At John Thiel Gymnasium Friday night, the Galesburg boys basketball team endured a back-and-forth start with the visiting Geneseo Maple Leafs, and then poured on the points late in the 1st half and throughout the 2nd half to run away with a 70 - 39 victory. Galesburg improves to 10 - 8 on the season and 3 - 4 in the conference to move into the upper half of the Western Big 6.
The Silver Streaks led by just 3 points midway through the 2nd quarter at 28 - 25, but went on to outscore the Maple Leafs 14 -2 to finish the 1st half, and then 20 - 6 in the 3rd quarter which led to a running clock in the 4th quarter. Eden Mayala was a big reason for the Streaks' scoring surge, missing only one of his shots the entire night. The sophomore finished with a career-high 24 points and was named the Dave's Auto Body Crunch Time Player of the Game. He led the Streaks in scoring and also grabbed 6 rebounds, had a steal, and blocked three shots. And oh yeah, an awesome windmill dunk as well!
Rahkim McCellan off the bench had 12 points, and he and Demetrius Watson both grabbed 8 rebounds. Jaxon Wyatt finished the night with 7 points, Keigen Crummer had 6, while Grady Hickey, Tobi Kivunina, and Day'vion Jones all scored 4 points. Overall the Streaks shot 30 of 59 from the field, 3 of 16 from downtown, and 7 of 11 from the line. They pulled down 38 rebounds, had 16 assists, and committed just 10 turnovers. Galesburg forced 17 turnovers by the Maple Leafs.
Next up for the Streaks is a double-header in the Martin Luther King Tournament Saturday at John Thiel Gym. They open the tournament at 10:30am against Danville and then play the nightcap at 7:30pm versus Gary Comer College Prep. Brad Bennewitz will have the play-by-play of both games on 93.7 FM and 1400 AM WGIL and wgil.com.
