Despite a late scare from Southeastern, the top seeded Panthers of Camp Point Central held the lead from wire-to-wire to take Game 7 of the first round by a score of 47-36. Though many of the counting stats were rather close, Central led second chance points 10-4 due to 11 offensive rebounds. This game didn’t appear it would be very close after the first period, a quarter won by the Panthers 17-4. But the Southeastern Suns battled back and outscored Central 32-30 in the remaining three quarters to make it a close and respectable contest.
Camp Point’s leading scorer was Drew Paben, who scored 20 points. Paben’s effort is so far the second highest output in the tournament on Day 1. Gavin Blewett added 16 points. Paben, Blewett, and Elijah Genenbacher all tied for the team-high in rebounds with six. Kadin Niekamp grabbed five boards as well. Central took care of the ball, as they only coughed up six turnovers in this one. Fresh off a 1A state championship in football, Central looks just as strong in basketball thus far.
The Suns of Southeastern had two double-digit scorers (Mason Fry with 11 points and Griffin Tippey with 10). Aiden Akers had a game-high seven rebounds and three assists. Southeastern only played six total players and the only bench player played just six minutes. The fact that they were in the game late with the same players all game is a nod to their conditioning.
Camp Point (9-0) advances to play the winner of Monmouth-Roseville and Illini West. They will play in Game 16 on Friday night at 9:30pm. Southeastern (5-8) will instead play the loser of Monmouth-Roseville and Illini West, set to play Game 12, Friday afternoon at 2:30pm.
Box Score
Camp Point Central Info
Southeastern Info
Chris Derry
December 28, 2023