Tornadoes fall in rounds two and three of Holiday Tourney
TAYLORVILLE — The second and third round of the Holiday tournament commenced on December 28th. Taylorville lost both of their matches on Tuesday. First a close six point loss againstDecaturEisenhower, 46-40. Later that same night the Tornadoes duked it out against Galesburg. The Silver Streaks defeated Tayllorville in another single digit loss, 53-45.
Taking on the Eisenhower Panthers for game two of the 2021 Holiday Tournament, the Tornadoes needed a victory to stay in with the top teams. Senior guards Luke Markwell and Dylan Brown both combined for nine points in the tightly knit contest against the Panthers. Will Bitschenauer hit two three’s giving him six points. Freshman guard Drake Howard got in on the action and notched a steal and a rebound while the two senior leaders Kamren Heimsness and Bryce Friedrich had a combined 25 points.
The Tornadoes and Panthers played close the whole game but really turned it on in the third quarter scoring 25. They went on to defeat the defending Taylorville boys 46-40.
Desperate for a win to stay a float in the tournament, the Tornadoes faced off against the Silver Streaks from Galesburg. Galesburg had shown a strong outing in their game against Mt Zion just a few hours prior. Taking down the team that beat Taylorville in round one, 76-58.
The match was close in the first half with Taylorville scoring two more points than the Streaks going into halftime. The third and fourth quarters is when the visiting team caught fire. They outscored the Tornadoes 28-18. Friedrich was the definition of consistent scoring another 12 points in the second game. Luke Markwell earned double digit points with 10 and Kamren Heimsness had 11. Junior Will Bitschenauer notched a total of nine points while Brown and Howard had a combined three.
Scoring for the team wasn’t enough however as they fell to Galesburg 53-45.
Taylorville has not lost to a team by a double digit score since their December 4th game against Charleston.
The Holiday Tournament will conclude tonight, Wednesday evening.
