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.

The post Spartans off to great start in Toyota Classic, girls basketball beats Tuscola first appeared on SJO Daily.