all but two teams on its schedule by 20 points or more.

Brown County cruised in its quarterfinal game in the Class 2A state tournament on Saturday morning at Macon Meridian High School, routing Decatur Montessori Academy for Peace 59-27. The Hornets led 32-15 at halftime, then outscored the Bees 19-4 in the third quarter. Bradley Markert led the Hornets with 20 points, while Beau Little scored 13 points and Henry Ingram chipped in with 12.

The Hornets led 25-24 at halftime of its Saturday night semifinal game against Peoria St. Philomena, but they were limited to two points in the third quarter and eight points in the second half of a 36-33 loss — ending a 28-game winning streak.

Markert had 14 points and Ingram 10 for Brown County (28-1), which will play Kincaid South Fork (24-5) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the third-place game.