North Lawndale takes 2A crown

PEORIA -- Top-ranked Chicago North Lawndale cruised to a 56-42 victory over perennial powerhouse Peoria Manual on Saturday night to win the Class 2A boys basketball championship at Carver Arena.

St. Anne defeated Nokomis 67-61 earlier Saturday to win the Class 1A championship.

Olney East Richland took third in 2A, while Warrensburg-Latham won the consolation trophy in 1A.

The Chicago-Peoria game lived up to its billing as a battle between the top-ranked Phoenix of North Lawndale (30-4) and the second-ranked Rams of Manual (25-8) -- at least at first.

In the end, North Lawndale showed it was more athletic and quicker than Manual, which looked sluggish on offense the second half.

The Rams only shot 30 percent from the field, compared to 54 percent for North Lawndale, which took second in last year's Class A tournament.

North Lawndale sophomore center Paul Bunch stood out among a host of youngsters playing for North Lawndale, which only starts one senior.

Bunch, who averages just over 8 points, scored 14 points in the first half and dominated the paint throughout the game.

He ended the evening with 18 points and 11 rebounds, both team highs.

"I bumped into Paul before the game," said North Lawndale coach Lewis Thorpe. "I told him that if he played well, we'd walk out of here with a championship. Well, he got this look on his face and he kept saying 'I got you coach. I got you coach.' "

Manual coach Derrick Booth gave a lot of credit to his counterpart.

"They are a well-coached, quality ballclub. They just scrapped and ground it out," he said. "I give them all the credit in the world. They have a superb coach up there."

Manual was led by Paris Gulleys 14 points.

Olney East Richland took third place in 2A action, defeating Pinckneyville 55-46.

Olney (31-4) was led by all-state guard Kyle Cassity and forward Hayden Hicks, both with 10 points. Pinckneyville (28-6) was paced by senior center Keane Thomann with 17.

This is the first year the IHSA has split the tournament into four tiers. The 3A and 4A tournament is next weekend at Carver Arena.

Class 1A

St. Anne 67, Nokomis 61:ŒSt. Anne made amends for a terrible ending to its regular season by capturing the 1A championship with a 67-61 victory over Nokomis.

Warrensburg-Latham defeated Lewistown 62-51 to win third place in 1A competition.

St. Anne (25-8) dropped its final four games of the season before regrouping for the 1A regionals. The Cardinals jumped ahead early and maintained a comfortable margin for most of the game.

"We knew we had some struggles at the end of the season, and we knew what caused them," said St. Anne coach Rick Schoon. "We talked about our goals and what we wanted and these guys went out and did it."

St. Anne was led by all-state guard Cliff Flemings' 28 points. Nokomis (30-6) was paced by Wade Kimbro, who scored 15 points and grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds.

In the consolation game, Warrensburg (32-2) -- ranked second in the state by The Associated Press -- was led by all-state forward Zack Boyd with 19 points. Top-ranked Lewistown (31-3) was led by Brian Flaharty's 16 points.