By FRED KRONER
fred@sjodaily.com
St. Joseph-Ogden’s boys’ basketball team posted wins in its first three games of the Toyota of Danville Classic in the Spartans’ gym.
Playing on back-to-back days, SJ-O handled Chicago Longwood, 72-64, on Friday.
The Spartans doubled the score on Oakwood, 56-28, in a Saturday matinee and then blitzed Schlarman Academy, 87-29 at night.
With two games remaining in the six-school round robin event, SJ-O and Cissna Park are the only 3-0 teams in the field.
Against Longwood, Jack Cook produced the best SJ-O scoring game through nine games, popping in 33 points. He hit 14 of 19 shots from the field and 5 of 6 free throw attempts.
Joel Orcutt scored 18 points and Keanen Swanson added 10 points.
Braydon Rupert led the team with six rebounds. Swanson had five and Orcutt grabbed four.
Chance Izard had eight assists and Payton Cain had four assists.
Against Oakwood, Izard was the team’s lone double-digit scorer He drained three three-pointers and totaled 17 points.
Izard also had six rebounds and four assists. He scored eight of his points in the third quarter when the Spartans outscored the Comets 22-8.
Swanson had six rebounds and three assists while Cain gathered five rebounds.
SJ-O led, 17-8, after one quarter and 22-14 at halftime.
Against Schlarman, the Spartans had their top offensive output of the early season.
Cook led four double-figure scorers, hitting 19 points.
Brayden Weaver had a season-high 12 points, Swanson had a season-high 11 points and Jaden Miller also had a season-high, 11 points.
Orcutt and Rupert shared the team-lead with four rebounds. Handing out four assists was Cain.
Cook had three assists.
SJ-O (5-4) returns to action on Tuesday against Armstrong-Potomac in the 8 p.m. game. A-P is 0-3 in tourney action.
Oakwood
The Comets (7-2) have won two of their first three tournament outings at SJ-O.
Oakwood started with a 69-29 conquest of Schlarman Academy on Thursday, building a 21-7 lead after one period and increasing its margin to 47-12 at intermission.
Trevan Garrett scored all 18 of his points in the opening half.
Five of his teammates nailed three-point shots, including Bryce Jones with three (on his way to 11 points) and Andy Hohn with two (on his way to 10 points). Zane Priest had one three-pointer and totaled 13 points.
Also scoring from beyond the three-point arc were Jayden Cox and Jackson Powell.
Oakwood had a non-tournament game on Friday and overcame an early deficit (11-8 after one quarter) to dispatch visiting Georgetown-Ridge Farm 65-31.
The Comets netted 49 of their points in the middle two stanzas.
Priest led with 19 points. Garrett had 18 and Jones hit 12. Priest drained three three-pointers and Powell hit one.
In a Saturday doubleheader, Oakwood suffered a 56-28 loss to host SJ-O.
Jones was the team’s only double-digit scorer with 10 points. Jones and Garrett each cleared five rebounds.
The team bounced back in the evening session, topping Armstrong-Potomac 69-45.
Priest scored nine of his 15 points in the first quarter as Oakwood jumped into a 22-6 lead.
Garrett hit a team-high 18 points. Jones added 10 points.
The Comets return to tournament action on Tuesday with the 5 p.m. opener against Cissna Park.
Tournament scores:
Thursday
Cissna Park 75, Armstrong-Potomac 26
Oakwood 69, Schlarman Academy 29
Friday
St. Joseph-Ogden 72, Chicago Longwood 64
Saturday
Longwood 83, Armstrong-Potomac 50
Cissna Park 79, Schlarman Academy 33
St. Joseph-Ogden 56, Oakwood 28
Cissna Park 62, Chicago Longwood 26
Oakwood 69, Armstrong-Potomac 45
St. Joseph-Ogden 87, Schlarman Academy 29
Tuesday schedule
5 p.m., Cissna Park vs. Oakwood
6:30 p.m., Schlarman Academy vs. Chicago Longwood
8 p.m., St. Joseph-Ogden vs. Armstrong-Potomac
Villa Grove/Heritage
In a Friday shootout between teams who combined to make 15 three-point shots, Villa Grove/Heritage (8-2) outscored Arthur Okaw Christian, 74-60.
VG/H led, 22-16, after one quarter and 40-34 at halftime.
Jake Eversole scored a team-high 18 points. Jared Stevens made 15 points. Stevens hit four three-pointers and Eversole had three.
Logan Nohren chipped in with 10 points.
Villa Grove/Heritage returns to action on Tuesday at St. Thomas More.
Girls’ basketball
Oakwood (10-3) won its fourth straight game, 47-37 on Thursday against Salt Fork, in Catlin.
The Comets jumped into an 11-7 lead after one quarter with Aubrey Wells scoring five points and Aaliyah Denius adding four in the first frame.
Denius scored a season-high 14 points to lead the Comets. Katelyn Young added 11 points.
Oakwood’s halftime lead was 23-14.
The Comets return to action tonight with a home game against Armstrong-Potomac.
Villa Grove/Heritage
The Blue Devils’ seventh successive win was sparked by a combined 13 points in the first quarter from Kyleigh Block and Aliya Holloman on Thursday as the team built a 19-6 lead over Cerro Gordo/Bement in a game it won, 65-41.
Block totaled 19 points and Holloman finished with 17.
Samantha Campbell scored nine points.
VG/H led, 36-20, at halftime.
Wrestling
In a Friday meet at Unity, St. Joseph-Ogden (3-6) dropped a 54-27 decision to Benton.
Four of SJ-O’s five winners registered pins: A.J. Wagner (106 pounds), Isaiah Moore (113 pounds), Peyton Holt (145 pounds) and Trevon Carr (152 pounds).
The team’s other winner by decision, was Isaiah Immke (132 pounds).
In contested matches, Benton held a 6-5 edge, but also picked by three forfeit victories.
On Saturday, the Spartans placed seventh in the 13-team Unity Invitational.
Eight SJ-O athletes were placers, including two grapplers who reached the finals.
Wagner (15-1 season record) dominated his 106-pound weight class, winning all four matches, three with pins in less than a minute.
The other SJ-O finalist was Brodie Sullivan, who registered pins in three of his four wins and placed second at 170.
Moore finished third at 113 and Holt was fourth at 145.
Spartans ending in sixth place were Carr at 160 and Max Shonkwiler at 182.
Teammates taking seventh were Chase Chapman at 126 and Immke at 138, where he won his final bout by technical fall.
