Here are this week's candidates for the Antonio's Pizza Prime Time Performer. You can vote once every 12 hours until the polls close on Friday at 5pm. The winner will receive a $20 gift card to Antonio's Pizza!
Nick Hanner (Athens Guard) Guess who’s back? After injuring his ankle the first week of the season, it appears that the Warriors point guard is ready to roll. Hanner chipped in 11 points in Athens’ overtime win against Auburn. He also scored 11 on Friday when the Warriors got the win on the road at Mt. Pulaski. We know that Matt Wendling is a dynamic scorer, but with Hanner on the floor, the Warriors move into that top tier of the Sangamo conference.
Alexis Henry (Southeast Forward) Southeast got a much needed home win over Lincoln on Thursday in dramatic fashion and a big reason they were able to rally from being down double digits was Alexis Henry. While her sister put up 14, Alexis came off the bench after missing the first quarter and put in 22 points, including two free throws in the final 30 seconds to give Southeast the lead.
Isaac Collins (Plains Guard) In case you didn’t see the special we put out on Sunday about the Cardinal shooting guard, do yourself a favor and go take a look. We had Collins shoot 50 three’s to see how many he could make…he drained 40 of them. Collins is clutch during games too. He went 6 for 8 from three on Friday night against PORTA to jump up his season average to 55.8 percent. The Sangamo’s Steph Curry scored 17 in the first quarter on his way to 23 points against the Bluejays.
Will Peak (Jacksonville Guard) If there’s a more clutch situation to put yourself in than what Peak did on Friday night, we’d love to hear it. With no time left on the clock and his team down by three points, Peak stepped up to the free throw line and made two straight, then waited through a timeout and stepped up and hit one more to force overtime…on the road…against Southeast. The sophomore made a key three down the stretch in OT to give the Crimsons a shot at the win and they ultimately returned home with a huge road win, all because Peak drained those three free throws.
Angela Perry (Rochester Forward) The Lady Rockets continue to add to their streak of Central State Eight wins. Junior forward Angela Perry scored a very efficient 14 points on Saturday in Rochester’s blowout win over Lanphier and easily could have had a triple double had she played most of second half. Coach J.R. Boudouris complimented Perry after the game saying she allows the rest of the Rockets to not be so perfect on the defensive end, because if a team wants to score in the paint, they have to go around or over Perry, and that’s not easy to do.
Will Putnam (Glenwood Wrestler) We’ve seen plenty of impressive wrestling performances over the years from central Illinois grapplers. The 217 produces some of the best and when Kerker comes back to the office raving about a freshman heavyweight, we listen and so should you. Putnam won the heavyweight state title in eighth grade, but now he’s wrestling the big boys in high school, some three years older than him. At the Joe Bee, one of the top wrestling tournaments of the year at Springfield High, Putnam needed just 1:58 to get a pin to take home first place in the heavyweight division on Saturday. This kid is one to watch come February 18th – 20th.
Anthony Fairlee (Southeast Forward) The Spartan trio of D’Angelo Hughes, Treyvon Williams and Isaiah Walton have been the face of the team so far this season and rightfully so. But we’ve got a new name for you to watch for, in fact for the next four years. Freshman Anthony Fairlee had a coming out party on Friday night, even in an overtime loss, Fairlee put up 12 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. That performance earned him the start on Saturday, when Southeast took down Glenwood, a very good team, in Scheffler Gymnasium. Fairlee appears in this week’s Big Nasty and provides yet another weapon for Lawrence Thomas in blue and gold.
Kyra Webster (Springfield Guard) The Springfield Senators are still undefeated in the Central State Eight and may be for another month until they meet Rochester on January 19. A big reason why is senior point guard Kyra Webster. She’s been through the grind of the conference schedule before and put in 16 points on Saturday on the road against Lincoln for a road win. Webster, along with the three other seniors seem pretty focused on getting that conference title back in the Senators’ hands.
Yaakema Rose (Lanphier Guard) The best team in the Central State Eight has a dynamic scorer in Xavier Bishop, but we’re confident that if the Lions didn’t have Rose on the team, Bishop may not put up quite so gaudy numbers and the Lions maybe wouldn’t be at the top of our Power Rankings. Yaak’s stat line from Friday night would be enough to get him on this list. He had 32 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and three steals against MacArthur, in Lanphier’s 100 point performance for a huge, emotional road win. Less than 24 hours later, again on the road, Rose put up 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals in a 25 point win over Rochester.
Garrett Aeilts (Lincoln Guard) The Linoln players that’ve bled and poured sweat into the Railer basketball program over the years includes a long line of tremendous shooters. The Railsplitters are known for two things, that 1-2-2 zone defense and the three ball. That being said, there’s now only one name at the top of the record books for three-point field goals made in a single game. Aeilts made ten three-pointers, in a matter of three quarters time, on Saturday against the Senators. Just for good measure, Aeilts had 15 points on Friday night against the Cyclones, all three-pointers.
