All eyes will be on Ty Pence this basketball season.
Understandably so. The St. Joseph-Ogden High School junior boys’ basketball player has received multiple Division I offers, including one from Illinois, in the past several months.
He lived up to the hype — and then some — during SJO’s season-opening 63-52 win against Denmark (Wis.) on Nov. 23 at the Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions in Washington.
Pence dropped in a game-high 36 points as the Spartans pulled away from the Vikings. SJO led 21-12 at the end of the first quarter and 37-28 at halftime before its lead was trimmed to 45-44 to start the fourth quarter. Then, Pence took control by scoring 17 of SJO’s 18 points in the fourth quarter to close out the nonconference win against an out-of-state foe.
Logan Smith also hit double figures with 11 points, including 10 in the first quarter. Evan Ingram added six points on two three-pointers in the first quarter for SJO, with Andrew Beyers chipping in five points. Hayden Brazelton (two points), Tanner Jacob (two points) and Coy Taylor (one point) also hit the scoring column for SJO.
The Spartans will now turn their attention to four games in a five-day span this week inside their own gymnasium. SJO will host the eight-team Toyota of Danville Classic that tips off Tuesday night and concludes on Saturday. Two pools of four teams apiece comprise the tournament, with Cissna Park, Oakwood and Schlarman joining SJO in Pool B. Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond, Georgetown-Ridge Farm, La Salette and Watseka make up Pool A.
SJO will host Cissna Park at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oakwood at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Schalrman at 8 p.m. on Friday. Other games Tuesday are Schlarman against Oakwood at 5 p.m. and La Salette against ALAH at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday’s two other games on the slate feature Schlarman against Cissna Park at 5 p.m. and Watseka against Georgetown-Ridge Farm at 6:30 p.m. Thursday night’s lineup is Georgetown-Ridge Farm against La Salette at 5 p.m., ALAH against Watseka at 6:30 p.m. and Cissna Park against Oakwood at 8 p.m. ALAH and Georgetown-Ridge Farm tip off the action on Friday at 5 p.m. before La Salette and Watseka meet at 6:30 p.m.
All eight teams will play on Saturday, with the seventh-place game at 1 p.m., followed by the fifth-place game at 2:30 p.m., the third-place game at 4 p.m. and the championship game at 5:30 p.m.
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