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.

After a back and forth start to the game that saw the score 7-7 through the first few minutes, the Moline Maroons (11-1) used a prolonged 18-0 run that lasted nearly a full quarter to eventually lead 35-13 at the half and go on to win 62-32 over the Plainfield South Cougars in round one of the Pekin Tournament. Trey Taylor (20 points 10-12 FG, 10 rebounds) was magnificent once again as he posted his 4th straight 20 point game punctuated with his highlight coast to coast dunk near the end of the first half. The question on the day would be how the Maroons would respond after a sluggish finish to their win last Thursday over McHenry.  Coach Sean Taylor felt that they responded well. “I thought they played great.” The Maroons’ mentor said during the postgame show. “This is a hard game to play, you get a couple days off…we have lost this game a couple times, I thought the guys came out focused.” Moline was dialed in from the jump. Coach Taylor was proud of the all around effort from Vinny Adjahoungbeta (4 points, 6 rebounds) who didn’t light up the scoreboard but was a presence on defense and all over the offensive glass early. Marcus McQueen had a big 2nd quarter and finished with 14 points on an efficient 5-6 FG and 4-5 from 3FG.

The Maroons will take on a familiar foe Thursday morning – the East St. Louis Flyers.  They knocked off Washington in their first round contest, 51-48. “No matter what happens, we have 2 games and it’s going to be against 2 quality opponents. When you get to the final 8 of this tournament all 8 are good.” Tip off for Thursday’s game is slated for 10:30 a.m.  We will be LIVE at 10:15 for the Crawford Company Pregame show from Dawdy Hawkins Gym.

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:
* Breaking news about Alleman not playing football in the WB6 in 2024. We’ll read you their letter.
* Former Quad Citian & ESPN anchor Doug Kezirian will join us
* We’ll test the guys’ college football knowledge with a fun twist on 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.