GIBSON CITY — Typically, a team that attends the WGCY Radio-sponsored All-Star basketball games in March wears their own jerseys during the games.
The three Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley players participating in Saturday’s Heart of Illinois/Illini Prairie Conference All-Star games took a detour from the norm to finish 18thth Birthday of a former classmate.
Seth Kollross, Seth Barnes and Reagan Tompkins respectively wore the numbers 11, 21 and 23 for GCMS in the 2022-23 seasons. On Saturday, each of them wore the No. 2 in honor of Colin Bane, who died in a car accident last May.
“To be able to wear that number and stand up for him and show that we still miss him and still think of him is beautiful,” Kollross said.
“It’s an honor to be number 2. He was a good friend to many,” Barnes added. “It was good to fill in for him tonight.”
“He means a lot to us because we grew up with him,” Tompkins added. “We just wanted to do our best to honor him for the rest of our lives, so this is one way we can do that.”
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Kollross and Barnes helped the HOIC exit GCMS high school with a 68-58 win over the IPC.
“I’m happy to end our season with a win. They were missing a few players but it’s still a good competition,” Barnes said. “It was a good time putting your shoes back on for the last time and playing with different people you don’t know. It was a good time.”
“I consider it an honor to be in the All-Star Game in general. There are really good players out here and to be able to play on this court and say you’ve been an All-Star with these guys is always an honor,” said Kollross. “It’s nice to be back on the pitch. It’s a little bit different. It’s not the team we’re used to, but every time you’re back on the court with someone, it’s fun.”
Kollross made a layup for the HOIC with 4:54 left in a fourth quarter that saw the HOIC and IPC tied at 18-18.
“One guy came from behind, and then one came from the front, so I went down and back up,” Kollross said.
Kollross also set up a basket from Eureka’s Justis Bachman in the first quarter and another basket from Fieldcrest’s Landon Modro in the fourth quarter.
Paxton-Buckley-Loda’s Jeremiah Ager led all Ford County-based school contestants with five points, including a 3-pointer in the third quarter that reduced the IPC deficit to 50-40 and two free throws with 2:08 in second quarter that reduced the deficit to 24-22.
“I just think it’s cool to be able to represent our team and our school to finish in the top 15 in an All-Star game. It was just a lot of fun. I wish we had won, but we didn’t. That’s fine,” Ager said. “I just had fun playing. It was just fun to represent our school in this way.”
Snelling scored a goal in the third quarter that made the score 47-32.
“It’s really an honor to come out and play against some really good competition, to mix all our teams with our conference and play with each other and learn how the others play and with these guys against the other conferences on the pitch too there’s a lot of competition and skill,” said Snelling. “It feels good. It was a fun game, a tough fight. We just didn’t win in this case.”
Snelling also had at least three blocked shots during the game.
“It’s just something I started this season,” Snelling said. “I’ve just started blocking shots and being more consistent with it. It’s something I’ve never done before, but it feels kind of good.”
Meanwhile, the HOIC girls won 66-63 over the IPC.
Tompkins contributed an assist to a basket from Eureka’s Reagan Linder in the second quarter.
“It was a lot of fun playing with all the girls because for the last four years or more we’ve always played against each other, so it’s always fun to play together and come away with a win,” Tompkins said. “I think it was a great win to end our season but some of them will do even more. It was a really good thing to play together and come away with a win.”
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The IPC girls took an 18-17 lead at the end of the first quarter as Prairie Central’s Chloe Sisco scored 12 points over the course of the quarter. The IPC extended the lead with an 8-2 run early in the second quarter before the HOIC came back with a 17-7 run to lead 36-33 at halftime.
Prairie Central’s Mariya Sisco scored eight points in the third quarter, while PC IPC player/coach Gabby Zeedyk added six points as the IPC went into the fourth quarter with a 54-50 lead.
In the fourth quarter, a 3-pointer from Mariya Sisco extended the IPC’s lead to 63-58 before Fieldcrest’s Ashlyn May made a basket and Fieldcrest’s Carolyn Megow hit with an offensive rebound putback with 58.5 seconds remaining in the game, to reduce the HOIC deficit to 63-62. Megow then stole the ball and made a layup to give the HOIC a 64-63 lead.
After Tremont’s Whitney Rumbold hit a putback to extend the HOIC’s lead to 66-63, St. Thomas More’s Emma Devocelle missed a potentially game-changing 3-pointer on the buzzer.
“The IPC was really strong,” Tompkins said. “They were handy and really good, but we were able to keep up and come away with the win.”
The HOIC boys ended the first quarter with a 19-6 lead as Deer Creek-Mackinaw’s Taylor Berchtold scored 11 points during the quarter.
The IPC took a 20-19 lead in the second quarter thanks to a 14-0 run with two free throws from Rantoul’s Jacksen Adkins. Heyworth’s Braden Denning made a go-ahead basket for the HOIC before a 3-pointer from Berchtold extended the HOIC’s lead to 24-20.
The HOIC went into halftime 33-25 before ending the third quarter with a 50-40 advantage.
A 3-point goal from Prairie Central’s Camden Palmore reduced the IPC’s deficit to 62-58 before the HOIC ended the game on a 6-0 run, starting with a layup by Tremont’s Alex Garcia.
“They have some really athletic guys over there who can shoot the ball,” Snelling said. “They played hard and hit a lot of 3-pointers. That helped them blast the game.”
“The competition was good,” added Kollross. “We came out pretty well and went up early and they came back and then we came back and finished the game with a win, which was nice.”
