text: MARION — Brett Frerichs is starting to sound like a broken record these days, but it’s hard to blame him.
  TREMONT — It was an issue for Fisher boys basketball last season, and the problem continues to bite the Bunnies at the start of the 2018-19 campaign.Lack of motivation from the start.The Bunnies lost a Heart of Illinois Conference bout to Tremont, 85-66, on Friday night, but the game looked …
  ST. JOSEPH — Once again, the Armstrong-Potomac boys basketball team was overwhelmed against the No. 1-ranked team in Class 1A.Just nine days after suffering a 76-27 defeat at the hands of Cissna Park, A-P again was blown out by the Timberwolves, 75-26, on Thursday as part of the St. Joseph-O…
  TREMONT — Last season, Keegan Zimmerman scored 36 and 31 points in wins over the Fisher boys basketball team.The 6-8 senior forward from Eureka then netted 32 points in defeating the Bunnies in a late November game this season.
  Off to a poor 1-4 start, the Eagles geared up for a nonconference showdown against Jack Cook and St. Joseph-Ogden. Behind the scenes of Rantoul boys basketball’s fight to rebound from the early-season dip.Saturday, Dec. 1Rantoul Township High School8:50 p.m. — Boys locker room
  RANTOUL — It was the type of agonizing déjà vu coaches would love to avoid, but it was impossible to miss.
  ARMSTRONG — It’s about as debilitated as the coach has been in his career following a loss, and it left him with a hard-to-miss realization.“We’re a long way away from that,” said Deon Mennenga.
  ARMSTRONG — Dalton Loschen was certainly frustrated last Tuesday, but there was almost nothing he could do.One of the area’s leading scorers at 17.9 points per game, the senior forward from Armstrong-Potomac was shut down by Cissna Park’s 6-7 twins, Julian and Christian Stadeli.
  FISHER —Nick Perry led all scorers with 23 points to key LeRoy’s 65-54 win over Fisher in a Heart of Illinois Conference home victory last Tuesday.The Bunnies got double-digit scoring from Will Delaney (16), Carson Brozenec (15) and Tyler Martin (12).
  RANTOUL — When Angelo Brown did not go out for basketball for his junior season, it left Rantoul coach Brett Frerichs without a key rotation player and potential starter for the 2017-18 season.Brown, however, has returned in 2018. Five games into the season, the senior forward has already ma…
  RANTOUL — For eight minutes Saturday night, it looked like the same old story for the Rantoul boys basketball team.Rantoul was stagnant and unproductive, unable to sustain anything offensively in putting up just six points in the first quarter of a nonconference game against Chicago Longwood.
  ARMSTRONG — Bryce Franzen’s baseline buzzer beater capped a thrilling 40-39 win for the Armstrong-Potomac boys basketball team over Iroquois West last Tuesday.The game-winning bucket was the last of 16 points for Franzen, whose shot was buoyed by a game-high 20 points by Dalton Loschen in th…
  CHAMPAIGN — Bryson Cowper has been a thorn in the side of Rantoul boys basketball in the past.Last Wednesday, it was no different as the Centennial senior guard provided more headaches for the Eagles by draining six three-pointers en route to a game-high 29 points in a 70-64 win over Rantoul.
  GIBSON CITY — All three times Keegan Zimmerman has faced the Fisher boys basketball team, the 6-foot-8 senior has had himself a night.
  For the week of Nov. 18, Rantoul Township High School awarded the members of the Eagles’ marching band as the Athlete of the Week. “Under the direction of Mr. Matt Chesner, the band is the backbone of school spirit,” Rantoul athletic director Travis Flesner said. “They not only perform at th…
  OAKWOOD — Renee Reed’s first foray into varsity head coaching is off to a good start.Reed’s Rantoul girls basketball team finished 4-1 at Oakwood’s Comet Classic, capturing third place with a 48-31 win over Westville Friday night.
  GIBSON CITY — The Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley High School boys basketball team knew it would be at a disadvantage through at least its first three games of the GCMS Thanksgiving Tournament.
  RANTOUL — He knows where the season went south. It’s easy to pinpoint.What ended as the worst year in Brett Frerichs’ tenure as Rantoul boys basketball coach was going fairly smooth through 16 games.
  FISHER — It’s going to be a challenge. No doubt about it, says Cody Diskin.The Fisher boys basketball coach knows it could be a bumpy road at first in his fourth season in charge of the program.