Junior guard William Cheshire shot the MacArthur boys’ basketball team into the finals of the Jeff Shaw Memorial Tournament. A day later, the host Generals won the four-team event by beating Island Trees, 51-40, in the championship game on Thursday, Dec. 23.
MacArthur took a game-high 23-point lead late in the third quarter against the Bulldogs on consecutive baskets by junior forward Dan Svenelid en route to the tournament title. Senior guard Kevin Monahan finished with a team-high 15 points. Senior forward Evan Gardner and senior guard Jamie McAndrew contributed six points apiece against Island Trees.
Cheshire was named tournament MVP. MacArthur junior forward Kevin Roach and senior forward Charles Cintron and Island Trees senior guards Casey Hastings and Mike Witteck also were named to the all-tournament team.
Cheshire’s heroics came in the tournament’s opening round, as the Generals edged Division, 53-50, on Wednesday, Dec. 22.
After Roach grabbed a defensive rebound with 12.8 seconds remaining and the score tied at 50, the Generals called timeout. MacArthur then went the length of the floor against the Blue Dragons, and Cheshire produced the tiebreaking basket — on a three-point shot with 1.1 seconds left in regulation.
Cheshire produced 20 points in the semifinal win against Division, the highest scoring output by a MacArthur player since Monahan finished with 28 points in a 66-57 win against Mepham on Jan. 23, 2009.
