Titans deliver emphatic point they deserve No. 1 seed, blow out Spartans to open holiday tourney

MACOMB, Ill. — West Hancock sophomore guard Hunter Froman brimmed with confidence when asked about the Titans solidifying their position as the No. 1 seed in the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament.

“I’ve heard people talking about how there’s no real difference between the top four seeds, but I think that’s wrong,” Froman said. “I think we’re the best team by far.”

Thursday’s first round performance in which the Titans, ranked eighth in Class 2A, led by as many as 46 points and obliterated Bushnell-Prairie City 63-26 at Western Hall suggested the seeding was correct.

“I want to come out and show everybody that,” said Froman, who had 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

Titans coach Jeff Dahl welcomes the distinction as the top seed.

“(The target) is no question on our backs, but I like that,” Dahl said. “You have to earn that.”

Like Froman, junior forward Cooper Knowles said the Titans wanted to truly establish themselves as the team to beat.

“We just have to prove ourselves,” Knowles said. “We just have to make our presence known and show why we’re the one seed.”

Separate 19-0 and 11-0 runs in the first 10 minutes did that.

“We got the shots we wanted,” said Knowles, who led the Titans with 16 points and five blocks. “Since we’re the one seed and playing a team that’s not as good as us, we just have to make sure we get great shots. I think we could have scored either way, but I think everybody looked pretty good tonight.”

The Titans led 40-9 at halftime then rattled off the first 15 points of the third quarter. That run did not end until a Zander Jones fastbreak layup with 2:25 left in the third quarter, 2 ½ minutes after Dahl pulled his starters from the game.

“That was huge for us,” Dahl said of getting the starting five nearly 13 minutes of rest. “We have to have people fill spots for next year. This gives them a little taste of what it’s going to be like.”

That rest could prove even more beneficial in the short term should the Titans win their second round game against Eureka on Friday. A win over the Hornets guarantees the Titans would play two games on Saturday.

“I think it’s important because of having to play two games on the last day,” Froman said. “It’s really going to help.”

While West Hancock possesses plenty of offensive firepower — the Titans are averaging 65.7 points through nine games — their improvement on the other end of the floor gives Dahl the confidence in his team’s ability to become the first No. 1 seed to win the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament since the Titans did so in 2018.

“We’re well rounded,” said Dahl, whose team is only surrendering 42.8 points per contest and has the 6-foot-9 Knowles as the anchor. “Our defense is better this year than other years. It helps when Cooper is in there, but our defense as a whole is just better. If we have a scoring drought, we can still be in the game.”

West Hancock (8-1) was without senior point guard Gavin Grothaus for the third straight game. Dahl hopes Grothaus, who is nursing an ankle injury, will return for a possible championship run on Saturday, but he curbed his optimism.

“He wants to try to play, but I don’t know,” Dahl said. “It will be a bonus if he does.”

West Hancock and Eureka will play the last game of Friday’s slate when they tip off at 8:30 p.m. at Western Hall.