Sixth seeded Unity Christian upsets third seeded Arcola in boys LPC tourney

By Editor | January 28, 2025 |

By Mike Monahan

ARCOLA – Saturday at Nancy Stiff Gymnasium sixth seeded Unity Christian pulled off an upset of third seeded Arcola 47-45. The Lions held the Purple Riders to just 1-of-18 .056 from three-point range. It was the fifth win in the last six contests for Unity Christian, coached by first-year coach Felipe Philllips, including a 47-41 win over Springfield Southeast, a Class 3A team.

“The win means a lot for the program,” said Phillips. “Last year we didn’t have a good season and we are racking up the wins now (11-12). We are understanding what we want from them. They are believing in one another and when we do that, we are a tough team to play.”

It was not the only upset of the day as 12th seeded Tri-County knocked off fourth seeded Sullivan 47-43.

Unity Christian 47, Arcola 45

The game featured four lead changes and four ties. Unity Christian never led by more than eight and that was with 5:15 left after a three-pointer by Monty Wilson for a 43-35 advantage.

Arcola did not quit pulling to within one point on the only three-pointer of the night for the Purple Riders, one by Tanner Thomas, making it 46-45. The Lions Dillon Clark made one of two free throws for the final points of the game.

Arcola nearly got a chance to win, but an inbounds pass was ruled to have taken up the 1.1 seconds (the ball went out of bounds to Arcola, who would have had the ball on the Unity Christian side of the court with less than a second left.)

“When we had the eight point lead we just wanted to spread the floor and keep them from making plays,” said Phillips. “We just wanted to rely on one another and we made enough plays to win the game.”

The Lions were 5-of-9 from three-point range and 16-of-33 overall, while Arcola was 16-of-45 (36 percent.)

We know Tanner Thomas can shoot it. (three-pointers were an area of focus on defense),” said Phillips. “They have a couple of kids that can shoot the ball. I thought our zone affected them by staging wide in the zone. Braden Phillips was tough. When he didn’t finish we grabbed the rebound and the boys did a good job of rotating on defense.”

Braden Phillips led Arcola with 17 points, while Brody Phillips had 16 and Thomas 10.

For the Lions Clark led all players with 23 points, 16 in the second half and eight in the final quarter.

“Dillon Clark has been our leader all year, “ said Phillips. “Our point guard is out right now and Clark had to change roles today. I told him you are good enough of a ball player that you can mix it up and get your teammates involved.”

Arcola 51, Sullivan 45

The first time these two teams met was in the Dieterich Holiday Tournament with Arcola coming away with a 45-36 victory. This time it was a LPC regular season game at Arcola. The game featured 11 lead changes and seven ties. Neither team led by more than seven points.

Sullivan led 41-38 after Camden Watkins made one of two free throws with 4:40 left. Arcola outscored the Redskins 13-4 the rest of the way to win 51-45.

The run began with a reverse layup by Thomas. Canton Wesch drained a three-pointer to give the Purple Riders a 43-41 lead. After a basket by Watkins tied the game with 3:14 left it was Brody Phillips who made a three-pointer to give AHS the lead for good with 2:55 remaining. The Redskins made it a one-point game 10 seconds later, but Thomas sank a three-pointer for a 49-45 advantage.

Thomas led Arcola with 13 points, while Brody Phillips had 12 and Braden Phillips 10. The Purple Riders were 7-of-16 from three-point range compared to 3-for-10 for Sullivan.

Saturday’s LPC tournament game

Unity Christian 8 14 13 12–47

Arcola 9 7 19 10–45

ARCOLA: Canton Wesch 0-0-0, Brevyn Whisman 1-0-2, Braden Phillips 7-3-17, Tanner Thomas 3-3-10, Brody Phillips 5-6-16, Alan Geuvera, DJ Stephens 0-0-0, Totals 16-12-45

Three-point goals: Unity Christian 5-9 .556 (Marty Wilson 3, Dillon Clark 2), Arcola 1-18 .056 (Thomas 1). Field goals: Unity Chrisitan 16-33 485, Arcola 16-45 .356. Free throws: Unity Christian 9-18 .500. Arcola 12-18 .667. Rebounds: Unity Christian 24 (Gage Rafferty 5), Arcola 34 (Braden Phillips 9). Turnovers: Unity Chrisitan 15, Arcola 12

Jan. 21 Sullivan

Sullivan 6 11 17 11–45

Arcola 8 12 16 15–51

ARCOLA: Wesch 3-0-8, Whisman 1-0-2, Braden Phillips 3-4-10, Thomas 5-1-13, Brody Phillips 3-5-12, Stevens 3-0-6, Remi Roberts-McGeehoin 0-0-0, Totals 17-10-51

3-point goals: Arcola 7-16 ..438. (Wesch 2, Stevens 2, Thomas 2, Brody Phillips 1), Sullivan 3-10 .300. (D. Watkins 3). Field goals: Arcola 17-35 .486, Sullivan 17-48 .354. Free throws: Arcola 10-15 .667, Sullivan 8-12 .667. Rebounds: Sullivan 19 (Moore 4), Arcola 23 (Braden Philllips 6). Turnovers: Sullivan 12, Arcola 12.

Sullivan 5 11 7 21–44

Arcola 8 10 14 14–46

ARCOLA: AJ Stevens 3-0-8, Haris Mayhal 4-5-16, Remi Roberts-McGeehon 8-0-21, Sawyer Maxwell 0-1-1, Ronnie Vega, Eddy Garcia, Kaden Hohlbauch, Joey Hout 0-0-0, Totals 16-6-46

3-point goals: Arcola 8 (Mayhal 3, Roberts-McGeehon 3, Stevens 2)

Posted in Sports - TCC