Moline found themselves in a game that was closer than they believed should have been on Friday at halftime of their Pekin Tournament 5th Place contest against the Peoria Notre Dame Irish, a game the Maroons wound up winning, 59-35, to go 3-1 for the tournament. “A couple miscues in the first half…I told ’em if you’re up 10 at halftime you’re feeling really good about that game.” said the Moline head coach Sean Taylor. Moline left a few stops on the table to close the first half against the Irish and what could have been a larger spread, was only a 30-26 lead for the Maroon and White at the break. “In the 2nd half, obviously, we made shots.” Coach Taylor made it sound so easy and eloquent. Make shots they did.
In the 3rd quarter, 9 of their first 10 offensive trips they converted into points, including 5 three pointers and 8 different players chipping in. Whether it was Brady Welch, Zach Hendrickx, or Taylor Lewis hitting shots from outside, Marcus McQueen serving up beautiful assists, Braden Freeman with some creative shot making, or Deng Awour who got his first varsity start and capitalized by playing good minutes and scoring two buckets, the Moline offense flexed its muscles on Friday in the 3rd quarter. “We had 55 after 3…that’s where we need to be. We are a good offensive team, we play up tempo, teams are gonna score a little bit and we are gonna have to score too,” Taylor proclaimed. The Maroons offense definitely got a boost of confidence going into the new year.
Brady Welch was the Godfather’s Pizza Moline Maroons Player of the Game with 8 points and 4 assists, Trey Taylor had 12 points, five assists, and a handful of rebounds. 10 Maroons scored in total.
Moline is 13-2 at the halfway point of their regular season, and now they go into January where over the last two years the Maroons have only lost a total of 3 games post Jan 1. Different group, yes, but Sean Taylor still feels this team is getting better. “I think this group is gonna get better and better because we’re so inexperienced…Trey is the only guy that’s played significant varsity minutes. We got guys that are still growing into their roles, still searching for what their role is…I know they are going to get better because they are great kids with great attitudes and great work ethic.” The Maroons have some big games to start the month of January with games in Quincy and then hosting UT to close the first half of the WB6 season. Time will tell what this version of the Maroons can do in the 2nd half of the year, but everyone around Moline knows that they are only going to go up from here.
Moline next plays on Friday, Jan 5 at Wharton against the Geneseo Maple Leafs. They will be celebrating their state championship and hanging a banner in the legendary Wharton Fieldhouse.