01/31/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
LAWRENCEVILLE - There is an old saying that says “Speed Kills.”

However in a basketball sense, quickness is equally as deadly.

Lawrenceville showed on Friday night in its matchup with top-seed Olney Richland County that their overall quickness equalized the Tigers' size advantage.

Coach Tad Shick got to see the fruits of the team's labor in the title contest of the 53rd annual Little Illini Conference Tournament.

Getting cuts to the basket for scores throughout the game and then using their impressive guard play to run clock and get to the foul line, the Indians captured their first LIC tourney championship since 2016 with a 55-43 triumph in front of the home folks at Lawrenceville.

This victory kept Olney and head coach Rob Flanagan from repeating as tournament titlists.

Lawrenceville made the right moves throughout the game while also getting Richland County in foul trouble trying to chase down the Tribe.

The combination of a strong offensive showing, controlling the tempo and getting the defensive stops that they needed, Coach Shick's club improved to 17-6 and continued its now eight-game win streak.

Olney, who had won two of the last three LIC tournament championships, had to settle for second place while seeing its mark slip to 13-9 overall.

The top guns for Lawrenceville were the trio of juniors Noah Wilson, junior Jayden Goff and senior Maddox Pargin who respectfully scored 16, 11 and 10 points in the victory.

Coach Shick also got eight important points from junior Zander Cessna, which included a key fourth quarter 3-pointer.

Senior Parker Hardiman added five-points, which also included a late 3-point bomb to help secure the Indians' title game triumph.

“That's how these kids play. This junior class and then you throw Pargin and Hardiman in there this group plays so well together,” said Coach Shick who is in his first season running the show after being an assistant for former head coach Randy Bishop. “These guys pass it, cut, give and goes, and we wanted to spread Olney out. The size was a disadvantage for us so we wanted to make it an 84-foot game. We wanted to push it (the ball) up and make them defend us.”

Olney Richland County was topped by junior reserve Carsyn Ameter with 14-points, which featured three 3-pointers in the third quarter for the Tigers that helped keep the game within reach.

Another important factor for Lawrenceville was their ability to defend 6-8 junior forward Casey Thomann.

The Indians only allowed Thomann two made field goal attempts to go with 5-of-8 free throws for nine-points.

Two other Tigers; senior Arjay Keller, and senior Rex Hallam scored eight-points apiece.

Trailing early in the game 7-4, Lawrenceville got consecutive buckets from Wilson, including his first of three 3-point shots, and a cut to the basket for points from Goff for 12-10 lead.

A second quarter scoring burst with consecutive 3-pointers from Wilson and Cessna broke the game's final tie (14-14) and sent Lawrenceville to halftime up 23-17.

Wilson closed the half with a fast break slam dunk for the six-point spread at intermission.

“The kids played fabulous defense. They scored some buckets but I think we won this on the defensive end,” said Coach Shick. “Our game plan was to guard their big three (Thomann, Hallam, Keller). The kids stayed calm when they (Olney) made runs at us. I'm just so proud of them.”

(CONTINUED)

The foul trouble for Olney really became a factor in the third quarter.

Thomann picked up his third and fourth fouls in the frame and Lawrenceville took advantage with trips to the foul line.

The Indians cashed in 8-of-10 from the stripe, with Pargin going 6-of-6 which led to a 34-22 lead.

But two 3-pointers in succession by Ameter, his second and third of the quarter, forced a Lawrenceville timeout as the Indians' lead had dwindled to 34-30 with 1:54 left in the third quarter.

Twice in the first minute of the fourth quarter Lawrenceville scored on cuts to the basket, first with Goff scoring off an assist from Cessna.

Junior Emery Ivers scored five-points for the Indians, all in the fourth quarter.

The second cut to the goal by Ivers turned into a conventional three-point play and a 43-33 lead for the hosts.

Ameter hit from the 3-point line one more time in the fourth quarter, canning a shot from the left wing.

But Cessna answered with a 3-pointer of his own and Ivers added a rebound score as Lawrenceville led 50-40 at the 5:26 mark.

The Indians snagged the championship when Hardiman closed the book with a lay up on a pass from Pargin and then sent a dagger with a 3-pointer from the right corner for a 55-41 lead.

A final basket from Keller closed the scoring and after an Olney turnover with 1:40 left, the Indians ran out the rest of the clock for the championship game victory.

Lawrenceville was statistically better in the most important categories as they hit 18-of-38 overall, 6-of-16 from the 3-point line.

Olney struggled offensively with an 11-of-35 shooting showing, 7-of-18 from the arc.

Six of the Tigers' 10 turnovers came in the first half as Lawrenceville took the lead for good.

Coach Shick's club only committed five turnovers and held their own with the bigger Olney squad on the glass, with the Tigers holding a slight 24-22 edge.

“This is a big win for us. This is a tough conference and any win is a great win. It is tough to get them in this league,” said Coach Shick. “This will springboard us forward.”

But the rematch in the third place game in the LIC tournament on Friday night wasn't even close as Coach Tom Brannan's Tribe took out their frustrations from the previous meeting as they took the lead early with a pressuring defense and rolled to an easy win.

Casey-Westfield is now 15-5 on the season while Paris fell to 13-10.

Seven different Warriors scored in the win, four different players scored in the opening quarter as C-W sprinted out to a 16-7 lead by forcing nine of the Tigers' 23-turnovers.

Senior guard Hayden Parcel scored 17 in the win, with a pair of important baskets early in the game coming in transition.

Sophomore Jackson High added 13-points, and a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter turned out to be important baskets for C-W as they took a 32-21 lead to intermission.

Junior forward Luke Karras scored 10-points for his team, six of which helped push the Warriors to a large lead at the end of three quarters.

Nolan Clement, a junior guard who is also the quarterback of the football squad, added eight-points as did junior Leighton Jones.

Parcel scored 13 of his points in the second half.

Paris and head coach Chase Brinkley fell too far behind to make up much of the scoring distance in the final three quarters.

Senior guard Jackson Rigdon scored 10-points for the Tigers as he was the only one with double-digits in scoring.

Junior Carter Eastham added eight and junior guard Carter Crippes ended up with five-points.

Whatever doubt there was about the outcome vanished in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter as Casey-Westfield went on a 12-2 lead to trigger a continuous clock with 4:49 left.

The run with began with High scoring on a fast break after a Jones steal and two baskets and two free throws by Parcels.

A fast break lay in by Karras made it 62-30 before both coaches went to reserves in the final minutes.

Although Casey-Westfield didn't shoot the ball (24-of-62 overall, 3-of-19 from the arc) they made up for it by forcing the Tigers' mistakes and with Karras leading the way with 10-rebounds, the Warriors held a 39-26 advantage on the boards.

Coach Brinkley's club hit just 14-of-43 from the field, 1-of-8 from long distance.

Casey-Westfield committed just nine turnovers with five coming late in the game.