March 16, 2004

Hilltoppers dominate in 1st round action, 
defeating Tremont, 60 -22  -  Face Stanford (Olympia)
 in 2nd round action on Thursday evening at 7:30.
Click here for a recap of the game >

Feb. 21, 2004       

          The Hilltoppers took care of business Friday evening.  They won their final regular season game, with a 58 - 50 victory over Illini Bluffs.  This boosted their Tomahawk Conference record to paltry 2 - 3 mark.  However, un-heralded Riverton (last place in Sangamo) upset state-ranked Pleasant Plains (41-36), allowing Mt. Pulaski to win the Sangamo conference outright (see Sangamo conference standings below).  
          Mt. Pulaski had a long travel to the Illini Bluffs venue, but continued their "new look" with their inside game - crashing the boards and offensive penetration followed up with high-percentage shooting.  The Toppers made good with 17 - 21 from the charity stripe.  Josh Blaum led the way for the Hilltoppers with 14 points, with four others contributing at least 8 points.  

         Mt. Pulaski is in playoff action this coming Tuesday evening 
at the Normal University venue:
Tue., Feb. 24
Game 2 at 6:00 pm: (3) Mt. Pulaski  vs. (12) Tremont

    Regional Boy's Basketball Class "A" Daily Results - 2004
< click here to keep up-to-date with regional play >

       Regional pairings have been formed, with the locals moving to another venue for this year's playoff action.  Click on the following link for viewing the pairings of all regional, sectional, and super-sectional listings that the Hilltoppers would be involved in: Regional Basketball Playoffs Schedule - 2004

Boy's Class "A" Sectional Seeding - 2004

Boy's Class "A" State Basketball Venues - 2004

Boy's Basketball 2004 - Class "A" and "AA"

Feb. 18, 2004       

          The Hilltoppers continued their winning ways, defeating Petersburg Porta last evening in an away game, 65 - 44.  The Toppers again blitzed their opponent in a 1st quarter shelling (20 - 8) on their way toward piling up a 36 - 21 half-time lead.   Porta closed the gap to 46 - 38 at 3rd quarter's end, but the Purple and Gold were again relentless - this time in the last stanza - outscoring their opponents, 19 - 6.  
        The Toppers once again showed their "new look", relying on a re-vamped inside game by hitting the boards, executing screens, making clever assists, and working for easier 2-pointers rather than trying to hit from "La-La 3-land".  And, as Head Coach Jumper surmised, the opponents showed their frustration by fouling the Toppers, while his team  penetrated time after time in their contender's paint area.  Mt. Pulaski hit on 22 field goals, holding their opponents to only 9, while the free throws were almost even at 9 and 8, respectively.
           Josh Blaum and Tim Milner led the scoring parade, each with 16 points.  Dan Gleason and Brian Clements chipped in handsomely with 15 and 12 points, respectively.  Brian Clements recorded another double-double by pulling down 19 rebounds.   This increases Mt. Pulaski's Sangamo Conference record to 7 - 1, enough for a share in the conference title.   The local cagers have also recorded 20 wins, one more than last season.  
           The Hilltoppers will be in final regular-season action this Friday evening, taking on the Illini Bluffs in an away tilt.  Regional pairings have been formed, with the locals moving to another venue for this year's playoff action.  Click on the following link for viewing the pairings of all regional, sectional, and super-sectional listings that the Hilltoppers would be involved in: Regional Basketball Playoffs Schedule - 2004

< click here for photos of  Feb. 16 Senior-Night Festivities >

Feb. 16, 2004       

       The Hilltoppers lost their first Sangamo Conference game, losing to Illini Central 
at Mason City, 60 - 51.  They also dipped to a 1-3 record in the Tomahawk Conference.  The Cougar's tough man-to-man defense and some sloppy ball-handling in the middle portion of the competition  put the Toppers in a big hole.   The local cagers were out-scored 36 - 20 in the 2nd and 3rd quarter stanzas.   The Toppers had seven turnovers in the 2nd Quarter, alone.  
         The "Comeback Kids"  engineered a 4th quarter rally, but this late  surge was not enough to overcome the large lead that Illini Central had piled up.   Josh Blaum led the way for the locals with 17 points.  

The JV's lost a close game, 57 - 55.  

       The Hilltoppers maintained their undefeated record in the Sangamo Conference by holding off the Rochester Rockets, 76 - 71, on the opponent's home court.  Both teams came out firing, going neck-and-neck with each other throughout the first half and into the second.  Many traveling fans cheered our local cagers as they pulled away towards the end of the third quarter and seemed to have things in control, leading by 11 - 15 points at times.  However, some sloppy ball handling along with a stepped-up defense and good shooting by the Rockets allowed them back into the contest toward the end.  

     But, seemingly, with 28 seconds left in the game, Brian Clements was fouled with a brazen hack, which resulted in a technical.  Brian made both FT's, but Pulaski lost the ball on a turnover and the Rockets made a bucket to close the gap to 72-69.  The Rockets had to foul to get the ball back, which allowed the visitors to make more FT's and widen the gap somewhat.  

      Tim Milner led with way with 18 points, with Brian Clements and Craig Erlenbush scoring 17 and 16 points respectively.   Once again the Hilltoppers showed that the scoring could come from different players throughout the game.

The JV's won their game with a lop-sided score.  

