Logwood and a strong group of seniors have in turn led the Hillclimbers to the season they thought they could have. They won a fourth straight league title, are 22-1 and own the top seed in the Division II sectional.
“I couldn’t guarantee it, but I knew this was our season,” Logwood said.
The Hillclimbers took the first step Friday night in what they hope will be a long tournament run. Logwood scored 20 points and the Hillclimbers rolled to a 69-46 victory over Northwestern in a first-round game at Springfield High.
“I just play for all these seniors,” Logwood said. “I know this is their year. I’m just happy that I could play with them.”
Urbana will face fourth-seeded Bellefontaine (13-9) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Springfield in the semifinals. Urbana defeated Bellefontaine 32-30 at home in late January.
Urbana coach Jeremy Dixon was concerned how his players would react to the 6 p.m. start at a place they aren’t used to playing. But the Hillclimbers turned three straight early turnovers into points to spark a 22-10 lead. “I especially liked our energy right from the start,” he said.
Northwestern (5-17) cut the lead to seven by the end of the first quarter, but Urbana pushed it to 40-23 at halftime. Warriors senior forward Andy Elliott, the CBC’s leading scorer, scored 21 points.
“I thought my kids played very hard,” Warriors coach Gerald Embry said. “Lately (Urbana’s) been blowing teams out by 40 and 50 points. We hung with them, but they had that one stretch that really killed us.”
Urbana averaged three 3-pointers this season but made nine. Junior guard Sam Niswonger made five and scored 19 points. In limited time last year he made 11 of 23. This year he was nine of 46.
“We see him make shots in practice all the time, and he’s such a great defender that he earns a lot of minutes that way,” Dixon said. “So it was nice to see some shots go in for him tonight.”
For Logwood, the road back was long after he sprained his ankle before last season. An X-ray revealed an abnormal bone in his ankle, so he had it surgically removed. He made it back late in the season, but was injured again in a JV game.
“It was disappointing,” Logwood said. “I knew the team needed me offensively. I just knew I wanted to play.”
Dixon said Logwood has lost about 40 pounds since last season, including 20 since the summer.
“He just continually keeps getting better and better and better,” Dixon said. “The sky’s the limit for him. He’s definitely got it going a little bit right now.”
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