PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Danville wins first round game

Feb. 19—DANVILLE — With its IHSA Class 3A regional at home, the Danville High boys basketball team was going to do what it took to take advantage.

The Vikings made sure they took advantage on Monday, when they beat Rantoul 69-36 in the first round.

"Hopefully, we are stepping up and peaking at the right time," Danville head coach Durrell Robinson said. "We have four in double figures today and we had great contributions off the bench, so we had a great effort today."

Jerry Reed led the Vikings with 19 points and continued the season with good fortune against the Eagles.

"It seems that he likes Rantoul because he scored 26 points against them in our first game against them," Robinson said. "Jerry is getting more confident in his scoring ability because he is already one of our top defenders, and now he is getting better with scoring and that takes us to a new level."

CL Dye had 12 points for the Vikings, while Ja'Vaughn Robinson had 11, Devan Larkin had 10, Jaymion Avery had six and Persiris Menifield added five points.

"Ja'Vaughn has done a great job, he can lead us in different categories and can affect anything with scoring and on defense," Robinson said. "If we can get some more consistency from some more guys, we are going to be tough to stop."

The defense for the Vikings were also on point as the Eagles only hit 10 points once in a quarter.

"That dictates the tempo of the game and a goal of ours is to hold a team within 10 points for each quarter and we did that tonight," Robinson said. "So our defense did a great job and that gives us a chance against anyone."

DJ Davis had 14 points to lead Rantoul, while Justin Merrill had 11 points.

The Vikings will now face Mount Zion on Wednesday at 6 p.m. While Danville has not faced Mount Zion this season, the Vikings have some experience seeing the Braves in action.

"They won the Lincoln Tournament we started the season in. They have good size, are very disciplined and they don't beat themselves," Robinson said. "They only got one loss to defending state champion Metamora and that was by single digits, so that should tell you how goo they are. We are going to have to play our best game of the season to get the win and I feel we can do that.

"It's a great opportunity to get one of the top teams at home. This is where memories are made."