In the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament’s last game of Day 1, the Eureka Hornets knocked off the Abingdon-Avon Tornadoes by a score of 58-49. Armed with a 36-17 lead at halftime, Eureka had to hope they could slow down a little bit and get ready for two more tournament days. But A-Town had other plans, as that 19-point lead dwindled to just six at the end of the 3rd quarter. A-Town outscored Eureka 23-10 in the penultimate period and took all the momentum into the day’s last quarter of play. Eureka answered back, holding off the Tornadoes and taking the win. Each team scored 20 points in the paint in a close game throughout. However, even with five lead changes and three ties…Eureka led for all but four minutes in the game.
Eureka outscored A-Town 27-4 off the bench. In fact, their bench scoring (consisting of Grant Roberts’s 14 points and Teagan McLaughlin’s 13 points) nearly matched the starting lineup’s combined 31 points. Roberts and McLaughlin were joined in double figures by Cohen Alstat and Brock Monk, who each scored 10 points. Alstat and Monk each tied for the game-lead with six rebounds as well. Cooper Peterson dished out five assists.
A-Town had a duo of double-digit scorers in Ayden Stromson (17 points) and Jacob Hall (10 points). Stromson also had a team-high five rebounds. Drey Anderson didn’t just lead both teams in assists, with seven…he’s also leading the tournament in the category after Day 1. The Tornadoes took care of the ball better than their opponent, with only nine turnovers compared to the Hornets’ 12 giveaways. Scoring efficiency was an issue, however. In the 3rd quarter, A-Town shot an incredible 9/10 from the floor, including 3/3 from the three-point arc. Conversely, in the other three quarters, they shot a combined 10/42 (23.8%) and 3/17 from long range.
Eureka’s (5-5) “reward” for advancing to the second round is they will now play top seeded West Hancock, Friday at 8:30pm in Game 16. Abingdon-Avon (4-7) will face Bushnell-Prairie City in Game 12, Friday afternoon at 1:30pm.
Box Score
Eureka Info
Abingdon-Avon Info
Chris Derry
December 26, 2024