Metro East Lutheran blasts out to big start in Thanksgiving Tourney

EDWARDSVILLE – Braden Woolsey scored 24 points to lead Metro East Lutheran to a 74-48 win over Litchfield on the opening night of the MEL Thanksgiving Turkey Tipoff Classic tournament at Hooks Gym Monday night.

The Knights got out to a 24-11 lead at quarter time and expanded it to 42-21 at the long break to run out winners on the night. Metro East led 60-34 at the end of three quarters. Both teams scored 14 points apiece in the final quarter to make it 74-48 in the end.

Noah Coddington scored 14 points for the Knights (1-0), with Garrett Neimeier adding 12 and J.J. Schwartz 11; Sam Painter and Dylan Hemann each had 12 points for the Purple Panthers.

The Knights take on Marissa at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to conclude their pool play in the tournament.

FREEBURG 54, METRO EAST LUTHERAN JV 17: Freeburg took a 32-11 halftime lead and went on to defeat the Metro East Lutheran JV 54-17 in a pool play game of the MEL Turkey Tipoff Classic Monday night.

Cooper Krone led the Knight JV with seven points, with Jason Williams adding five. Parker Weiss and Zach Muir each had eight points for the Midgets, with Bryce Rutledge getting seven points and Quinn Haug, Alex Mack and Greg Cockrell six points each.

The Knight JV meets Valmeyer at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the MEL Auxiliary Gym to complete pool play.

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