Go You RAMBLERS
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Nearly 300 screaming Mooseheart backers cheered their team’s fourth-quarter comeback. |
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Mooseheart’s 19-2 Season Best Since ’32
> Interscholastic basketball didn’t begin at Mooseheart until 1929, and the Red Ramblers rarely enjoyed the same storied success in wintertime gyms as they had on fall football fields. They went 26-1 in 1931-32 (but, curiously, did not participate in postseason play). In 72 years after that, just a few above-.500 seasons, even a couple of postseason wins in 1945 and 1964, but that was about it.
Then came the 2003-04 season! Combining a pesky, swarming defense with dominance on the boards from 6-5 Pierre Nealon (the team’s only senior!) and blistering offensive speed from junior Kevin McArthur, the Ramblers tore through their 20-game regular season with just one defeat—playing schools many times larger.
Then, to open the Illinois state tournament Feb. 23, the Ramblers took on Aurora Christian, a school almost twice Mooseheart’s enrollment, and stormed back from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to go into OT tied at 61. But in a thrilling, heartbreaking finish a last-second Aurora Christian shot ended the season.
At left, McArthur and fellow junior Joe Pinto (33) showed the strain late in the cliffhanging overtime period against Aurora Christian.
Ramblers’ head coach Jeff Perales (dark jacket) gave urgent instructions to his team before the final 9.8 seconds of the overtime period against Aurora Christian. A 10-footer with just 0.7 seconds left ended Mooseheart’s season, 63-62. |
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6-5 senior center Pierre Nealon ripped a rebound away from Aurora Christian during the season-ending state tournament game Feb. 23.
Putting up a strong “D” against Hiawatha in a Jan. 26 home game were (from left) Kevin McArthur, Bobby McGee, Fernando Brown and Pierre Nealon.
Supreme Councilmen Terry Walls of Oklahoma (left) and Bill Scott of Ontario flanked Supreme Governor Tom Hatcher of Connecticut in cheering the Ramblers to a Feb. 12 homecourt win.
Kevin McArthur (23) wore out opponents all season with his patented full-throttle fastbreaks to the basket. |
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Please click on any photograph below to view a larger image.
Local coverage of the heartbreaking 63-62 loss that ended the Ramblers’ season .
Mooseheart Basketball
2003-2004: A Great Season, Game-by-Game
M11/25/03: Ramblers 74, Luther East 40
12/2: Ramblers 81, Leland 59
12/5: Ramblers 52, Illinois Lutheran 34
12/11: Ramblers 55, Alden-Hebron 44
12/12: Ramblers 75, Crossroads 51
12/15: Ramblers 55, South Beloit 35
12/17: Ramblers 71, FVLA 36
1/6/04: Indian Creek 55, Ramblers 51
1/7: Ramblers 44, Elgin Academy 35
1/10: Ramblers 50, North Shore 48
1/13: Ramblers 71, Leland 61
1/15: Ramblers 55, Seton Academy 54
1/22: Ramblers 47, South Beloit 46
1/23: Ramblers 70, Luther East 31
1/26: Ramblers 51, Hiawatha 41
1/30: Ramblers 48, Illinois Lutheran 35
2/4: Ramblers 2, FVLA 0 (forfeit)
2/12: Ramblers 56, North Shore 54
2/13: Ramblers 75, Paw Paw 42
2/16: Ramblers 71, Earlville 53
2/23 (Illinois state tournament):
Aurora Christian 63, Ramblers 62 (OT)
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