February 23, 2026 | WALLS 102 - Part 4

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Gus Burr, St. Bede overcome slow start against Putnam County

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St. Bede fell behind 11-4 but used an 11-0 run to take a 33-21 halftime lead on the way to a 58-45 regional quarterfinal win over Putnam County.

Gus Burr, St. Bede overcome slow start against Putnam County

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Gus Burr, St. Bede overcome slow start against Putnam County

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Gus Burr, St. Bede overcome slow start against Putnam County

Gus Burr was not too worried when St. Bede fell behind 11-4 early in Monday’s Class 1A regional quarterfinal on its home floor against Putnam County.He knew they Bruins would soon right they ship, and they did, riding a 11-0 run to a 15-13 lead at the end of the quarter. The home-standing Bruins were just beginning, outscoring the Panthers 18-8 in the second quarter to build a 12-point halftime lead on the way to a 59-45 win.“I don’t think we were too worried at the beginning. We know what we’re capable of doing and who we are,” said Burr, who led the Bruins with 17 points. “We’ve been off to slow starts multiple times this year. We overcome a lot, and I think we have trust in each other and went out and got that lead back and never looked back.”The Bruins (17-13) will play No. 4 Dwight in Wednesday’s regional semifinals at Dwight at 7:30 p.m. The Trojans (18-12) beat DePue 79-58 on Monday.“We just wanted to get going early and have some momentum going into Game 2,” Burr said. “We split them with them this year. It would be huge to move on to play for a regional championship, which was one of our big goals this year.”“The home crowd, home atmosphere helped a lot, get us going for Game 2.”Burr scored St. Bede’s first six points of the game, including two free throws to start the Bruins on their 11-0 run. Gino Ferrari and Graham Ross followed, with putbacks with Geno Dinges following with a three-point play with a layup and free throw off a steal and two free throws with 54 seconds left in the first quarter to the Bruins to a 15-11 lead.“We started like we were a kind of stuck in mud. Gus Burr got to the hole and made some free throws and he really jump started us. Then we started picking up buckets from everybody after that,” St. Bede coach Brian Hanson said.“The first game is always tough in the postseason. It’s win or go home. So I’m proud of them. They hustled their butts and got it done.”Alec Tomsha kept up the pressure on the St. Bede side with a steal and layup to open the second quarter for a 17-13 Bruins lead.The green and white wave continued with two free throws and a drive by Burr with Ferrari scoring on the break and adding a layup to run the Bruins lead to 27-16 with 3:30 left in the second quarter.Ferrari scored on another drive, Ross sank two free throws and Alec Tomsha scored on a putback to put the Bruins up 33-18. Jacob Furar hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to draw the Panthers within 33-21 at the half.The Bruins forced the Panthers into 14 turnovers at the half while committing just seven of their own.“We wanted to pressure a little bit. We got some hands on some basketballs and that got us going, too,” Hanson said. ”I thought Geno Dinges really played good ball pressure out top. There was a lot of guys that got involved n that. That was big for us. Really helped."PC coach Jared Sale said the Bruins’ pressure got to his Panthers.“It was 11-4 and they upped the pressure a little bit. Going us going a little faster. Obviously, our decision making at that point not super great,” he said. “We got it back down to 10. I think to start the third, they just hit some big shots and we missed some open ones and that’s how it goes.”St. Bede ran its lead to 19 points to start the fourth quarter and Drew Carboni got them back there at 59-40 with a late 3.Andrew Gibson provided the Panthers with a spark in the final three minutes with five points off the bench, including a 3 at the final horn to make it a 14-point game in the end.Ferrari finished with 11 points to follow up Burr’s 17 while Tomsha and Dinges added nine each.Ramirez led PC (9-23) with 10 points with Furar adding nine, Bickerman eight and Alan Castro seven.Hanson said it was nice to open the regional at home before moving on.“You feel a little more comfortable being here,” he said. “We had a good win on senior night Friday. Got a good win against Henry and be able to play here one more time and get the job and get to the next round is huge. I’m happy for the guys. I’m happy for the seniors.“I’m guessing it’s Dwight on Wednesday. We split with them. They’re rolling right now. They just beat Marquette (70-65) last weekend, so Wednesday will be an all-out brawl.”

