PV-O finishes fourth at Class 1A IESA State Tournament

By Fred Kroner

Prairieview Ogden’s eighth-grade boys’ basketball team dropped a hard-fought 28-22 decision to Peru Catholic on Saturday (Feb. 11) in a Class 1A IESA state tournament quarterfinal game at Assumption Central A&M.

Kaden Wedig led the Mustangs with 10 points. Jon Couture added seven points. Lane McKinney scored three points and Alex Vaughn added two points.

PVO held leads of 7-2 after one quarter and 14-6 at halftime, but Peru (23-2) came out strong in the third quarter and outscored the Mustangs, 12-1, to carry an 18-15 lead into the final period.

PVO ends the season with a 19-6 overall record.

For the season, Wedig was the team’s top scorer in 16 games. Couture led in eight games. Dalton York led in one game.

York had the team’s top individual game with 26 points. Wedig’s high game was 25 points and Couture’s best was 24 points.

The Mustangs had two double-figure scorers for the season. Wedig had a 14.7 average and Couture ended with a 10.6 average.

The team’s most accurate free throw shooter (with a minimum of 10 attempts) was Wedig. He connected on 64.5 percent of his attempts.

Wedig hit the most three-pointers (27), followed by York (19). Other PVO players who connected on three-point shots were Jaxon LaBounty, Jameson Ehler, Aiden Hundley, Garrett Loschen, McKinney and Vaughn.

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The PVO seventh-graders dropped a narrow 33-29 decision to Lincoln Broadwell in the IESA Class 1A third-place game on Thursday (Feb. 9) at East Peoria Junior High.

Jameson Ehler hit a game-high 15 points for the Mustangs. Lane McKinney, Airin Rash and Lucas Waters all chipped in with four points.

The other two PVO points were scored by George Hale.

PVO led, 7-6, after one quarter. The teams were tied at halftime, 11-11. Lincoln carried a 22-21 lead into the final period.

PVO closes the season with a 23-4 overall record and the second-ever state trophy in basketball for the seventh-grade boys’ program. The Mustangs had separate winning streaks of 11 and 10 games.

For the season, four players led – or shared the team-lead – in scoring.

McKinney led 20 times, Rash led four times, Ehler led three times and Waters led twice.

McKinney (13.5 average) was the team’s top scorer. He scored in double figures in 21 of 27 games. He hit the 20-point mark in five games, with a high game of 23 points. Ehler (21 points) was the other squad member with a 20-point game.

Ehler led the team in three-point field goals (18), followed by Hale and McKinney (14 apiece). Other squad members who recorded three-pointers were Casen Goff and Connor McMahon.

The Mustangs’ most accurate free throw shooter was Ehler (64 percent).