The Galesburg boys basketball team never trailed in the game as they pulled away from Kewanee on the road for a 64 - 41 non-conference victory. It was the Silver Streaks' 102nd all time win over the Boilermakers.
Galesburg led 25 - 5 at the end of the 1st quarter. It was 4 - 3 when the Streaks went on a 21 - 2 run, and that really proved to be the difference in the game. The Streaks' lead just kind of held there all night long. Kewanee went on a short 8 - 0 run late in the 3rd and into the 4th quarter, but they never got closer than 15 the rest of the way and Galesburg went on to win it by 23.
The Silver Streaks were led in scoring by Cesaire Bile who put up 23 points, Eden Mayala also finished in double-figures with 12, and pulled down 9 rebounds, Tobi Kivunina and Keigen Crummer each scored 7, and Jaxon Wyatt and Grady Hickey both finished with 6, which is Hickey's varsity career-high. Galesburg shot 27 of 50 from the field, 6 of 12 from beyond the arc, and 4 of 8 from the free throw line. They grabbed 41 rebounds, had 16 assists, and committed 24 turnovers.
Our Dave's Auto Body Crunch Time Player of the Game was senior Leslie Kelley who finished with 10 rebounds (matching a career-high) as well as a couple of steals and an assist, and did so in limited playing time. The 2nd quarter was kind of a slog for the Streaks as they struggled to get points on the board and turned the ball over 9 times. But off the bench, Kelley brought energy to the team and pulled down 6 of his 10 rebounds in that quarter to help hold the lead where it was for Galesburg. It was a great effort with 10 rebounds in less than 10 minutes of playing time overall.
The Streaks have now won five in a row and are 13 - 8 on the season.
It's a quick turnaround for the Galesburg boys as they will host East Peoria, one of the top 10 teams in Class 3A, Wednesday night at John Thiel Gym. Brad Bennewitz and Jason Wessels will have live coverage starting with the pregame at 6:40pm on 93.7 FM and 1400 AM WGIL and wgil.com.