       The Hilltoppers finally got back on the hardwood after two game postponements due to the weather.  The Toppers played like they had a 15-day layoff in the early running of this Tomahawk tilt, which was their first league game victory in this conference this season.  So it wasn't easy, as they had to travel a long distance and rally to hang on and defeat an excellent Manito Midwest Central team, 63-59.  Craig Erlenbush scored all 10 of his points in the 2nd-half rally.
       After trailing most of the game, the local cagers staged one of their rallies and came back from deficits of 9, 7, and 3 points at the quarters to overcome the pesky Raiders in the final quarter action.  Jeff Clements and Josh Blaum led the way with 17 and 15 points respectively, while both grabbed 7 rebounds.  The Hilltoppers out-rebounded the Raiders, 24-22.  
       Mt. Pulaski has received news that they will be seeded 3rd in their regional play, which 
will be played at Normal University High School,  where the host Pioneers have received a number 1 seed.

  Springfield Journal_Register High School Sports
<  click here to get up-to-date basketball summaries >

The Delavan Panthers crashed the Hilltopper's homecoming party and walloped the locals, 
63-40, in front of  many bewildered and stunned fans.  It was apparent that the pre-game
 homecoming festivities were too much for the local favorites as they never had their focus
 nor poise in this strange one-sided loss.  

     Poor ball-handling resulting in a host of turnovers, wild and desperate shooting as well as 
uncharacteristic fouling lead to a very disappointing showing.  Delavan showed up
 with a tenacious defense and a patient offense built around bundles of screens and 
excellent feeds.  Their shooting was quite uncanny as well.  In addition, the Panthers shot 
free throws like there was no tomorrow.  This was a Tomahawk Conference game.

The JV's, on the other hand, had their way with the Panthers in a lop-sided victory, 62-34.

The Hilltoppers had another tough test on their home floor - this time it was the Athens Warriors.  The local cagers prevailed at the end, 48-42.  Tim Milner made the last 6 points for the Toppers, all free-throws.  Tim was 8 for 8 at the charity stripe and high-point man this evening with 18 points.  The strength of this team is that several young men can lead the scoring parade on any given night.   It was obvious that Athens had the recent Hart-Em victory in mind, in which the Hilltoppers came up short.  But, tonight, the Purple and Gold would have none of it as they fought hard to keep the Athens Warriors out of the victory circle in their house.

     The Hilltoppers kept the winning streak alive by defeating Providence St. Mel once again, 
this time in our home gym in front of a highly partisan crowd as the 1983-84 Hilltopper team looked on (61-52).  The locals didn't want to disappoint the honored team that had paved the way 
long ago.  But, they had to deal with the quickness and tenaciousness of a well-coached team
from the Chicago area.  
     The local cagers seemed to have their shooting eye back and they provided some quickness
and ball-handling skills of their own.  The Toppers got more than their share of rebounds
but had to hustle the entire game to keep ahead of this aggressive and hustling team from 
the northern part of the state.

1984 - 85 Hilltoppers -  State Class "A" 2nd Place 

The 1983-84 Hilltoppers will be honored at halftime during this Saturday's
home tilt with Providence St. Mel.  The Toppers had beaten this Chicago
Catholic school in the semi-finals of that year's Illinois State Tournament.
The local cagers went on to fight a hard battle in the championship game, only
 to lose to McLeansboro, 57 - 50.  Deron Powell (Mt. Pulaski ( 6-1 Sr.) was 
named to the all-tournament team, scoring a total of 77 points in the
final "Sweet-16" Illinois March Madness Classic.  
Mt. Pulaski had a 29-3 record that year.

Hilltoppers defeat Heyworth, 58-32.  After a slow start, the toppers
gain steam and win going away.  The cagers score 37 2nd-half points
to go with their low output of only 21 points in the 1st half.  Milner and
 Blaum lead the way with 17 and 13 points, respectively.  

Hilltoppers lose a hard-fought battle to Hart-Em, 47-44.  Locals only make 
7 of 18 free throws.  Large crowd gives their support, but shooting and 
ball-handling wasn't there most of the evening this time.  

Topper JV's win their game, 48-40.  Hold opponents
 to only 1 point in the 3rd quarter.

Hilltoppers have their way with a 72-45 victory over 
Meridian of Macon County.   Balanced scoring, strength 
on the boards and hustle on defense paved the way.  A deep
bench is once again a major factor in victory.  Fan support was
very evident along with the loud Pep Band & exciting cheerleaders.
And, yes, the popcorn was delicious!

Hilltoppers win a tough conference game at Williamsville, 52 - 48

Tim Milner and Josh Blaum lead the way with 14 pts. each.
Chris McDonnough hits a critical three with 45 sec. left in the game.   
Milner's four free throws close out the game in the final seconds.
Topper defense rises to the occasion !   Josh Blaum and Brian Clements
have 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively.  Large Mt. Pulaski crowd 
travels to the game and helps make a difference!

<click on above link>

     The Toppers defeated 2nd seeded Peoria Christian this afternoon, to grab the 3rd place trophy.  The defense stepped up in addition to some timely shooting and free throws.       
     The tournament was a great week of basketball for the Hilltoppers, who had to rally to win in two of their three victories.

Bloomington Pantograph

Lincoln Courier

The Toppers fell victim to their own cold shooting and 
constant pressure by the quick and scrappy Notre Dame defense to fall to the undefeated and top-ranked Quincy team.  This was only the 2nd loss for the Toppers, who will play this afternoon for 3rd place  against Peoria Christian at the Horton Field House at 1:30 pm.

Bloomington Pantograph re-cap

Bloomington Pantograph Re-cap    

                          Wrestling