WOOD RIVER - Roxana's boys' basketball team finished the season with three outstanding regional performances, but on Friday night, fell to the Greenville Comets 46-26 in a hard-fought IHSA Class 2A East Alton-Wood River Regional Championship.
Two Greenville players - Landon Moss and Cale Ackerman - scored in double figures, while the Comets gradually pulled away in the second half, outscoring Roxana 25-13 in the second half, in going on to a 46-26 win over the Shells in the final of the IHSA Class 2A regional Friday night at East Alton-Wood River Memorial Gym/Chick Summers Court in Wood River. Walleck led the Shells with eight points, while Briggs scored seven points, Ashton Noble hit for six points, Evan Wells scored three points and Sean Maberry had two points.
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"We did a great job on defense," Roxana head boys coach Mark Briggs said. "We held a team that has been averaging 65 points a game in Greenville to 46 points.
"We really executed well last week knocked out the host school senior-laden team - East Alton-Wood River and moved on and defeated Southwestern. We executed really well here at the end of the season."
The win advances Greenville to the Newton sectional next week, eliminating the Shells, who played hard all night but couldn't get over the hump as the Comets gradually built their lead the entire game.
The first quarter started out well for Greenville as the Comets took a 9-3 lead after the first, then in the second quarter, outscored the Shells 12-10 to go ahead at halftime 21-13. The third quarter started out with Greenville going on a 9-0 run, led by Landon Moss and Cale Ackerman, to go out to a 30-13 lead, forcing a Roxana time-out.
After the time out, Aiden Briggs hit from outside to give Roxana its first points of the half and break the run, making it 30-15. A late three-point play by Ashton Noble further cut the lead to 30-18, but Moss sank a three right before the buzzer to give the Comets a 33-18 lead after three quarters.
Moss hit another three at the start of the fourth quarter and a basket by Carter Snow expanded the Greenville lead to 38-18, with Chris Walleck hitting an NBA three to cut the lead to 38-21. After that, the Comets outscored the Shells for the remainder of the game 8-5 to give Greenville the 46-26 win and advance the Comets, ending Roxana's season.
Moss led the Comets with 14 points, while Ackerman hit for 12 points, Nick Grull chipped in with eight points, Kaleb Gardner scored five points, Snow had four points and Trent Bohannon had three points.
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