Hornets make statement with strong fourth quarter against Cougars, win tourney championship

BEARDSTOWN, Ill. — The Brown County boys basketball team made a statement not only Saturday, but throughout Thanksgiving week.

The Hornets defeated reigning Class 1A state champion Winchester West Central 55-50 on Saturday to capture the Beardstown Tournament title.

“This was an opportunity to gauge where we’re at and get a statement win,” Brown County coach Jeff Bottorff said. “West Central is a really well-coached team with the pedigree. They’re the defending state champs and they’re not backing down. For our young guys, I said, ‘This is a chance to go out and show people that you’ve arrived,’ and that’s what they did.”

After winning their first three games of the tournament by an average of 33 points, the Hornets found themselves in unchartered territory on Saturday when the Cougars scored the game’s first six points.

“We were a little off-kilter, and they were very physical,” Bottorff said. “That’s the first time this year we’ve been behind like that. The first few games, we’ve scored right off the tip and have been up six or eight points before the other team scores. Today it was the other way around. Credit to them. They kept fighting.”

That fight allowed the Hornets to tie the game at 21 at halftime, setting the stage for a back-and-forth second half in which the Hornets continued to show that resolve. 

The Cougars led 35-30 after the third quarter, but the Hornets rallied once more to take the lead with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. It remained a one-possession game throughout much of the next three minutes. With a minute left, Hornets senior guard Maverick Henry converted an old-fashioned three-point play off of a Cougars turnover to give the Hornets a five-point lead.

“You could just sense the confidence our guys had after he did that,” Bottorff said. “He stepped to the line, finished the three-point play, and I think our guys at that point felt like, ‘Hey, this is for real. We’re going to win this thing.’”

The Hornets made 13 of 18 free throws in the final stanza. Henry and sophomore point guard Carter Havens combined to go 11 of 12 from the charity stripe in the last eight minutes. Henry and Havens combined for 43 points on Saturday, 22 of which came in the fourth quarter.

“Maverick Henry and Carter Havens were outstanding,” Bottorff said. “Maverick, especially as a senior, kept us steady through the storm.”

Bottorff said the Hornets’ intense practices and high-pressure defense made — and should continue to make — life easier on the offensive end.

“I kept telling them, ‘You have faced tough defense for the first two weeks of practice just going against each other,’” Bottorff said. “They’re challenging each other every day, so I said, ‘Nobody is going to throw anything at you more difficult than what you’re facing in practice every day.’ I tried to keep them calm and confident.”

The Hornets (4-0) will play four consecutive home games beginning Dec. 2 against Camp Point Central followed by a date with Griggsville-Perry the next day, a rematch with West Central on Dec. 6, and their third straight Western Illinois Valley Conference game against Greenfield-Northwestern on Dec. 7.

“My hope is people are excited about it here and this place is packed,” Bottorff said. “We talk about communicating all the time, and I said, ‘We’re going to have to get better at that because there’s going to come a point in time during this season when this place is going to start filling up if we’re having success, and when it does, it’s going to be loud.’ 

“My hope is next week, we get a lot of people out here to come check out these guys. They’ve earned it, and they’re working their tails off.”