Eric Ottens Shootout: Saturday Notebook

Fulton, IL - The Eric Ottens Shootout is a yearly staple for Northwest Illinois basketball. It brings teams from the local region as well as from the Chicago suburbs and central Illinois. What a joy it was to catch 4 of 8 games played on Saturday throughout the day at Stan Borgman Court. These 8 teams had a combined record of 123-35. A very well run smooth event put on by the Athletic Department of Fulton and multiple teams with head coaches whom have many years under their belts. I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with or just seeing a lot of old faces I've known in the basketball community for quite some time. A lot of good high intensity basketball was played throughout the afternoon which we can say are now the dog days of the season for Illinois Prep Hoops. We'll try our best at breaking down some standouts in the next couple posts but for now, I'll take you through the day and recap the games I saw.   Game 3 Riverdale Rams 80 vs. Rockford Christian Royal Lions 70 I caught the full 2nd half of this game which was a pretty high up tempo fast paced battle for the full 16 minutes. Rockford Christian unfortunately was without standout guard 2,000 point scorer [player_tooltip player_id='2319792' first='Elijah' last='Daugherty'] who makes a big impact for the Lions on both ends of the floor. Riverdale's Coach Kelly did a nice job of getting his team to play tough and keep up with the hard nosed play of Coach Johnson's Lions who came into the game with only 1 loss on the season. Going into the 4th quarter it was still a one possession game. Chris Cummings scored most of the points for RC but role players still fought throughout to stay in the game. Riverdale's Brody Clark, [player_tooltip player_id='2876529' first='Aris' last='Morgan'], and Jacob Watson were the Rams' go to players down the stretch to ultimately seal the deal and upset a ranked 2A opponent. Game 4 Hinckley-Big Rock 67 vs. Lena-Winslow 66 A game that featured an undefeated conference play Little Ten team and an always competitive Lena Winslow squad which came down to the wire. Two teams that really get the job done in completely different ways but are fun to watch. The Royals mostly depend on their 6'6 strong man down low Martin Ledbetter and lengthy 6'5 point guard / shooting guard Max Hintzsche. Coach Sanderson really plays a slower down type half court offensive to utilize those two dynamic players to the best of their abilities and that strategy ultimately ended up being a success in this matchup. Lena Winslow has good sized athletes and can tell are well disciplined by Coach Blakely. 6'0 Point Guard Jaylen Rakowska likes to get out and run and really showed his athleticism today. He had two fast break two handed slams and really finds a joy and excitement in seeing his teammates do well. The Royals' Ledbetter knocked down 1 of 2 free throws at the stripe with 2 seconds left to put a mark in the win column. Game 5 North Ridge Prep 60 vs. South Beloit 40   This was a game you wanted to see as a basketball fan just from the standpoint of who was standing and giving direction on the sidelines for their respective teams. Coach Miller is now the head coach at South Beloit who has been coaching since 1991. Coach Rey has been at the helm of the Knights for the last 20 years and has coached at the high school and collegiate levels since 1977. The Knights really love to defend the full length of the basketball court and create a lot of havoc in doing so. Although the Sobos are led by future Division 2 player [player_tooltip player_id='1385303' first='Ross' last='Robertson'], the defensive tenacity of North Ridge created a lot of problems from the on set. South Beloit kept it close with relying on their 6'8 big man but seemed to run out of steam eventually in the 2nd half. Seniors [player_tooltip player_id='2823910' first='Evan' last='Kataoka'], Nelson Goodrich, and Linus Coleman were at the forefront for Northridge most of the game and were the leaders of a well rounded attacking team that will be a tough out in 2A this post season.   Game 6 Pecatonica Indians 65 vs. Marmion Academy 33   The Indians love to get after it and pour it on early. The cohesiveness, unity, and team basketball is a staple for Pecatonica and Coach Heisler holds those highly competitive virtues as a standard for his team. They have the size and mobility to compete at a 3 or 4A level and are really a joy to watch. Marmion came out of the gates slower than anticipated and Pecatonica took advantage as they like to do. The Indians put up 48 points in the 1st half and never looked back. Sharp shooter [player_tooltip player_id='1874685' first='Brody' last='Black'] had atleast a handful of 3's in the first half. To go along with the selflessness play of [player_tooltip player_id='1874742' first='Jaxon' last='Diedrich'], [player_tooltip player_id='1874696' first='Cooper' last='Hoffman'], and Zion Braimah it makes the scouting report for an opposing team tough to comprehend. Marmion's [player_tooltip player_id='1550476' first='Caden' last='Anderson'] tried to keep the Cadets in it by creating some offensive flow but Pecatonica just deemed too much at the end of the day.

Fulton, IL - The Eric Ottens Shootout is a yearly staple for Northwest Illinois basketball. It brings teams from the local region as well as from the Chicago suburbs and central Illinois. What a joy it was to catch 4 of 8 games played on Saturday throughout the day at Stan Borgman Court. These 8 teams had a combined record of 123-35. A very well run smooth event put on by the Athletic Department of Fulton and multiple teams with head coaches whom have many years under their belts. I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with or just seeing a lot of old faces I've known in the basketball community for quite some time. A lot of good high intensity basketball was played throughout the afternoon which we can say are now the dog days of the season for Illinois Prep Hoops. We'll try our best at breaking down some standouts in the next couple posts but for now, I'll take you through the day and recap the games I saw.