‘That was a blast’: Hornets win third straight game at Macomb, take home consolation title

MACOMB, Ill. — The Brown County boys basketball team got accustomed to the early wakeup call.

It resulted in the Hornets bringing home some hardware.

After playing at 9 a.m. all three days of the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament, the Hornets finally got to play an afternoon game Saturday, winning the consolation championship by defeating defeating Canton (Ill.) 54-44 at Western Hall.

“I think the fact that we had to play at 9 a.m. every day gave us a little bit of an advantage because we got into that routine,” Hornets coach Jeff Bottorff said. “There were no more excuses.”

Freshman guard Michael Kassing said the Hornets adjusted.

“Three days in a row at the same time, you get used to it,” Kassing said.

Kassing scored 11 points, the most of his young career, and helped the Hornets create separation between themselves and the Little Giants in the final minute of the third quarter. Kassing buried a mid-range jumper to push the Hornets’ lead to 39-32 with 50 seconds left. Thirty seconds later, Kassing stepped into a 3-pointer from the right wing to stretch that lead to 10.

“He makes good decisions,” Bottorff said. “He’s the kind of kid that when things are down, he can make a play.”

Kassing did not hesitate when asked if that was his best high school performance to date.

“For sure No. 1,” Kassing said. “That was a blast.”

Brown County dropped the opening game of the tournament 48-39 to Illini West Thursday morning to fall into the consolation bracket. 

“The first game of the week at 9 a.m., we just weren’t awake for it,” Hornets sophomore forward Jackson McNeff said.

From that point forward, the mission was simple.

“Coach Bottorff told us we have to wake up and play at 9 a.m. the next two days, so we just went out and got the wins,” McNeff said.

Consider it mission accomplished.

The Hornets got right back up Friday to eliminate Camp Point Central 53-37. On Saturday, the Hornets once again answered the bell by defeating Liberty 54-45 to advance to the consolation title game at 4 p.m. By then, that first round loss seemed like a distant memory to Hornets senior guard Maverick Henry.

“It feels like an eternity ago,” Henry said. “It feels like we’ve been here all week.”

Henry made his mark on Brown County’s third win in two days. Henry had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and six steals. One of those swipes led to his fast break layup that gave the Hornets a 37-32 lead with 1:50 left in the third quarter and sparked a 7-0 run.

“It was more than just two points there. We needed some energy going forward, and that did it right there,” Henry said.

McNeff matched Kassing with 11 points, reeled in six rebounds and had a pair of steals against Canton. For the tournament, McNeff averaged 12.5 points, six rebounds and two steals per game and was the only Hornet to make the all-tournament team.

A trophy on top of that made those early mornings worth it.

“I wanted this one a lot more because I wanted to bring home some hardware for Brown County,” McNeff said.