Special victory for C&D

Sports

Related Photos

Susan Joy McKinney

Discussion

July 27, 2009

Peoria team dedicates win to Nathan

BY AARON PATTERSON The Commercial-News Mon Jul 27, 2009, 04:20 AM CDT

DANVILLE — The friendships intermingled among the members of Peoria C&D; BBQ have been intact since high school.

Even as they have moved on to their respective semi-pro teams, they have kept in touch and use the summers to stay in shape, playing in competitive tournaments.

Unfortunately, one friend was unable to make it to this year’s Dustbowl tournament.

Howard Nathan, a Peoria native who played his college ball at DePaul University prior to being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, was paralyzed three years ago.

Until further complications forced Nathan to make a trip to the hospital this past week, he had planned to watch his friends in Danville from the sidelines.

That’s why men’s division tournament MVP Brandon Hughes had no problem at all dedicating their 2009 Dustbowl championship to Nathan.

C&D; defeated Hard Head Entertainment 97-78 in Sunday’s title game.

“We have a friend who really is our leader but couldn’t make it today,” Hughes said of Nathan. “We did this for him. He was supposed to come down with us and he had to go back into the hospital about two days ago because he had blood clots in his legs. We dedicated this tournament to him.

“He came down here maybe four years ago. He’s played in this tournament but never won it. Now we won it for him.”

Hughes scored a team-high 19 points in the win for a squad that never trailed after Hughes’ basket early in the first half put C&D; up 13-11.

And neither Hughes or his teammates were the least bit surprised that defense played a role in helping C&D; to the title. He credited his Peoria roots to the effort.

C&D; forced Hard Head into 21 turnovers with former Illini Frank Williams grabbing a total of eight steals in the game.

“That’s what we like to do,” Hughes said. “We all play with each other and we like to help each other and we talk. Defense is just communication and hustle. Everybody wants to hustle. Everybody’s talented. There’s not one guy better than the other guy.

“We’re (Peoria) Manual guys and we come from championship (teams). Manual is about defense. Half of us are Manual guys so we can click together on defense.”

Williams also scored 16 points, as did Bobby Anderson, who grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. DeAaron Williams put up 16 points, and Q. Edwards scored 13.

Hard Head was led by Alan Douglas’ 18 points, and found 15 from Sonny Walker and 13 from Tarie Monroe.

Text Only

Sports

McQuown, Vikes clinch regional
DHS batter returns to lineup with a vengance with grand slam and seven RBIs in 9-8 win.

May 26, 2012 2 Photos
Clark ends up fourth in pole vault
Danville athlete battles in the heat to finish among the top in the state

May 26, 2012 1 Photo
Toppers fall in 11 innings
Schlarman fails to take advantage of opportunities in 7-6 loss to Tuscola in sectional final.

May 26, 2012 2 Photos
Local Roundup: Danville tennis teams end season
Kidwell and Mokraoui get to third consolation round.

May 26, 2012
Survey states local lakes full of fish
IDNR gives Lakes Vermilion and Mingo a strong rating.

May 26, 2012
Saturday's local scores and glances
Boxscores and glances from Saturday's local action.

May 26, 2012
Cirron Clark vaults into finals
Senior Danville pole vaulter perfect in first three jumps in Class 3A meet.

May 25, 2012 2 Photos
Friday's local scores and glances
Glances from Friday's local action.

May 25, 2012
Dutton takes a big step forward
Salt Fork shot putter one of five local athletes making Saturday's state finals.

May 25, 2012 3 Photos
Locals deal with tough competition
WRC athletes fail to get through regional.

May 25, 2012 1 Photo
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Special victory for C&D

Peoria team dedicates win to Nathan

Site Map

Contact Us