BND readers select high school boys basketball team of the year in southwest Illinois
The Nashville Hornets are the winner of the Belleville News-Democrat’s Boys Team of the Year high school basketball poll, as selected by readers of bnd.com.
The Hornets had a tremendous season, culminated by winning the IHSA Class 2A state championship while finishing 30-4 overall.
In their march to state, Nashville defeated Red Bud 64-33 and Pinckneyville 47-45 in overtime to capture the regional title before knocking off Murphysboro 33-30 and Breese Central 47-45 in overtime to win the sectional. In super-sectional action, the Hornets blew past Teutopolis 44-18.
Then, at state, Nashville bumped off DePaul College Prep 31-24 before edging Monticello 32-31 to claim the title. Additionally this season, Nashville went 8-0 in the Mississippi Division of River-to-River Conference to claim the title.
Overall, Nashville tallied 86% of the votes to finish ahead of other BND nominees Breese Central, Collinsville, Columbia, East St. Louis, Gibault, Mascoutah and O’Fallon.
To be clear, these polls are not scientific. In fact, we invite you to vote as many times as you want. It’s all for fun, BND readers.
The next poll will appear on the BND’s website — www.bnd.com — at 5 a.m. Tuesday. For next week’s poll, it’ll be a vote for the top prep basketball state champion from the metro-east. To nominate a team, email gvartanian@bnd.com.
Past poll winners: Tyler Lunning of O’Fallon High School (Week 1), Dylan Murphy of Columbia High School (Week 2), Brady Moore of Breese Central High School (Week 3), Collinsville Prairie Farms Holiday Classic (Week 4), Kaden Augustine of Gibault Catholic High School (Week 5), Natalie Peterson of Freeburg High School (Week 6), Sydney Harris of Edwardsville High School (Week 7), Kaylyn Wylie of Granite City High School and Lunning (Week 8); Kylie Kisgen of Freeburg High School and Lane Otten of Freeburg High School (Week 9); Caleb Burton of O’Fallon High School and Jaliah Pelly of O’Fallon High School (Week 10); and Gannon Birkner of New Athens High School, Reagan Chigas of Triad High School (Week 11), Norah Gum of Waterloo High School and Jake Ottensmeier of Highland High School (Week 12), Devin Davis of Collinsville High School and Harris (Week 13) and Peterson and Rini Harris of O’Fallon High School (Week 14).
