The Little Ten Conference held its 100th annual boys basketball tournament last week with Somonauk, which it has every year since 1984, playing host. The tournament was at the mercy of the weather and Friday’s scheduled final day was moved to Saturday because of the bitter cold.
Bad weather or not, the Newark Norsemen were not to be denied in winning their fifth consecutive tournament championship. In the championship game, Newark defeated spirited Indian Creek, 55-44, to lay claim to its 22nd tournament championship.
Impressive about Newark’s 22 championships is that the Norsemen didn’t make their first tournament appearance until 1968. Sandwich and Plano, who were part of the first tournament in 1920, left the Conference after the 1966-1967 season and were replaced by Newark and Malta. The tournament was almost a half-century old before the Norsemen joined the Little Ten.
The Indian Creek story runs almost opposite to the success by Newark. Shabbona and Waterman High Schools, both original Conference members, consolidated with the 1993-1994 season to form Indian Creek. The championship game appearance by the Timberwolves was the ninth for the school since consolidation, and, the ninth second-place finish.
Indian Creek has managed to share the conference championship on three occasions, 1996, 1997, and 2000.
With Saturday’s victory, Newark, 20-4, has captured the last five boys tournaments with Indian Creek, 16-6, the losing side the past four years.
Somonauk defeated Serena, 60-53, for third place and Earlville defeated Hinckley-Big Rock, 47-38, for the consolation championship.
In semifinal action last week Newark beat Somonauk, 75-46, and Indian Creek nudged Serena, 76-71.