The Associated Press second-ranked Union City Golden Tornadoes put an exclamation point on their unbeaten league run through the regular season and tournament play with a 76-45 rout of Gleason in Monday’s 14A title game.
School Communications Director Mike Hutchens said Union City’s 13th straight win gave the Purple and Gold their 42nd district title in the illustrious history of the program.
The (25-5) Twisters will now host District 14 fourth-place finisher West Carroll Saturday night at 7:00 in a first-round regional game.
Having won eight of its 10 regular season 14A games by 25 or more points, and with a 47-point romp over Lake County in the district semifinals, Union City made another statement of its supremacy by overwhelming Gleason for the third time in as many meetings Monday.
Regular season and tournament Most Valuable Player Malaki Brooks rocked Gleason with a game-high 37 points on a variety of athletic twists to the basket and five 3-pointers.
The Class A Mr. Basketball finalist, who was also named to the All-Defensive team, was near-perfect from the foul line, too, going 12-of-13.
Joseph Lattus knocked down four triples to finish with 16 points for UC, which denied the Bulldogs their first district title in 55 seasons.
Twister head coach Shane Sisco, who has directed Union City to 11 district titles now, savored the latest of those accomplishments afterward.
“Winning district championships never gets old – even with a program like ours that has a lot of history,” Sisco said afterward. “This group has had a lot of adversity over the last couple of years and really hasn’t had its chances because of injuries and other things. They’re very deserving.
“And we’d talked once the tournament started that the regular season didn’t mean anything. It didn’t matter what we’d done against Gleason and Lake County in the earlier meetings. I thought our kids were very focused early, especially on the defensive end. Then, the start in the third quarter when Malaki (Brooks) made a couple of shots, and we forced turnovers on their first two or three possessions allowed us to get it (the lead) back over 20 and in a good spot.”
Sisco said his troops would immediately turn their attention to the regional tournament, where more formidable foes await the Tornadoes.
“The region will be totally different competition-wise from what we’ve seen the last 13 or 14 games,” the coach claimed. “We must remain consistent with our approach and our preparation.
“We know what’s in front of us, but we can’t get caught looking at what’s ahead after Saturday.”
(photos: Mike Hutchens – School Communications Director)
