Unity advances to OVC title game

CHAMPAIGN — It didn't take long.

In just their third season in the new Okaw Valley Conference, the Unity Rockets' boys' basketball team has advanced to the conference tournament finals. Unity did so yesterday by rolling past Warrensburg-Latham 54-32 in the tournament semfinals at Decatur, sending the team into Saturday's 7:30 p.m. championship against the host St. Teresa Bulldogs.

St. Teresa has won 19 straight games, rising to the No. 7 spot in the recent IHSA Class 2A state rankings earlier this week. The Bulldogs beat Maroa-Forsyth 47-43 in Tuesday's other tournament semifinal.

The Rockets (14-6, 5-2 OVC) will be looking for revenge in Saturday's final after falling 75-62 at home to St. Teresa late last month. Unity avenged its only other conference regular season loss when it beat Warrensburg yesterday.

St. Joseph-Ogden can't stop Sabers

MOMENCE — Roth Vowels had 13 points in the first half and SJ-O was within four as late as the three-minute mark of the third quarter before falling 40-26 to St. Thomas More in the Sangamon Valley tournament quarterfinals Tuesday. 

The Spartans will play Clifton Central at 6 p.m. Thursday in Watseka in the play-in game to the tournament consolation bracket. With a win Thursday, the Spartans (2-19) would move on to the consolation semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Momence against the Redskins.  Back-to-back wins would put SJ-O in the consolation finals, set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Parkland. 

IHSA Regionals upcoming

Both the Spartans and Rockets will play in the Unity Regional when postseason play begins later this month. The five teams assigned to the Unity Regional are the Rockets, Spartans, Monticello Sages, St. Thomas More Sabres and Urbana Uni High Illineks.  A quick glance at the teams:

Unity (14-6): Beat SJ-O 64-39 (12/8), beat STM 65-45 (12/22).

St. Thomas More (18-5): Lost to Unity 65-45 (12/22), beat Monticello 55-48 (12/29), beat Monticello 63-37 (1/5), beat SJ-O 40-26 (2/2).

Uni High (16-4): No common opponents.

Monticello (12-7): Lost to STM 55-48 (12/29), lost to STM 63-37 (1/5).

St. Joseph-Ogden (2-19): Lost to Unity 64-39 (12/8), lost to STM 40-26 (2/2).