TAYLORVILLE - The Galesburg High School boys basketball team moved into position to take its third championship in the last four seasons at the Taylorville Holiday Tournament on Thursday.
The Silver Streaks improved to 11-2 by beating Rantoul 64-59 in a morning game and Dunlap 60-47 in a nightcap and moved to 3-0 in pool play.
They will play either Taylorville or Sterling in a 1:30 p.m. game today and the winner advances to the 8:30 p.m. championship.
Galesburg jumped Dunlap 15-8 after a quarter and pushed the margin to 34-23 by halftime.
Khalil Hodge's 14 points led the Streaks, who finished third in last year's tourney after taking the previous two titles.
The Streaks beat Rantoul after defeating the Eagles 64-49 during the Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament.
Galesburg jumped to a 12-0 lead to start the game and rode the margin throughout the game to drop Rantoul to 3-7 for the season.
The Streaks led 21-11 at the quarter, 31-23 at the half and 46-28 after three quarters.
Galesburg's leading scorer for the season Andrew Anderson was hampered by foul trouble and did not score in the game.
But Hodge scored 18 points, Cornell Dotson 16 and Quinn Anderson 13 for GHS.
Wednesday boxscore
Galesburg 57, Rochester 55
R 11-9-11-24 — 55
G 18-12-13-14 — 57
Rochester — Reed 6-11 4-9 19, Rosche 3-10 0-0 8, Johnson 4-7 0-0 8, Leach 4-10 0-2 8, Eddington 3-8 0-0 6, Norris 1-1 2-3 4, McCafferty 1-3 0-0 2, Clare 0-0 0-0 0, Yoggerst 0-0 0-0 0, Mackiney 0-1 0-0 0, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Ellis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-51 6-14 55.
Galesburg — Dotson 5-9 4-4 17, A. Anderson 5-8 5-7 16, Hodge 3-9 6-6 15, Q. Anderson 1-4 3-4 5, Fields 1-2 0-0 2, Carl 1-3 0-0 2, Parks 0-0 0-2 0, Young 0-0 0-0 0, Endthoff 0-1 0-0 0, Hawkins 0-0 0-0 0, Price 0-1 0-0 0, Sampson 0-0 0-0 0, Ramirez 0-0 0-0 0, Davidson 0-0 0-0 0, McCants 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-38 18-23 57.
3-point goals — Galesburg 7-16 (Hodge 3-7, Dotson 3-4, A. Anderson 1-2, Price 0-1, Q. Anderson 0-1, McCants 0-1), Rochester 5-15 (Reed 3-4, Rosche 2-8, Eddington 0-1, Mackiney 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Rebounds — Galesburg 24, Rochester 18. Fouls — Galesburg 15, Rochester 19.
Taylorville Holiday Tournament
Purple pool — Taylorville, Mt. Zion, Sterling, Illinois Valley Central
Gold pool — Galesburg, Rantoul, Dunlap, Rochester
Wednesday, Dec. 27
Game 1 — Dunlap 65. Rantoul 60 2 OTs
Game 2 — Sterling 56, Illinois Valley Central 36
Game 3 — Galesburg 57, Rochester 55
Game 4 — Taylorville 72, Mt. Zion 59
Thursday, Dec. 28
Game 5 — Galesburg 65, Rantoul 42
Game 6 — Dunlap 50, Rochester 42
Game 7 — Sterling 67, Mt. Zion 59
Game 8 — Taylorville 61, Illinois Valley Central 32
Game 9 — Rantoul 52, Rochester 47
Game 10 — Galesburg 60, Dunlap 47
Game 11 — Illinois Valley Central vs. Mt. Zion, 7 p.m.
Game 12 — Taylorville vs. Sterling, 8:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 29
Game 13 — Gold pool No. 3 vs. purple pool No., 4, 9 a.m.
Game 14 — Gold pool No. 4 vs. purple pool No. 3, 10:30 a.m.
Game 15 — Gold pool No. 2 vs. purple pool No. 1, noon
Game 16 — Gold pool No. 1 vs. purple pool No. 2, 1:30 p.m.
Game 17 — Loser Game 13 vs. loser Game 14, 4 p.m. (seventh-place game)
Game 18 — WinnerGame 13 vs. winner Game 14, 5:30 p.m. (fifth-place game)
Game 19 — Loser Game 15 vs. loser Game 16, 7 p.m. (third-place game)
Game 20 — Winner Game 15 vs. winner Game 16, 8:30 p.m. (championship game)