Gus Burr, St. Bede overcome slow start against Putnam County

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Nolan Price breaks Woodland scoring record, Warriors advance past Earlville in 1A Woodland Regional

Woodland senior Nolan Price celebrated turning 18 years old Monday by draining 3s on four consecutive possessions right before halftime, advancing past Earlville 70-25 in the opening round of the Class 1A Woodland Regional alongside his Warriors teammates and breaking his school’s single-season scoring record.Happy birthday, kid.“I think it’s just been a really good year all around,” said Price, who with the late first-half barrage of 3-pointers surpassed Matt Niehaus’ 34-year-old single-season school record of 533 points. “I didn’t think that I’d get that [record] at all, didn’t have that high of expectations at the beginning of the season.“But as the season’s grown on, I’ve kind of had the feeling the team and I could do a lot. And we did.”Price and the rest of the regional top-seeded Warriors (23-9) will face Henry-Senachwine at 6 p.m. Wednesday, the Mallards an 82-59 victor Monday over Leland. Woodland, the No. 2 seed in its half of the 1A Amboy Sectional, defeated Henry-Senachwine, the No. 7 seed, twice during the regular season – 61-45 and 55-44.It would be difficult to imagine things going any better for the Warriors on Wednesday than they did Monday. After Earlville (1-29) took a brief 3-2 lead on a Colton Fruit trey in the opening minute, Woodland rattled off a 20-0 run that made the time remaining on the scoreboard more interesting than the score for the rest of the evening.Woodland’s lead reached 10 points (13-13) on a Nate Berry jumper just over five minutes into the contest; 20 (28-8) on a Jaron Follmer old-fashioned three-point play 4:27 before halftime; 30 (38-8) on the first of Price’s aforementioned four consecutive 3s over a 1-minute, 44-second stretch just before halftime; 40 (49-8) when a Follmer turnaround jumper bounced in 38 seconds into the second half; and 50 points (70-18) on a Noah Lopez 3-point bucket with Woodland’s starters all on the bench and 3:03 remaining.“That’s always the goal this time of year, to stay healthy and go right [on the bracket],” Warriors coach Connor Kaminke said. “It’s been an awesome season and we’ve gotten a taste for winning, but I also want to remind these kids that you can never miss an opportunity to appreciate the heck out of every win.“Most of my career on the sidelines and most of this school’s history, there hasn’t been a whole lot of winning going down, year by year – especially when you get down to the postseason. In my nine years [coaching], this is only the third time we’ve advanced in regional play.“There’s plenty to be proud of this year, but we still shouldn’t miss an opportunity to be excited and proud to be advancing in the postseason.”Woodland outshot the Red Raiders 47.3% (26 of 55) to 25.0% (9 of 36), also winning the turnovers forced battle 27-6. Earlville outrebounded its hosts 31-23, and was led on the night by Colton Fruit’s six points, four points from both Darik Farley and Rob Tinson, and a four-point, eight-rebound, two-steal performance put in by Logan May.“We’re a young team that’s kind of in transition right now,” Earlville coach Gerald Fruit said, “but they came to play. It was a rough season, but we’re growing. We’re developing.“Woodland sets a lot of picks, and they’re bound and determined to get No. 2 (Price) and No. 11 (Berry) a lot of looks. We tried to defend those picks, but they’re good athletes, and they still got their points.”While Price’s historic birthday performance included 17 points, a game-high five assists and four steals, sophomore Nate Berry actually led the team in scoring with 26 points and added four rebounds. Follmer (11 points, six steals), Noah Decker (three points, five assists), Brezdyn Simons (two points, five rebounds, five steals) and off the bench Grant Wissen (six points) also contributed for the regional hosts.

Nolan Price breaks Woodland scoring record, Warriors advance past Earlville in 1A Woodland Regional

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Nolan Price breaks Woodland scoring record, Warriors advance past Earlville in 1A Woodland Regional

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Nolan Price breaks Woodland scoring record, Warriors advance past Earlville in 1A Woodland Regional

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Nolan Price breaks Woodland scoring record, Warriors advance past Earlville in 1A Woodland Regional

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