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East Peoria stayed in contact with the Washington boys basketball team into the second quarter Friday.
But the Panthers scored 16 of the last 18 points to end the first half and they went on to post a 77-32 Mid-Illini Conference victory.
Corey Crotz led East Peoria, which dropped to 0-8 in the league, with 21 points at Allison Gymnasium.
Alec Peters of Washington was 8-of-8 from the floor to lead all scorers with 24 points. Teammate Ben Ryan added 19.
“They move awful well,” EPCHS head coach Ron Kelch said of the Panthers. “They’re tough to guard because they’re so versatile.”
Crotz had the first basket of the game 37 seconds in and recorded five straight quick points midway through the quarter to get the Raiders within 8-7.
But Washington ran off 11 consecutive points — all from Peters and Ryan — before East Peoria’s Walter White swished a 3-pointer.
A Troy Adams bucket with one second left, part of a 14-point night for the Panther post, made it 21-10 at the end of the period.
Crotz hit a pair of shots in the second quarter, but the Raiders were shut out for the last 5:31 as Washington (16-4, 5-2) expanded its lead to 37-14 at halftime.
It was 50-15 in the third quarter when Crotz scored a flurry of points.
He scored 10 in a span of 3 minutes, 30 seconds. He twice had four points in 16 seconds or less.
Through the first three quarters, East Peoria had only four points from everyone besides Crotz.
“We’ve got to find someone to put the ball in the basket,” said Kelch.
Both benches saw heavy action in the fourth period.
Carlo Varquez had six points, including 4-of-4 free throws, to highlight the East Peoria effort.
“He took the ball to the basket and had some good, hard cuts,” said Kelch of Varquez.
The coach also noted Jesse Schlueter’s solid play stood out.
State No. 5 Washington, which has won all eight of its games in January, completed a sweep of the Raiders.
“I thought we really worked on some things in practice,” said Panther head coach Kevin Brown, whose team had nearly a week to prepare for the game. “Guys did a great job with ball reversal.”
Illinois Valley Central 56, EP 44
The Raiders competed well Saturday with the 15-win Grey Ghosts, who are in Class 3A this season.
East Peoria (1-17) outscored guest IVC in the first and third quarters, but could not overcome a combined 34-20 deficit in the second and fourth periods.
East Peoria stayed in contact with the Washington boys basketball team into the second quarter Friday.
But the Panthers scored 16 of the last 18 points to end the first half and they went on to post a 77-32 Mid-Illini Conference victory.
Corey Crotz led East Peoria, which dropped to 0-8 in the league, with 21 points at Allison Gymnasium.
Alec Peters of Washington was 8-of-8 from the floor to lead all scorers with 24 points. Teammate Ben Ryan added 19.
“They move awful well,” EPCHS head coach Ron Kelch said of the Panthers. “They’re tough to guard because they’re so versatile.”
Crotz had the first basket of the game 37 seconds in and recorded five straight quick points midway through the quarter to get the Raiders within 8-7.
But Washington ran off 11 consecutive points — all from Peters and Ryan — before East Peoria’s Walter White swished a 3-pointer.
A Troy Adams bucket with one second left, part of a 14-point night for the Panther post, made it 21-10 at the end of the period.
Crotz hit a pair of shots in the second quarter, but the Raiders were shut out for the last 5:31 as Washington (16-4, 5-2) expanded its lead to 37-14 at halftime.
It was 50-15 in the third quarter when Crotz scored a flurry of points.
He scored 10 in a span of 3 minutes, 30 seconds. He twice had four points in 16 seconds or less.
Through the first three quarters, East Peoria had only four points from everyone besides Crotz.
“We’ve got to find someone to put the ball in the basket,” said Kelch.
Both benches saw heavy action in the fourth period.
Carlo Varquez had six points, including 4-of-4 free throws, to highlight the East Peoria effort.
“He took the ball to the basket and had some good, hard cuts,” said Kelch of Varquez.
The coach also noted Jesse Schlueter’s solid play stood out.
State No. 5 Washington, which has won all eight of its games in January, completed a sweep of the Raiders.
“I thought we really worked on some things in practice,” said Panther head coach Kevin Brown, whose team had nearly a week to prepare for the game. “Guys did a great job with ball reversal.”
Illinois Valley Central 56, EP 44
The Raiders competed well Saturday with the 15-win Grey Ghosts, who are in Class 3A this season.
East Peoria (1-17) outscored guest IVC in the first and third quarters, but could not overcome a combined 34-20 deficit in the second and fourth periods.
Crotz had 18 points before fouling out to pace the Raiders.
Sean Mulhern made half of East Peoria’s six treys to tally 11 points.
Adam Sommer and Matt Rundle added six points apiece for East Peoria.
Bryce Jackson’s five 3-pointers gave the IVC player a team-high 15 points.
Correction: On Jan. 13, Crotz actually fell two points short of the all-time single-game scoring record at East Peoria.
Cleon Tucker is the Raider record holder with 46 points on March 3, 1957.
Postseason: Online seed meetings occur next week. Pairings should be posted on the Illinois High School Association website by Feb. 10.
Against teams in the Class 3A Canton Regional — Limestone, Manual, Morton and the host Little Giants — East Peoria currently is 0-3.
