| In 2006, Matt Buren became
the first person to earn back-to-back
tournament MVP honors since Macomb's Tony
Moore won the award three straight years
(1971-73). Macomb has won three of the
last four tournament titles. That is the
hottest tournament streak since Peoria
Bergen won four of five from 1969 to
1973.
The
Bombers are 18-2 in the last five
Macomb-Western Holiday tournaments.
An ankle
injury brought Buren's tournament to an
early end in 2007, ending a shot at
earning a third-straight MVP.
As a
sophomore, Buren was named the 2005
tournament MVP. He was the first
sophomore to be named MVP since 1987 when
another Bomber, Ty Margenthaler, did so.
Ty
Margenthaler was a two-time MVP (1987
& 1989)
The only
person to win three straight tourney MVP
awards was Macomb's Tony Moore who earned
the honor in 1971, '72 & '73.
Other
Bombers to be named MVP: Rocky Owens
(1979), and Raam Jani (1994).
Buren set
a tournament mark in 2006 for field goal
percentage after converting on 32 of 44
(72.7%) of his attempts.
Since the
tournament expanded to 16 teams in 1969,
no team has captured three straight
tourney titles. Macomb was denied that
opportunity when Lewistown defeated
Macomb 54-36 in the 2007 semifinals.
In winning
the 2005 championship, the Bombers denied
Rock Falls, two-time defending champs, an
opportunity at a three-peat as they
picked up a 62-55 overtime victory.
Bomber
skipper Danny Watson is a former
assistant coach at Pleasant Plains and
was there during their two state
championships.
The 2005
tourney championship game was the first
to go into overtime since Canton's 66-58
OT victory over Illini Central in 2002.
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