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Deer Creek-Mackinaw’s Taylor Berchtold finished with 14 points and led the HOIC boys while Eureka’s Justis Bachman finished with 12 points. Lexington’s Alec Thomas had nine points, while Fieldcrest’s Landon Modro had seven points, Ridgeview’s Cam Kelly six points, Tremont’s Alex Garcia five points, Lexington’s Logan Friedmansky and LeRoy’s Jack Edmundson – who won the dunk contest before the boys’ All-Star Game – Each had four points, El Paso-Gridley’s Mac Raymer had three points, and Kollross and Heyworth’s Braden Denning each had two points.
For the IPC, Prairie Central’s Camden Palmore had 11 points, Bloomington Central Catholic’s Chase Fisher nine points, PC’s Caleb Decker seven points, Tolono Unity’s Will Cowan and Monticello’s Drew Sheppard six points each, BCC’s Rye Pirtz and Ager five each Points, Pontiac’s Logan Barnett had four points, Rantoul’s Jacksen Adkins had three points and Snelling had two points.
Fieldcrest’s Ashlyn May led the HOIC girls by 17 points, while Tremont’s Erin Pulliam and Fieldcrest’s Carolyn Megow each had eight points, Tremont’s Whitney Rumbold seven points, Fisher’s Kallie Evans six points, Fieldcrest’s Haley Carver and Addison Swadinsky of Deer Creek-Mackinaw five points each, Izzy Hasselbring of Tri-Valley and Ella Ausmus of Eureka three points each, and Brinley Stevens of Ridgeview and Reagan Linder of Eureka two points each.
At the IPC, Prairie Central’s Chloe Sisco led by 25 points, while PC teammates Mariya Sisco and Gabby Zeedyk were also in double digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively. St Thomas More’s Emma Devocelle had five points, while Bloomington Central Catholic’s Medley Schnierle and PC’s Clare Strong each had four points.
HEART OF ILLINOIS/ILLINI PRAIRIE CONFERENCE ALL-STAR GAMES
At Gibson City
GIRL
HOIC 66, IPC 63
IPC 18 15 21 9 – 63
HOIC 17 19 14 16 – 66
IPC
Chloe Sisco (Prairie Central) 9-2-25, Emma Devocelle (St. Thomas More) 2-0-5, Medley Schnierle (Central Catholic) 1-2-4, Mariya Sisco (Prairie Central) 5-0-13, Clare Strong (Prairie Central) 2-0-4, Gabby Zeedyk (Prairie Central) 6-0-12, Collins (Prairie Central) 6-0-12.
HOIC
Reagan Tompkins (GCMS) 0-0-0, Reagan Linder (Eureka) 1-0-2, Kallie Evans (Fisher) 2-0-6, Erin Pulliam (Tremont) 4-0-8, Whitney Rumbold (Tremont) 2 -3-7, Carolyn Megow (Fieldcrest) 3-2-8, Haley Carver (Fieldcrest) 2-0-5, Addison Swadinsky (Deer Creek-Mackinaw) 2-0-5, McKenna Carithers (Deer Creek-Mackinaw) 0 -0-0, Ashlyn May (Fieldcrest) 6-2-17, Ella Ausmus (Eureka) 1-0-3, Kailey May (Fisher) 0-0-0, Brinley Stevens (Ridgeview) 0-2-2, Izzy Hasselbring (Tri Valley) 1-0-3, Brooke Monteggia (Heyworth) 0-0-0. Overall 24-9-66.
3 points – IPC 9 (C.Sisco 5, M.Sisco 3, Devocelle). HOIC 9 (3 May, Evans 2, Carver, Swadinsky, Ausmus, Hasselbring).
BOYS
HOIC 68, IPC 58
IPC 6 19 15 18 – 58
HOIC 19 14 17 18 – 68
IPC
Jeremiah Ager (PBL) 1-2-5, Will Cowan (Unity) 2-0-6, Rye Pirtz (Central Catholic) 2-1-5, Camden Palmore (Prairie Central) 4-0-11, Atwood (St. Joseph-Ogden) 0-0-0, Caleb Decker 3-1-7, Jacksen Adkins (Rantoul) 0-3-3, Logan Barnett (Pontiac) 1-2-4, Kayden Snelling (PBL) 1-0-2 , Drew Sheppard (Monticello) 2-1-6, Jose Andino-Guerra (St. Thomas More) 0-0-0, Chase Fisher (Central Catholic) 4-0-9. Totals 20-10-58.
HOIC
Seth Kollross (GCMS) 1-0-2, Seth Barnes (GCMS) 1-0-2, Mac Raymer (El Paso-Gridley) 1-0-3, Logan Friedmansky (Lexington) 2-0-4, Justis Bachman ( Eureka) 5-0-12, Braden Denning (Heyworth) 1-0-2, Alec Thomas (Lexington) 4-0-9, Taylor Berchtold (Deer Creek-Mackinaw) 5-1-14, Alex Garcia (Tremont) 2 -1-5, Landon Modro (Fieldcrest) 3-0-7, Cam Kelly (Ridgeview) 2-0-6, Jack Edmundson (LeRoy) 2-0-4. Totals 28-2-68.
3 pointer – IPC 8 (Palmore 3, Cowan 2, Ager, Sheppard, Fisher). HOIC 10 (Berchtold 3, Kelly 2, Bachman 2, Raymer, Thomas, Modro).
