Blue Ridge Boys Basketball Splits First Day in Monticello Holiday Hoopla

MONTICELLO, Ill. -- The Knights are 1-1 in the tournament after losing to Mount Zion 83-46 and beating Neoga 77-67 in overtime.

Blue Ridge (4-7) will face Monticello today at 3:30 p.m.

Blue Ridge 77, Neoga 67, OT

Michael Plunk was the Knights' leading scorer with 25 points.

He was also their hero.

With Blue Ridge trailing 62-59 with three seconds left in regulation, Michael Plunk sank the tying 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime.

From there, the Knights clinched the game at the free-throw line, as they sank 13-of-14 free throws.

Blue Ridge had to rally from a 20-12 deficit at the end of the first quarter. A 12-2 run by the Indians in the first 3:05 of the second quarter that increased their lead to 32-14 did not help.

However, the Knights went on a run of their own, scoring of the 14 final 15 points of the second quarter to cut the deficit to 33-28 at halftime. Michael Plunk started the run with a jump shot and Tucker Johnson, who finished the game with 16 points, capped it off by scoring a basket with 22 seconds left in the half. 

With 6:03 remaining in the third quarter, Blue Ridge trailed the Neoga 39-32. With a scoring run of 10-2, the Knights took the lead.

Will Duggins started the run with a jump shot. Michael Plunk sinked a free throw to give the Knights a 42-41 lead with 2:38 left in the third quarter.

Neoga retook the lead at 50-44 by the end of the third quarter and increased their lead to eight at 57-49 with 5:41 left in regulation. Clint O'Neal scored on a layup to get two of six points and cut the deficit to 57-51.

From there, Blue Ridge went on a scoring run of 8-1 to take the lead at 59-58, getting the last of those two points on Michael Plunk free throws with 52 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

T.J. Roy, who finished with a game-high 42 points, gave the Indians a go-ahead jump shot to give his team a 60-59 lead with 35 seconds left and increased it to 62-59 with two free throws before Michael Plunk's game-tying 3-pointer.

Johnson made the first shot of the overtime period, giving the Knights a 64-62 lead with 3:33 left in the game. From there, Blue Ridge went on a 11-2 run with all of its points scored via free throws.

Jon Jones gave the Knights a 75-64 lead by making two foul shots with 10 seconds left in the overtime period.

Blue Ridge (77)

C.J. Bishop 0-4 0-0 0, Travys Nichols 4-5 0-0 8, Tucker Johnson 8-18 0-1 16, Michael Plunk 4-12 1-18 25, Will Duggins 4-9 0-0 8, Mark Plunk 0-1 0-0 0, Dylan Grammer 0-0 0-0 0, Jon Jones 3-6 5-6 12, Trenor Hildreth 1-1 0-0 2, Josh Plunk 0-0 0-0 0, Clint O'Neal 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 27-60 21-25 77

Neoga (67)

Dalton Roberts 2-8 0-0 5, Seth Kline 0-2 0-1 0, Joey Smyser 1-2 0-0 2, T.J. Roy 13-22 7-8 42, Adam Probst 5-7 2-3 12, Wyatt Krikie 1-5 1-2 4, Cole McKimmey 1-2 0-2 2, Michael Baker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 10-16 67

Blue Ridge    12    16    16    18    15    -- 77

Neoga    20    13    17    12    5    -- 67

3-pointers -- Blue Ridge 2-8 (Jones 1-2, Mi. Plunk 1-2, Ma. Plunk 0-1, Duggins 0-1, Ma. Plunk 0-1). Neoga 11-24 (Roy 11-24, Roberts 1-5, Krikie 1-5).

For Blue Ridge, Johnson had 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals. Mi. Plunk had 7 rebounds, 3 steals. Duggins had 5 rebounds. Jones had 4 rebounds, 4 steals. Team had 38 rebounds, 11 steals, 8 assists.

For Neoga, Baker had 8 rebounds. Roy had 6 rebounds, 3 assists. Probst had 4 steals, 3 assists. Roberts had 3 assists. Team had 28 rebounds, 13 assists, 5 steals.

First half stats

Blue Ridge (28)

C.J. Bishop 0-2 0-0 0, Travys Nichols 2-3 0-0 4, Tucker Johnson 3-5 0-0 6, Michael Plunk 1-4 2-2 4, Will Duggins 2-4 0-0 4, Mark Plunk 0-1 0-0 0, Dylan Grammer 0-0 0-0 0, Jon Jones 2-3 0-0 2, Trenor Hildreth 1-1 0-0 2, Clint O'Neal 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 13-26 2-2 28

Neoga (33)

Dalton Roberts 1-4 0-0 2, Seth Kline 0-2 0-0 0, Joey Smyser 0-0 0-0 0, T.J. Roy 6-11, 4-4 20, Adam Probst 4-5 2-3 10, Wyatt Krikie 0-3 1-2 1, Cole McKimmey 0-1 0-0 0, Michael Baker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-27 7-9 33

3-pointers -- Blue Ridge 0-3 (Bishop 0-1, Duggins 0-1, Ma. Plunk 0-1). Neoga 4-12 (Roy 4-7, Krikie 0-3, Roberts 0-2).

For Blue Ridge, Mi. Plunk had 4 rebounds. Johnson had 3 rebounds, 2 assists. O'Neal had 3 rebounds. Jon Jones had 2 steals. Team had 15 rebounds.

For Neoga, Roy had 4 rebounds, 2 assists. Baker had 4 rebounds. Probst had 3 rebounds, 2 steals. Roberts had 2 assists. Team had 16 rebounds.

Mount Zion 83, Blue Ridge 46

From the start, the Knights simply had no chance.

The Braves jumped out to an 18-8 at the end of the first quarter. They outscored Blue Ridge 19-11 in the second quarter to go into halftime leading 37-19.

Mount Zion had advantages of 25-14 and 31-13 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

Clint O'Neal led the Knights with eight points. Will Duggins and Tucker Johnson each contributed seven points.

Mark Plunk and Trenor Hildreth each scored five points. Michael Plunk and Matthew White each had four points.

Jon Jones finished the game with three points while Travys Nichols tallied two points.