Rich East pulls away from Minooka

Rich East turned a two-point lead in the final two minutes into a 57-43 victory Wednesday night over host Minooka to move a step closer towardthe title of the

Winter Classic in the Rockets' first year at the tournament.

Rich East (5-2) plays two games on the final day today because Monday's schedule was postponed due to a snowstorm. Rich East, which is 2-0 in the tournament, will face Ottawa at 2:30 p.m. and Pontiac at 7 p.m. Ottawa is 0-2 in the tournament and Pontiac is 1-1.

Rich East had a 37-25 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter when Minooka (5-6) slowly got back in the game.

Guard Ben Heide scored nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter to lead the comeback before fouling out with 3:02 left in the game and Minooka behind 45-42.

A free throw by Anthony Thomas made it 45-43 with 2:38 left.

But Rich East regained control as a steal and a layup by Roytrell Long pushed the lead to 49-43, and two free throws by Jackson and two by Michael Williams increased the lead to 53-43 in the final minute.

"We just didn't come to play,'' said Minooka coach Scott Tanaka. "Flat out, we didn't come to play-championship game in our own tournament.''

Meanwhile, the first two games for Morris didn't leave the Redskins with a lot of fond memories after losses to Minooka and Rich East, arguably the top two teams.

But Morris rebounded Wednesday with a strong third quarter to earn a 44-28 victory over Ottawa. Forward Kjeld Torkelson scored the first 10 points after halftime to give Morris a 26-16 lead.

Torkelson led Morris (4-5) with 17 points and Josh DeGraaf had 11 points.

"Kjeld showed in the second half he was the best player on the floor,'' Morris coach Joe Blumberg said.'

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