A lethargic first half for the Galesburg boys basketball team led to a loss at Rock Island Tuesday night, 76 - 55.
The Silver Streaks scored only 16 points in the 1st half and three of those came on a Cesaire Bile launch from just beyond half court at the buzzer which was their only made three-pointer of the night. But it actually might have sparked the Streaks a little bit coming out of the locker room as Galesburg went on a 12 - 4 run to pull within nine, and that's when Rock Island called a time out and reversed the fortunes. The Rocks went on a 17 - 2 run of their own and eventually got it up to a running clock with a thirty point lead in the 4th quarter on their way to the victory.
Eden Mayala led the way for the Silver Streaks with 21 points. He was a perfect 10 for 10 from the field and 1 for 1 from the free throw line, all in the 2nd half. Also in double-figures, Cesaire Bile finished with 12 points and Jaxon Wyatt scored 10 points, also all in the 2nd half. Leslie Kelley and Rahkim McCellan each had 4, while Keigen Crummer and Tobi Kivunina both had 2 points. Galesburg was 26 of 47 from the field, 1 of 7 from beyond the arc, and 2 of 3 from the free throw line. They grabbed 24 rebounds, had 17 assists, but committed 23 turnovers while forcing only 7 turnovers by Rock Island.
Leslie Kelley was our Dave's Auto Body Crunch Time Player of the Game. When everything else is falling and crumbling around, Leslie is the steadying force. On a night when the Streaks had 23 turnovers, Kelley's presence when on the court had a calming effect to settle the team and he simply didn't do anything wrong in the game.
Galesburg's three game Western Big 6 winning streak was snapped, dropping them to 4 - 5 in conference play, and 14 - 10 overall on the season. The Silver Streaks go back on the road Friday night to United Township for another conference match-up. Brad Bennewitz and Jason Wessels will bring you all the action from the Panther Den starting with the pregame at 6:40pm on 93.7 FM and 1400 AM WGIL and wgil.com.
