ALAH boys rally from 13 down in the fourth to nip Tri-County 62-61

By Editor | February 11, 2025 |

At the bottom left of this photo, ALAH junior Will Hilligoss along with all the players on the floor and the fans along the baseline wall watch the ball he just shot go through the basket. There were 8.2 seconds left in the varsity game when he hit the shot that gave the Knights a 62-61 lead. Despite Tri-County getting a shot off in the last 3.1 seconds, Knights senior Colin Smith grabbed the rebound and ALAH held on to win! Will had 21 points in the game with 15 of them coming in the second half. ALAH will hit the road for two games next week, at Heritage on February 11 and at Sullivan on February 14. They will close out the regular season at home against Unity Christian on February 18 and Villa Grove on the 21st.

By Mike Monahan

MT. PULASKI – The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond boys basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak with a thrilling 62-61 win over Tri-County as they outscored the Titans 18-4 in the fourth to win by one.

Saturday, the Knights traveled to Mt. Pulaski and lost 52-44. Arthur is 6-19 overall and 2-5 in the Lincoln Prairie Conference, good for 7th place in the LPC. Earlier in the week the Knights lost a 74-33 non-conference game at Meridian on Friday and ALAH dropped a 57-43

LPC game to Cumberland Feb. 4 at Arthur.

Mt. Pulaski 52, ALAH 44

ALAH drove over an hour and fell behind 17-9 after the first quarter. However, the Knights tied the Hilltoppers at 25 at the break. The Knights took a 35-31 lead heading into the final quarter, when Mt. Pulaski won by outsourcing ALAH 21-9 in the fourth in an eight point win for the Hilltoppers, who improved to 13-13.

Colin Smith led ALAH with 14, including 10 in the first half. Kendall Schrock made all four three-pointers for the Knights in scoring 13 points. Will Hilligoss was also in double digits with 10.

ALAH 62, Tri-County 61

Tri-County, who fell to 11-15 overall and 2-6 in the conference, good for 11th place, appeared to have things well in hand, leading 57-44 heading into the fourth. The Titans, who finished third in the conference tournament, despite being the No. 12 seed, still led 59-49 with 5: 48 left. ALAH’s defense forced several turnovers and made it a two-point game on a three-pointer by Hilligoss with 1:40 left. Garrett Pollock made one of two free throws for the Titans and a 61-58 advantage. Hilligoss scored the last four points of the game, including a putback with 10 seconds left for the game-winner. The Titans got a good shot off, but missed giving the Knights the big win.

Tri-County was led in scoring by Pollock, Chase Rhode and Clay Kibler with 15, 15 and 12 points respectively.

Hilligoss led all players with 21, including 15 in the second half and eight in the fourth. Kendall Schrock, Nate Hale and Colin Smith all were in double digits with 11,11 and 10 points respectively. Hale scored eight in the third period.

Meridian 74, ALAH 33

Meridian jumped out to a 20-4 lead after the opening quarter and led 43-18 at the half.

Eleven of the 15 members of ALAH scored at least two points and the most was six by Smith.

Cumberland 57, ALAH 43

Again it was first quarter woes that cost the Knights as Cumberland led 19-6. The Pirates outscored Arthur 38-37 in the final three periods to win by 14.

Zach Harmon scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half for Cumberland, while Cameron Roedl scored nine of his 13 in the first half and Chase Stewart had all 11 of his points in the first half.

Schrock hit three three-pointers and led ALAH with 11 points.

Saturday at Mt. Pulaski
ALAH 9 16 10 9–44
Mt. P 17 8 6 21–52

ALAH: Will Hilligoss 5-0-10, Marcus Otto 1-1-3, Kendall Schrock 4-1-13, Nate Hale 2-0-4, Colin Smith 6-2-14, Ryan Appleby, Brennon Hutson 0-0-0, Totals 18-4-44

3-point goals: ALAH 4 (Schrock 4), Mt. Pulaski 3 (L. Martin 2, Valle 1), Free throws: ALAH 4-8 .500, Mt. Pulaski 9-11 .818

JV: Mt. Pulaski 41, ALAH 38

Friday Tri-County
Tri-County 17 18 22 4–61
ALAH 14 16 14 18–62

ALAH: Hilligoss 9-2-21, Otto 3-3-9, Schrock 5-1-11, Hale 4-0-11, Smith 5-0-10, Appleby, Hutson, Kyler Stone, Cooper Shoemaker 0-0-0, Totals 26-6-62

3-point goals: ALAH 4 (Hale 3, Hilligoss 1), Tri-County 3 (Garrett Pollock 2, Caden Logan 1). Free throws: Tri-County 14-19.737, ALAH 6-15 .400

JV: ALAH 36, Tri-County 35, ot.

Thursday at Meridian
ALAH 4 14 7 8–33
Meridian 20 23 23 8–74

ALAH: Hilligoss 2-0-4, Otto 1-0-2, Schrock 2-0-4, Hale 0-0-0, Smith 2-2-6, Appleby 2-1-5, Grant 1-0-3, Carson Reed 1-0-2, Hutson 1-0-2, Cal Binion 1-0-2, Shoemaker 1-0-3, Carson Augustine, Jayden Parsons, Stone 0-0-0, Totals 14-3-33

3-point goals: ALAH 2 (Appleby 1, Shoemaker 1), Meridian 10 (Colton Denny 2,Wyatt Weybright 1, Dowdy 1, Aiden Sites 1, Ryan Brown 4, Roy Ralston 1). Free throws: ALAH 3-3 1.000, Meridian 6-13 .462

JV: Meridian 43, ALAH 36

February 4 Cumberland
Cumberland 19 15 11 12–57
ALAH 6 13 14 10–43

ALAH: Hilligoss 2-0-4, Otto 3-0-6, Schrock 4-0-11, Hale 1-0–3, Smith 1-3-5, Appleyby 2-0-5, Hutson 2-0-5, Shoemaker 2-0-4, Ryan Appleby, Grant, Reed, Binion, Stone 0-0-0, Totals 17-3-43

3-point goals: ALAH 6 (Schrock 3, Appleby 1, Hutson 1, Hale 1), Cumberland 7 (Kade McMechan 1, Cameron Roedl 1, Chase Stewart 3, Reed Miller 2) Free throws: Cumberland 4-8 .500, ALAH 3-5 .600

JV: ALAH 44, Cumberland 43