03/02/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Heading into the 2A Pinckneyville Regional, the top-seeded Nashville Hornets weren't exactly playing their best basketball.

Although they have won 24-straight contests since a December defeat against Carterville, they struggled in a win over 1A Webber Township to close the regular season, in which they needed a last second shot to win, and they nearly had the state tournament end prematurely in the regional semifinal 48-46 win against DuQuoin, a team they had handled easily twice during the regular season.

But things went just as planned on Friday night as the Hornets seized the moment in beating the host Panthers, 59-44 to add the programs' 23rd boy's basketball regional championship to the case.

Coach Stote Reeder and his club are 31-2 heading into Tuesday night's encounter with Mississippi Division rival Benton.

The Hornets bested the Rangers twice this season; 48-28 on the road back on January 6th and 73-40 on February 10th at home.

Maddox Ritzel is where the Nashville story begins.

The 6-4 senior guard/forward, do everything player, is now the program's all-time leading scorer after posting a career best 46-points in the win over Webber Township.

He passed former Hornet and Northern Iowa Division I standout Lucas O'Rear during the Webber Township win and he sits at 2,170-points heading into the sectional.

The Hornets have other weapons.

Five-eleven junior guard Gannon Turner, 6-2 junior guard Palmer Renken, 6-foot junior Kassidy Linkey, 6-1 senior Max Reeder, 6-1 sophomore Brenton Bultman and 5-10 senior Blake Brooks have all contributed to this successful run.

Ritzel scored 24-points and Turner added 16 in the regional championship win.

The 31-victories marks the fourth season of over 30-wins in the program's history.

Benton edged SIRR Ohio Division rival Murphysboro 36-35 to win their own 2A regional on Friday night.

It was the program's 40th regional championship and third in a row.

Coach Ron Winemiller and his club will have to move up several notches this week playing the Hornets on their home court.

Six-six senior Nolan Schafer is one of the team leaders for the Rangers.

Sophomore guard Drake Porter, senior guard Clay Gage, junior forward Jaxton Wiggs and senior forward TJ Hamilton are starters for the 26-6 club that won their own invitational tournament this season as one of the highlights.

Gage scored 12-points to lead Benton to the low scoring regional title game triumph.

An uneasy beginning to the season came about, in part, because most of the Cougars played on a 4A semifinalist football squad in the fall.

They had some defeats early but as postseason's go, Breese Central is always a factor.

So here they are, regional champions for the 21st time.

They bested rival Mater Dei, 46-29, to win the Columbia Regional title on Friday to improve to 23-9.

Bryce Wieter, a 6-3 senior, and 6-4 junior Bennett Becker scored 10-points each in the victory over the Knights and defensively the Cougars held high scoring Mater Dei senior Gavin Peppenhorst to just nine-points in the victory.

Senior guard Conlan Haar is a team leader for Central and Coach Shubert and he is the only one who averages double-digits.

However the Cougars have five players who average at least six-points a game, giving them the sort of balance that is needed for successful long postseason journeys; Wieter, Becker, Haar, senior guard Ryder Burgmeier and sophomore Wyatt Schrage.

The Cougars, after closing the regular season losing two of their final three contests, they're back in a sectional semifinal.

Carterville was the top-seeded team in their sub-sectional and they needed a last second shot to beat Massac County on the Patriots' home floor to win the 2A regional on Friday.

Sophomore guard Max Lustenberger hit a shot in the final seconds to give the Lions a 47-45 victory over the hosts.

Six-four senior guard Colton Hawkins, Coach Shane Hawkins' son, led the Lions with 16-points in the narrow win, beating a Massac County club that beat Carterville 75-69 on January 9th.

Carterville beat Massac, 63-51 on February 13 and topped the Pats in the rubber game.

The play of 5-10 junior guard Max Gulley, 6-6 senior forward Amareon Adams, Lustenberger, 6-1 junior forward Zach Snow, sophomore Harper Lustenberger, 5-11 junior guard Jonathan Miller, along with Hawkins, have the Lions in a sectional for the 14th time in the program's history.

Carterville handed Nashville one of its two losses, 77-75 back on December 20th.

Benton defeated Carterville to win the weather delayed Benton Invitational Tournament, 55-51 in overtime while Nashville holds a two victories over Breese Central; 65-60 at the Breese Mater Dei Holiday Tournament and a 66-33 decision in the title game of the Nashville Invitational Tournament.