Tornadoes open up tourney play with win over defending Purple Panthers

Lucas Domonousky Breeze-Courier Sports Editor

LITCHFIELD — The Taylorville Tornadoes opened up pool play in the Litchfield boys basketball tournament on Monday. The team faced off against the home team, Litchfield Panthers. The game was a good introduction to the week long tournament with both teams playing physical and scrappy. Taylorville came out on top with a final score being 65-55.

Although the 2022 Rick McGraw Memorial Invitational began on Saturday the Tornadoes didn’t play their first game as part of the tourney until Monday, January 17th. Going up against the 8-8 Panthers the first half was fairly even for both teams. Taylorville didn’t start to pull away until the 3rd quarter. Taylorville’s performance in the final two quarters included solid defense and amazing ball movement. The Tornadoes were able to find quick passes in between the Panther D for easy scores that allowed them to run away with the game score 8 unanswered buckets. The climax of the game was senior Bryce Friedrich’s buzzer beater at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The Tornadoes went on to defeat the defending home team 65-55.

Taylorville will face off against the Panthers from Pana for their next game on Tuesday night. The tournament will last all week long.