Published 4:24 a.m. CT Jan. 15, 2020
SPRINGFIELD -- One of the state's biggest middle school boys basketball games will be played during a school day.
Springfield Grant (20-3), Ranked No.3 in Class 2A, and LSA Top-Rated Springfield Our Savior's (20-0) will tipoff at 12:30 p.m. Monday, Jan 20 at Lincoln Land Community College.
"It's going to be an opportunity for our kids," Springfield Grant coach Marques Warfield said, noting that this will be his team's 11th game against a state-ranked opponent. "Honestly, they want to play the best. As sson as it got leaked that we might have a chance to play Our Savior's, they all got pretty excited."
The state-ranked matchup came to be thanks to some key cancelations, a social media post, and some help from a Lincoln Land coach very familar with Grant's program.
After Pleasant Plains and Our Savior's agreed not to meet on Jan. 20 after previously facing one another in the Metamora Holiday Tournament. That meant that Our Savior's which beat Pleasant Plains in that No.1 vs No.2 Championship game, was left with an opening on their schedule.
Enter Springfield Grant.
"If we get an opening, we would love to play," Warfield said of what Our Savior's told him in preseason when they had inquired about playing.
Unoffically, the ball got rolling on making this premier matchup happen thanks to a social media post. The verifiex twitter.com Grant boys' basketball account replied to a post of the Plains-OS canceled game news with a "Hello" accompanied by a waving hand emoji.
Both teams will be hosting alumni events during the game, with enrollments of 250 and 300+ Lincoln Land is expected to be standing room only.
"It'll be one of the biggest crowds in Lincoln Land History" Warfield said.
Springfield Our Savior's will be without the services of Jace Easley on Friday, but the Eagles shouldn't be taken lightly. They went 38-0 over the summer without Easley and fellow backcourt teammate Conor McCaffrey averaged nearly 32-6-5-6 for the Eagles over the Summer.
A JV game will be played at 10:30 a.m. followed by the varsity contest. Tickets are on sale at the door, they are $8 for adults, $3 for students and free for students enrolled at the two respective schools.