03/03/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – Taking advantage of a situation is part of the essence of sports in general.

And for the Lawrenceville Indians, a classification drop has put this program in a spot where they could make a serious run to the state finals for the first time since the reached the Elite Eight in 1996.

This boy's basketball program has a rich tradition, having won four state championships back when the state tournament was still two-classes.

In fact Lawrenceville won the very first title in 1971-72 when the state split the tournament in two.

Although the Indians have taken home a slew of postseason awards in its history, they haven't been able to win a sectional championship or make a quarterfinals appearance since the state finals shifted from Champaign to Peoria 30-years ago.

This season, with its overall enrollment dropping to 291, the Tribe are in a prime spot to get to the Final Four in 1A.

Head coach Tad Shick has this veteran club in another sectional, the second one in as many seasons.

Last year they dropped a semifinal decision to Warrensburg-Latham at the 2A Tolono Unity Sectional.

Having been ranked in the state polls for all of 2025-26 in 1A, Lawrenceville is one of the favorites to advance.

They come into the week at 31-2, with the two losses coming against 2A Tolono Unity at the Effingham/Teutopolis Holiday Tournament and to 1A Goreville at the annual Rich Herrin Benton Shootout on February 7th.

The top players for Lawrenceville have been multi-year starters.

Point guard Zander Cessna, a 6-foot senior, is in control of the throttle for the Indians' offense.

Size upfront is provided by 6-5 senior Jayden Goff and 6-4 senior Noah Wilson.

Six-four senior Jacek Mickiewicz and 6-3 senior Emery Ivers gives Lawrenceville even more size and athletic ability.

Five-eleven senior Hunter Gray and 5-8 senior Aiden Willingham come off of the bench for Coach Shick.

The wins this season have come against some good teams.

They went undefeated in the Little Illini Conference to win the regular season title and also added their second consecutive league tournament championship.

The best victory on the summary of wins came against Teutopolis, the state's top-ranked 2A team back in the first week of the season at the Lawrence County Capital Classic.

Other conquests came over Fairfield, Altamont, North Clay (twice), Dieterich, and Casey-Westfield (twice) in the run.

Fairfield, Altamont and C-W all won regionals on Friday night.

The second win over North Clay was a 59-52 regional championship game triumph at North Clay to eliminate the Cardinals.

Wilson scored 18 and both Cessna and Goff added a dozen each in the win.

They will face Casey-Westfield for a third time on Wednesday night at Macon Meridian.

Head coach Tom Brannan will bring his battle tested club to the sectional having played a brutal regular season schedule.

It paid off with a 50-45 win over Cumberland on Friday night to win their own 1A regional.

It was the third win over the Pirates this season and 18th regional championship for the program.

The Warriors would love to bring home the third sectional title in their history on Friday night.

Both of the losses to Lawrenceville were close games, a 42-31 loss in the LIC tournament title tilt at Robinson and a 48-41 road game on February 13th.

Six-two senior Leighton Jones and 6-1 senior Nolan Clement are part of the starting unit for Coach Brannan.

Jones is the top scorers at 15.6 points a night.

Six-three junior Jackson High adds 12.3 points a contest.

Will Moore, a 6-3 junior, scored 13-points in the win over Cumberland Friday night.

Jack Julius, a 5-11 senior guard, adds 7.3 points a night.

Clement averages just 2.9 points per outing but he hands out assists like candy at a parade, averaging 5.2 per game.

Tuscola is no stranger to success in the state tournament.

The Warriors have won 22-regional titles in the program's history with the last five coming in the last five postseason's.

Tuscola reached the sectional title game last March, only to lose to Effingham St. Anthony.

Before that, the Warriors took home a third place trophy at the state tournament in 2023.

Six-two senior guard Logan Kurtz and 6-foot junior guard Connor Musgrave have provided scoring for Tuscola this season.

Musgrave scored 17 and Kurtz 15 in the Warriors' 62-34 regional title game win over Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg Friday night at Tuscola.

Six-six senior Caiden Russo and 6-3 senior Kaedan Chenoweth add size to the forward spots and 5-9 sophomore guard Tanner Block is part of the backcourt.

Cale Wallace, a 6-3 sophomore, contributes.

Tuscola has a misleading 28-6 mark, considering some of the tough hombres the Warriors have tangled with.

They have wins over Casey-Westfield and Altamont, both of which are in this sectional.

Following a 17-0 start, which included a championship at the Monticello Holiday Hoopla, they dropped four-straight road games to Tolono Unity, Teutopolis, Warrensburg-Latham and Clinton in January.

That's 112-victories by that foursome and three of them won 2A regionals.

Coach Justin Bozarth won his 210th game on Friday night in just his ninth season at Tuscola.

Altamont won the program's 11th regional championship and the fifth for head coach John Niebrugge last Friday night.

The Indians ousted Webber Township, 68-58, to improve to 23-10 overall.

In the process, Altamont closed the book on the distinguished career of Webber senior scoring ace Nathaniel Marlow, as his quest for the all-time record for most points in IHSA boy's basketball history fell short.

The Indians got some revenge of sorts, having lost to the Trojans two years ago in the regional title game.

Coach Niebrugge and his crew are the last team standing from the National Trail Conference.

Altamont overcame a tough schedule and now have a chance to pick up their first ever sectional win.

Six-four senior Kade Milleville is the top gun, averaging 14.3 points and 7.6 rebounds a game while handing out 4.4 assists.

Sophomore Cooper McManaway, a 6-2 guard, adds to the firepower with 12.8 p.p.g.

Zaine Miller, a 6-2 junior, adds 9.6 points and 4.7 rebounds for the Tribe.

Junior Parker Bell (8.5 p.p.g.) and seniors Jacob Johnson (6.5 p.p.g.) and Cooper Pals (2.2 p.p.g.) are part of this list that have played in all 33-games this winter.

Milleville scored 22 and Miller added 17 in the regional battle against Webber Township, helping to offset the 41-points from Marlow in his final prep game.