FARMER CITY - Cerro Gordo/Bement boys basketball team is now 6-2 since the 2026 portion of the season began. The Broncos lost in the 7th Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament semifinals to Sullivan 29-25 January 27 but rebounded with a 33-25 victory over Arcola to capture third place last Friday.
Cerro Gordo/Bement has gone 13-4 since starting 2-4 and returned to regular season LPC play Tuesday against Villa Grove before traveling to Broadlands to play Heritage Friday.
"We wanted to be in the championship game," said CGB head coach Brandon Willard. "Our goal at the end of the year is to be as good as we can possibly be. We have kind of plateaued in the last four games, but we still won three of four. The last three weeks are going to be a grind, but hopefully by the time it is done we are a pretty good basketball team. Our defense has been really good for the last month and a half. We kind of figured out some things and I think it has been really good."
Cerro Gordo/Bement 33, Arcola 25
The two teams met earlier in the season with CGB winning 37-19. The Broncos entered the game averaging 48.6 points per game to Arcola's 36.1.
"I think our first four minutes we had several offensive rebounds that got us going," said Willard, who is in his 9th season with an overall record of 130-133 through Friday. "Every game in the last eight years I have played Arcola-they play great defense (Arcola leads 7-5 in the last nine seasons.) I think both teams don't mind slowing it down. We don't mind grinding it out. I think it is kind of what we have done on the bit of winning we have done lately. We want our offense to be more efficient, but it hard. Arcola is a good defensive team (allowed just 40.5 prior to the contest). Anytime we can win that game we will take it."
The stats show the defense as the two teams were a combined 16-of-76 .211 from the field, including 7-of-35 .200 from beyond the three-point line. Even free throws were not exactly great as the two went a combined 17-of-33 .515.
Cerro Gordo/Bement led by as much as nine late in the third quarter. Arcola got the lead down to three on two occasions in the final 5:15. Two free throws by Remi Roberts-McGeehon and a bucket by Kaden Hohlbuach made it 28-25 with 2:10 left.
The Broncos scored the last five points all on free throws, but they gave Arcola chances as they were just 5-of-14 .357 in the final 1:23 starting with a pair of free throws by Will Fuson. The Broncos 1-3-1 defense held the Purple Riders to 0-for-5 in the final 2:09 and 9-of-40 (.215) overall, including 3-of-23 (.130) from three-point range.
CGB's defense forced two AHS turnovers in the final 43 seconds.
"Eli Corpus had a big steal," said Willard. "That was a big play. Arcola struggled to find a lot of openings. They wanted to throw high and then dump it down and our guys Eli (Corpus) and Cooper Benson did a good job covering it up. We know that sometimes we are going to be offensively challenged so I think defensively is where it is for us. We had free throw woes against Sullivan-they play a lot like Arcola. It is just a tough physical game and we are not a very physical team, but we are getting better."
Free throws helped the Broncos even though they missed a lot in the final quarter as they were 13-of-24 (.542) compared to just 4-of-9 .449 for AHS.
Will Fuson led the Broncos in scoring with 12 points and CGB outrebounded Arcola 34-27.
Arcola, who fell to 10-11, never led but had it tied at nine after a basket by Haris Mayhall to start the second quarter. CGB went on an 8-0 run over the next 1:20 including a three-pointer and three free throws by Will Fuson. A basket by Lucas Fuson with 22.8 left in the half gave the Broncos the largest lead of the game, 22-13.
The Purple Riders answered with a 6-0 run, including a three-pointer by Canton Wesch.
Sullivan 29,
Cerro Gordo/Bement 25
In a low-scoring game the Broncos fell behind 9-3 after the opening quarter and trailed 15-10 at the half. CGB outscored the Redskins by one in the third, but both teams scored six in the final eight minutes in the four-point loss for the Broncos.
Lucas Fuson led CGB with 12 points.
Again free throws were a key as Sullivan, who lost in the championship game to 21-3 Decatur Unity Christian 56-28, has a record of 13-9. Sullivan was 13-of-16 (.813) compared to just 4-of-14 (.286) from the Broncos.
Friday third place game of Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament
| CGB | 5 | 4 | 13 | 11-33 |
| Arcola | 0 | 7 | 9 | 9-25 |
CERRO GORDO/BEMENT: Will Fuson 2-6-12, Lucas Fuson 2-2-7, Cogdill 1-4-6, Corpus 1-0-3, Benson 0-0-0, Carver 2-1-5, Blickenstaff 0-0-0, Larimore 0-0-0, Tuel 0-0-0; Totals 8-13-33
3-point goals: Cerro Gordo/Bement 4-12 .333, Arcola 3-23 .130; Total field goals: Cerro Gordo/Bement 8-37 .216, Arcola 9-40 .215; Free throws: Cerro Gordo/Bement 13-24 .542, Arcola 4-9 .444; Rebounds: Cerro Gordo/Bement 34 (Cogdill 9), Arcola 27 (Mayhall 7);
Turnovers: Cerro Gordo/Bement 15, Arcola 14
January 27 semifinals of Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament
| CGB | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6-25 |
| Sullivan | 9 | 6 | 8 | 29 |
CERRO GORDO/BEMENT: Will Fuson 2-0-5, Lucas Fuson 4-2-12, Corpus 0-2-2, Benson 0-0-0, Carver 0-0-0, Cogdill 3-0-6, Blickenstaff 0-0-0; Totals 9-4-25
3-point goals: Cerro Gordo/Bement 2 (Lucas Fuson 2), Sullivan 2 (Feldkamp 2). Free throws: Cerro Gordo/Bement 4-14 .286, Sullivan 13-16 .813