Special Edition of Tournament Tidbits: Championship game previews

3:30 p.m.: Girls 3A-4A: Maine South vs. Champaign Centennial

• Both teams have hardware history at the Classic – Maine South has one 2nd place and two 4th place trophies in four previous appearances, Centennial finished 3rd last year in its debut – which one will claim its first title?
• Interesting tidbit: This is the only title game in which one of the top two seeds advanced to the championship – and both did!

5:10 p.m.: Boys 3A-4A: Normal Community vs. Springfield

• This is the sixth championship game appearance for the Ironmen, which matches Thornwood for most all-time in boys tournament play. (Note: Normal won titles in 1975, 1985 and 2008).
• Normal Community’s Anthony Beane has scored 52 percent of the Ironmen’s points during the first three games of the tournament.
• Interesting tidbit: Springfield is the first No. 15 seed ever to advance to a Holiday Classic title game.

6:50 p.m.: Girls 1A-2A: El Paso-Gridley vs. Bloomington Central Catholic

• Central Catholic is the three-time defending champions and enters this game with a 15-game consecutive winning streak in State Farm Holiday Classic games. A sixteenth consecutive win would tie the Saints with Galesburg (1997-2000) and allow the Saints to become the first team ever to win four straight tournament titles.
• This is Central Catholic’s eighth championship game appearance, most all-time by any boys or girls team.
• El Paso-Gridley enters this championship game as the only team remaining that’s undefeated on the season.
• Interesting tidbit: These teams played for a 2011 sectional title – a game which the Saints won 70-40.

8:30 p.m.: Boys 1A-2A: Cissna Park CPCI vs. Quincy Notre Dame

• CPCI was the smallest school in the field in terms of enrollment (114). This is CPCI’s second appearance in the championship game. In 2005, the Timberwolves lost to Hartsburg-Emden.
• After four straight title game appearances (2001-2004), this is Quincy Notre Dame’s first appearance in the championship game since the Raiders won their second title in 2004.
• Interesting tidbit: Through three games, CPCI has only allowed 103 points (34.3 ppg). The all-time record for fewest points allowed in a four-game tournament is 151 (Normal U-High in 2007).

Future birds are soarin’ and scorin’

Next year, Normal Community’s Anthony Beane and North Chicago’s Aaron Simpson will be on the same sideline as members of the Illinois State University Redbirds. Tonight, the two square off against each other for a trip to the State Farm Holiday Classic semifinals. Beane and Simpson each put on an individual show last night in leading their teams to victory at the Shirk Center. First, Beane scored 37 points, which was the 12th highest single-game point total in the tournament’s 33-year history. Then, in the very next game on the same court, Simpson scored 41, which is No. 5 all-time. Simpson’s North Chicago Warhawks matched a tournament best for single-game margin of victory with a 56-point drubbing of Carver, Ind., Military Academy.

Pioneers seek revenge

This March, Rock Island Alleman and Chillicothe IVC’s boys teams met with a sectional championship on the line. IVC prevailed in that game. Tonight, the Pioneers and Grey Ghosts match up with a trip to the tournament semifinals on the line. IVC is seeking a second consecutive trip to the semis, while Alleman’s only semifinal appearance was in 2004. The Pioneers have already snapped one streak. Their first-round win over Tri-Valley gave the Pioneers their first Holiday Classic win since 2007. They had lost 10 straight tournament games before this year.

Something’s gotta give

Annawan and El Paso-Gridley face off in the 6 p.m. Girls 1A-2A tournament quarterfinal. Both enter play at 12-0, and are two of the five teams undefeated following first-round play (Pana girls, Champaign Centennial girls, Morton girls). Two teams – Minonk Fieldcrest boys and St. Joseph-Ogden girls – both suffered their first losses of the season in first-round tournament play.

Tie at the top

With Normal U-High boys win over Oswego, coupled with a Central Catholic first-round loss, both teams have 58 all-time tournament wins entering play today. U-High is 58-53 and Central Catholic is 58-45.

Will the seeds hold?

In the Girls 3A-4A bracket, the lower seed won all eight games in the first round.

Will the streaks continue?

Springfield’s girls have never tasted defeat at the State Farm Holiday Classic. The Senators are 9-0 all-time entering a quarterfinal tilt with perennial power Peoria Richwoods. A Springfield victory would tie the Knights’ 2003-05 run of 10 straight tournament wins, which is third-best all-time. Bloomington Central Catholic has won 13 straight tournament games, which is just three off the all-time mark set by Galesburg (1997-2000). The three-time defending girls 1A-2A tournament champs have not lost since the 2007 title game versus Rochester.

Streak stays alive with strong start

Two-time defending large school girls Holiday Classic champs Springfield made quick work of Peoria Notre Dame. The Senators led the Irish 30-8 after one quarter en route to a 79-60 victory. The 30-point first quarter ties a girls tournament record for most points scored in a quarter, and the 79-point outburst is the sixth-highest single-game total in the tournament 15-year history. Springfield is now 9-0 all-time in State Farm Holiday Classic play.

Classic showdown looms

Now Springfield will meet Peoria Richwoods’ girls. The Knights have won the Holiday Classic four times and own the highest winning percentage ever (minimum 15 games) with an .854 winning percentage (35-6 all-time after today’s first-round win). The Senators and Knights have never met at the Holiday Classic. In each of the past two years, Springfield Sacred-Heart Griffin has knocked off the Knights. Springfield does own two regular season wins over the Knights in the past three years. The Senators beat Richwoods in the 2008-09 season – (It was Richwoods’ last loss en route to a state title that year) – and again in the 2009-10 regular season.

Closing in on a milestone

Heading into tonight’s first-round match-up with Normal Community, Maine South senior guard Michelle Maher is just 24 points shy of reaching the 1,000 point plateau. Maher, who was an all-tournament selection two years ago as a sophomore at the Holiday Classic, has 976 career points.

Santa Claus has come and gone, making way for the annual basketball invasion in Bloomington-Normal.

The State Farm Holiday Classic begins its four-day run Tuesday with 64 high school teams (32 boys, 32 girls).

That’s a lot of players, coaches and storylines. Here are 64 things to digest as the 33rd edition opens at four venues: Shirk Center, Normal Community High School, Normal Community West and U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

Click here to read the entire Pantagraph article. 

(Courtesy of The Pantagraph, Bloomington
By Randy Kindred | rkindred@pantagraph.com | Posted: Monday, December 26, 2011 6:55 pm)

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