Casey-Westfield @ Tuscola - Non-Conference

Non-Conference

Casey-Westfield

Tuscola

Casey-Westfield (55) - Julius 1 1 0-0 5, Clement 2 0 0-1 4, Jones 4 2 1-1 15, Justice 0 0 3-7 3, Hupp 0 0 0-0 0, Moore 0 0 0-0 0, High 2 1 4-5 11, Thomas 7 0 3-3 17.
2FG-16/3FG-4/FT-11-17/PF-14.

Tuscola (65) - Kurtz 3 4 2-4 20, Graves 0 0 0-0 0, Musgrave 3 4 2-4 20, Russo 3 0 2-2 8, Chenoweth 2 0 0-0 4, Block 1 1 2-2 7, Pettry 0 0 0-0 0, Wallace 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-17/3FG-76/FT-10-13/PF-16.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Hot shooting Tuscola rolls to win
Warriors stay unbeaten (15-0) with victory over Casey-Westfield

01/03/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
TUSCOLA – The Casey-Westfield versus Tuscola matchup on Saturday afternoon was an important game with the complexity of potential postseason seedings and, on paper, it had the makings of big time classic battle between highly ranked 1A teams.

It turned out to be a one-sided contest.

Tuscola opened up strong, jumping out to an early lead and never trailed in a 65-55 victory in a rematch of a regional championship game last February, also won by the Warriors who wear Black and Gold.

Coach Justin Bozarth's bunch cooked the other Warriors with a 24-of-38 shooting afternoon, including 7-of-9 in the first eight minutes to improve to 15-0 on the season.

They hit on 7-of-13 3-pointers in the winning performance.

Only Sterling Newman, currently 16-0, has a better won-loss mark in 1A than Tuscola.

“We talked about it before the game about how important this one game is coming out of Christmas break and how it would effect the overall seeding. We started (the game) with the right mindset knowing how important the game was,” said Coach Bozarth.

Senior Logan Kurtz and junior Connor Musgrave shared the scoring honors on Saturday with 20-points each for the Warriors.

Six-senior Caiden Russo added to the scoring with eight-points with sophomore guard Tanner Block adding seven.

Sophomore Cale Wallace and senior Kaeden Chenoweth rounded out the attack with six-points and four-points respectively in the victory.

Coach Tom Brannan's club produced a couple of late rallies, getting to within seven-points twice in the third quarter.

However a big fourth quarter scoring burst by the hosts closed the deal and the win.

C-W saw its mark slip to 10-4 after an 8-0 start to the season.

Senior Fred Thomas paced the Warriors with 17-points with senior Leighton Jones scoring 15 and junior Jackson High 11.

After a pair of early even scores at 2-2 and 4-4, Tuscola took off on a 15-3 scoring spree to close the first quarter.

Three-straight 3-point bombs by Musgrave, Block and Kurtz, in that order, forced a Casey-Westfield timeout at 13-4.

Kurtz added another score on a back door cut and Musgrave put in an offensive rebound chance at the buzzer for a 19-7 lead.

Casey-Westfield got the offense going in the second quarter.

Jones scored eight of his points before halftime.

He converted an “And-One” on a transition drive to the basket and also nailed down a 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

Thomas got to the foul line while scoring on a drive for a three-point play.

But Musgrave scored on a couple of drives inside in the second quarter and Wallace, who came off of the bench, scored all six of his points in the lane before halftime.

With the clock ticking down for the half, Block got the ball on the right side of the court, made a nice head fake to get open, and nailed down an 18-footer from the right wing at the horn for a 36-22 lead at intermission.

(CONTINUED)

“Our ball movement, especially in the first quarter, was really good. That was part of the reason we got the wide open shooters on the perimeter. The ball was moving and we were trusting each other,” said Coach Bozarth. “We feel like we have good passers and the emphasis of our offense is to trust the next guy and move the basketball. When everybody shoots, it's tough to guard.”

The lead would have been bigger in the first half for Tuscola but the Warriors turned it over six times in the second frame, nine for the half.

Despite being out-rebounded 12-5 and hitting just 9-of-23 from the field, Casey-Westfield was only down 14 at the break.

The only stretch of the contest where Tuscola had shooting issues was in the beginning of the second half.

The Warriors had one possession in which they missed three-straight 3-pointers, grabbing two offensive rebounds and still couldn't score.

They missed on their first five overall shots.

This cold stretch allowed Casey-Westfield to score seven points in-a-row.

Thomas converted two additional three-point plays scoring while fouled in the third.

His first one induced Russo into his third personal foul with 6:44 to go in the quarter.

The second one late in the third cut the Tuscola lead down to just 46-39.

Tuscola responded with another offensive spurt to put the game on ice.

Musgrave scored getting to the basket for a three-point play and Chenoweth tipped in a missed 3-pointer by Block at the buzzer for a 51-39 advantage.

Tuscola scored just before time expired in each of the first three quarters.

Coach Bozarth's team closed out the win with another scoring burst.

Kurtz added his fourth 3-pointer of the game to open the fourth quarter and he added a baseline drive for points.

Musgrave nailed down a pair of free throws followed by a 3-pointer from the left wing to get the Warriors their largest lead at 61-41 with 3:46 remaining.

Casey-Westfield hit a trio of late 3-pointers by High, Julius and Jones to make the final score look more presentable.

Coach Tom Brannan saw his club hit 20-of-43 from the field, 4-of-16 from the 3-point line and were out-rebounded by Tuscola 26-13.

C-W took better care of the ball with just seven turnover compared to 16 from Tuscola.

They will jump right back into road games next week at Paris and Charleston.

Tuscola will be Road Warriors the next two weeks against a gauntlet of quality teams.

Trips in order to rivals Arcola, Shelbyville, Tolono Unity, Teutopolis, Warrensburg-Latham, and Clinton.

Those teams are a combined 60-20.

Since both teams will host regionals, if they meet again in the postseason it will be at the Macon Meridian Sectional.

Last season Casey-Westfield won the January meeting against Tuscola and then lost the return matchup, 57-54 in the final of the Chrisman Regional.

“They (Casey-Westfield) have guys who can hurt you with their athleticism and ability to score and they're as well coached as anyone around here,” said Coach Bozarth. “Our only goal that we have for our team is to get better every single day so we're playing out best basketball at the end of the year.”