East St. Louis puts on a show against Guilford

Macaleab Rich and the East St. Louis Flyers wowed the crowd in an 88-51 win over Guilford to cap off a slate of eight 205 Tip-Off Classic games on Friday.

Rich's windmill reverse slam dunk put the Flyers up 16-6, sending a buzz through the crowd and causing Guilford coach Chris Dixon to call a timeout to halt the momentum.

It didn't work.

East St. Louis led 27-16 at the end of the first quarter and then scored the first 13 points of the second to effectively put the game away. Included in that run was a play where Robert McCline threw a ball off the backboard and Rich came flying through the lane for perhaps a more impressive dunk. That play even had the East St. Louis fans on their feet.

In the end, the Flyers had five dunks and made nine three-pointers. Rich led all scorers with 20 points and McCline had 17. The Flyers are the defending 205 Tip-Off Classic champions and went 28-6 last season. East St. Louis plays Auburn at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning and then Rockford East at 4 p.m.

The Vikings were led by Marquez Jordan's 11 points. Guilford takes on Chicago Perspectives at 1 p.m.

BOXSCORE

East St. Louis 88, Rockford Guilford 51

East St. Louis ... 27 22 25 14 - 88
Guilford ............ 16 11 17  7 - 51

EAST ST. LOUIS - Rich 7 3-3 20, Scott 0 1-2 1, D'N Rucker 5 3-3 14, Da. Rucker 3 1-2 7, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Robinson 3 0-0 7, Bynum 1 0-0 3, McCline 7 0-1 17, Boone 2 5-8 9, Brown 3 3-4 9. Totals 32 16-23 88.
GUILFORD - Doyle 1 0-0 2, Jordan 4 1-1 11, Mangruem 3 0-0 9, Johnson 1 8-8 10, Jalil 1 0-0 2, Gary 4 0-1 9, Webster 2 2-2 6, Frye 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 11-12 51.
3-pointers: East St. Louis 9 (McCline 3, Rich 3, D'N. Rucker, Robinson, Bynum), Guilford 6 (Mangruem 3, Jordan 2, Gary).