The Hubs varsity basketball team may have come up just short of a regional title this past weekend, but what the boys have done for both the high school and the community has made the biggest impression in the eyes of head coach Tim Thompson.
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ROCHELLE — The Hubs varsity basketball team may have come up just short of a regional title this past weekend, but what the boys have done for both the high school and the community has made the biggest impression in the eyes of head coach Tim Thompson.
Rochelle (20-8, 8-5 NIB-12) began the 2016-17 season back in November seeking to revive the school’s basketball culture after recording just eight victories over the previous two years combined and failing to win a single home game.
Nine home wins, eight conference wins, a holiday tournament title and a regional semifinal victory later, Thompson said the most important thing to him as he reflected on the team’s achievements this season is how far his kids have come after battling through difficult circumstances.
“You could see with all the fans showing up to our games and all the kids around the school feeding off of that buzz… Kids want to be a part of our program again,” Thompson said. “I owe a lot of that to the seniors for sticking with it and for having the ability to keep going and push one another... We want to be competing for conference championships and regional championships every year.”
After splitting their first four games of the season at the Leland G. Strombom Holiday Classic in Sycamore, the Hubs rallied off nine wins in 10 games including a seven-game winning streak beginning with a 87-71 victory over the Geneseo Maple Leafs at home, the team’s first home win in nearly three seasons.