Spartans off to great start in Toyota Classic, girls basketball beats Tuscola
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
St. Joseph-Ogden’s boys’ basketball team opened its season with a win on Tuesday, despite missing 9 of 17 free throws in the opening round of the 31st Spartan Classic.
SJ-O upended Georgetown-Ridge Farm, 65-37.
Chance Izard scored 19 points and Jordan Kelly added 12 points for the Spartans, who turned a 7-4 lead after one quarter into a 21-11 advantage at halftime.
Izard and Kelly were two of five SJ-O players who connected on a three-pointer.
Coach Keil Duval started four seniors – Payton Cain, Drew Coursey, Conner Hodge and Izard – along with freshman Ty Pence.
Cain scored eight points, Pence had seven and Luke Renfrew chipped in with six points.
SJ-O continued its winning ways on Wednesday, knocking off Notre Dame de La Salette, 48-37.
Cain registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 steals.
Pence ended with eight points, including 4-of-4 from the free throw line in a game where the Spartans were 6-of-12 overall from the line.
Izard and Andrew Beyers each scored seven points.
Cain collected a team-high seven rebounds. Pence and Hodge each gathered four rebounds.
The Spartans scored nine of the game’s first 10 points and held a 41-20 fourth-quarter lead.
The Spartans (2-0) return to action at 8 p.m. on Friday against Cissna Park.
All six teams will play twice in the round-robin event on Saturday. The final-day SJ-O games will be at 11:30 a.m. against Schlarman Academy and at 7 p.m. against Watseka.
St. Joseph-Ogden Girls’ basketball
The Spartans trailed after each of the first two quarters on Monday against Tuscola, but rallied to register a 50-46 overtime win.
Katie Cramer scored 14 points to lead SJ-O. Both Cramer and Payton Jacob nailed three-pointers in OT to help the Spartans pull away.
Taylor Barnes scored nine points and Abby Behrens added eight for SJ-O.
SJ-O (5-1) returns to action tonight at Danville. The Spartans received votes in the first Class 2A state poll, which was released on Wednesday.
