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During the 2014 National Signing day (February 5th), Kicker Luke Otto of Normal U-High Pioneers signed his letter of intent to attend and play football with the Leathernecks of Western Illinois.  Western has had a long standing annual game with the Illinois State Redbirds, so Luke should feel right at home every other year playing at Hancock Stadium where the Redbirds as well as the Pioneers call home. Luke Otto, Western Illinois Football Recruit - Images by Alan Look -Chimper

Two Redbirds hit single game individual records last night scoring more points in a game than they had before.  Bobby Hunter put away 19 points and Nick Zeisloft hit the 15 mark as the Redbirds defeated the Bulldogs of Drake University by a score of 75-57.  Drake began substituting players with little time to their credit with over 3 minutes left in the game.  Fan favorite, Matt Stacho - a walk on for Illinois State made an appearance with 2:30 left.  The Redbirds move to a MVC record of 5-5, Drake drops to 3-7. 20140201 Drake at Illinois State Men's Basketball Photos - Images by Alan Look

In McLean County Illinois, the granddaddy of local basketball tournaments has been held for 103 times in 104 years.  It's changed a lot over the years as school districts grew larger or small and many consolidated.  The current day tournament is a coed tournament including boys and girls brackets.  The schools filling those brackets are from the county or from the Heart of Illinois Conference (HOIC).  County proper teams have dwindled over the years as consolidation erupted.  Schools that currently have a McLean County presence are Heyworth, LeRoy, Ridgeview, Lexington, El Paso - Gridley, and Tri Valley. The only non-Bloomington-Normal school I can think of that has students from the county but isn't included in the tournament is Olympia. This year, the Ridgeview Mustangs entered the tournament undefeated and with Coach Rodney Kellar looking for his 500th win.  He got that win as Ridgeview defeated El Paso Gridley in the semi-final.  Ridgeview s...

The Wichita State Shockers showed up at Redbird Arena on January 22 with an undefeated season.  They left with it still intact.  The Redbirds scored the first points of the game and kept it a back and forth game through the first half.  Starting the 2nd half, the Redbirds had a 3 point lead.  The Shockers however picked up their game, leading by as much as 18 points.  The Redbirds stormed back with less than 8 minutes left to cut the margin to 9.  The effort fell once more as the Shockers led by 15, 70-55 at the buzzer. 20140122 Wichita State at Illinois State - Images by Alan Look

In a very fast paced game slowed by only fouls and time outs, the Heyworth Hornets fell to lower ranked Blue Ridge Knights on Tuesday January 21st at the Shirk Center in Bloomington as a part of the 103rd McLean County Tournament.  Blue Ridge advances to the Semi Finals to face Tremont on Friday night, Heyworth moves to the consolation bracket and faces Le Roy on Thursday at Lexington High School. Brackets can be found on Alan Look Photography website. 20140121 Blue Ridge Knights v Heyworth Hornets boys basketball photos - Images by Alan Look

A span of 8 days every January in McLean County is reserved for the McLean County Basketball Tournament.  The tournament has been held 103 times in the last 104 years.  Through several iterations as time moves on, the tournament now includes several county schools and several non-county schools but all are a part of the Heart of Illinois Conference.  The tournament is co-ed with brackets for girls as well as boys. On the boys bracket this year, the Mustangs of Ridgeview got a first round by as the number one seed.  They took on the Knights of Fieldcrest in the first of 4 quarter finals on Monday January 20th.  The two teams have been rivals for several years.  This year, the number one seeded and undefeated Mustangs grabbed the win notch and move to a semi final game later this week. Brackets can be found on Alan Look Photography website. 20140120 Fieldcrest Knights v Ridgeview Mustangs boys basketball photos - Images by Alan...

Shelby Jackson of IWU led the court with 23 points in a Titan victory over the Millikin Big Blue on Wednesday January 15th, 2014 at the Shirk Center in Bloomington. It was th3 fourth straight CCIW win for the Titans, improving their record to 4-0 in the conference and 10-5 overall tying them with Carthage for the lead in the CCIW. Millikin fell to 0-4 in the conference and 6-9 overall 20140115 Millikin at Illinois Wesleyan Women's basketball photos - Images by Alan Look