| Macomb has won four of the
last six tournament titles and has played
in five of the last six championship
games. That is the hottest tournament
streak since Peoria Bergen won four of
five from 1969 to 1973. The last time
Macomb came away from the M-WHT without a
trophy was 1998.
The
Bombers are 25-3 (.893) in the tournament
since 2004.
Among
active participants who have played more
than 15 games, Macomb has the best
winning percentage. They are 97-53
(.647).
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).
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. That
was the first title game to go into
overtime since Canton's 66-58 OT victory
over Illini Central in 2002.
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