This is the link to the FULL COURT PRESS live stream.

Tonight’s 7:00 show, live from Riverfront Grille in Rock Island, will include:
* Gary Thrapp will help us preview the IHMVCU Shootout
* Poll Results:  Who will be the Bears’ head coach next season?
* We’ll test the guys’ sports history AND current events knowledge!  A Double Dip of Dropout!

PRESENTED BY charter sponsors Godfather’s Pizza in Silvis, Crawford Company, Neil Ferrari State Farm Insurance, Wheelan-Pressly, and Hungry Hobo.  Limited additional sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Ken Jacoby at (309) 912-5135 or ken@qcsportsnet.com.

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.

Live, free play-by-play — Keep updated here on the latest schedules and results!!

LINKS TO LIVE STREAMS:
ALLEMAN    MOLINE      ROCK ISLAND      UNITED TOWNSHIP

Saturday 12/30:
5:45 p.m. – United Township vs DeKalb or Belvidere North
                  – 3rd Place Game at Chuck Dayton Classic / DeKalb HS
Friday 12/29:
FINAL:  Rock Island Boys 58, Joliet Central 40 @ State Farm Classic
FINAL:  Moline 59, Peoria Notre Dame 35 – 5th Place @ Pekin Hol. Tourn.
FINAL:  Plainfield N 50, RI Girls 43 – 5th Place Cons @ State Farm Classic
FINAL:  UT Sophs 58, Alleman 53 – 5th Place @ Hutchins Hol. Cl./Sherrard
FINAL:  RI Boys 42, Wheaton Warrenville S 37 – 5th Place @ St. Farm Classic
FINAL:  Chi. Phillips 54, United Twp 46 – Semifinal @ Chuck Dayton/DeKalb
Thursday 12/28:
FINAL:  IVC 73, Alleman 25 @ Mike Hutchins Holiday Classic/Sherrard
FINAL:  East St. Louis 60, Moline 51 @ Pekin Holiday Tourn.
FINAL:  Kankakee 33, Rock Island Girls 25 @ State Farm Classic
FINAL:  UT 55, Naperville Central 51 – Q’Final @ Chuck Dayton/DeKalb
FINAL:  Moline 54, Normal West 49 @ Pekin Holiday Tournament
FINAL:  Byron 68, Alleman 37 @ Mike Hutchins Holiday Classic/Sherrard
FINAL:  Rock Island Girls 50, Rochester 43 @ State Farm Classic
FINAL 2OT:  Bradley-Bourbonnais 65, RI Boys 64 – Q’Final @ SF Classic
Wednesday 12/27:
FINAL: United Township 67, Hononegah 40 @ Chuck Dayton Classic/DeKalb
FINAL:  Rock Island Boys 69, Oswego 29 @ State Farm Classic
FINAL:  Moline 62, Plainfield South 32 @ Pekin Holiday Tournament
FINAL:  Washington 53, Rock Island Girls 46 @ State Farm Classic
REFRESH THIS PAGE FOR THE LATEST RESULTS/SCHEDULES

About 3 1/2 hours after the Maroons were finally out of their gear and recovering from a physical game with East St Louis in the morning, the Maroons were back at it again to tip in the 5th place bracket at the Pekin Tournament against Normal West late Thursday afternoon. The Wildcats, themselves, were coming off a blowout loss to 3A #1 Mt Carmel and were wanting to bounce back. In a game that was back and forth and saw the Wildcats hit 9 3s (including 6 in the 3rd quarter), the Maroons (12-2) survived and rallied from down 6 in the 4th to get a much needed bounce back win 54-49. 

One name was familiar in the scoring column, Trey Taylor.  He was, in a word, awesome. Another career high of 29 points on 13-18 FG to go along with 4 rebounds, and Taylor did all that while not playing a single second in the second quarter. “Trey Taylor continues to get better and better every game,” said Moline Head Coach Sean Taylor. “In a close game like this was unbelievable.” Sean even jokingly said on the postgame show to us, “I don’t know who your player of the game is but if it wasn’t him you guys are watching something different than me.” While Taylor (as well as Braden Freeman)  was sitting the 2nd quarter the Maroons deployed a unit spearheaded by their 2 freshmen Arthur Abbey and Brady Welch. They each poured in 9 points on a combined 6-10 shooting and Welch hit three shots from deep. “…we had numerous guys step up. Today Brady Welch comes in and makes three big 3’s, Arthur makes a contribution on defense…our two freshmen really helped us in this game.” Sean Taylor was thrilled how those two played, as well as some others as the Maroons stemmed the tide in the 2nd frame. “I thought (the freshmen) were doing a really good job…not only those two but Aiden Versluis did a great job.” 

The Maroons took a lead going into half only giving up 4 points in the 2nd quarter, but they had to rally after the huge 3rd quarter on offense from Normal West. “We are in man and they made 6 3’s in the 3rd quarter, it’s why you have to be offensive too. There’s a lot of good offensive players out there…we did a pretty good job of taking their run…We did a good job in the 4th quarter of getting the ball to the foul line with either Trey or Braden and then attacking the rim,” Taylor said. In the 4th the Maroons took control and got enough stops late. Taylor had 10 in the 4th to finish off his dominant performance. Moline will now take on Peoria Notre Dame for 5th place in the tournament. You can hear it live on qcsportsnet.com beginning at 12:15 p.m. Friday with the Crawford Company pregame show.

Toughness and tenacity were the watchwords on Thursday morning at Dawdy Hawkins Gym as the Moline Maroons (11-2) suffered their first loss since early December in a physical 60-51 defeat to 3A Ranked #7 East St Louis. “We just got to get a little tougher,” The Maroons head coach Sean Taylor said during the postgame show. He added, “Tougher doesn’t mean pushing guys…it means can we get open and get the ball to the guys that we want, where we want, when we want?” The Moline offense struggled to get consistency against a stifling Flyers defense, and the Flyers’ resiliency on offense getting good looks forced Moline to try to claw back from their biggest deficit of the season (12 points) in the final quarter. There were multiple opportunities for the Maroons in the 2nd half to slice into their largest deficit of the season but every time they would cut a 10 point game to 6, or an 8 point game to 4, the Flyers would respond. Robert McCline (23 points with 5 3FG) was amazing for East St Louis, as well as a well balanced offensive attack. After an abysmal 1-17 3FG shooting performance yesterday, the Flyers daggered the Maroons in the heart from deep, connecting on 8 of their 22 attempts (an over 30% jump in 3FG shooting efficiency). 

“…We made a great run to get it to 38-34 and then we turned it over 3 of the next 4 possessions. We just got to get better at that, I think we will.” Sean Taylor added during his postgame conversation with us. Sean was optimistic about his team’s effort and how hard they played all game against a tough team like the Flyers even in a loss. “I thought we played as hard as we played the whole year…we rebounded against a great offensive rebounding team, our defense was solid. We knew they were going to get some 3s and they hit some but if we can get the rebounds and not turn the ball over then we can live with those 3s.” Braden Freeman led the Maroons in scoring with 17 points (9 in the 4th) and Trey Taylor had 15. The Maroons will play the Normal West Wildcats at 3:45 in the 5th place bracket in the Pekin Tournament Thursday on qcsportsnet.com.