Preview of the 47th Annual Lions Club All-Star Game at Rend Lake College, featuring many of the top area senior basketball players for boys and girls in Southern Illinois. We also had Brian Murley and JR Russell of Blackcats Network, as well as Dave Severin and Shane Hawkins, together discussing what this all-star game really means, its significance, and sharing some old stories, while also looking back on the season.

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:13:50 - Group #1

0:36:52 - Dave & Shane

0:54:40 - Group #3

1:01:07 - Group #4

1:08:04 - Group - #5

1:09:57 - Group #6

1:12:15 - Group #7

1:18:42 - Outro

In Episode 16 of the Ballin4God Talk Show just before supersectional night. The episode features seven members of the Benton Rangers, including the starting five and assistant coaches Jason Hobbs and Lucas Roberts.

The Benton Rangers take on the Quincy Notre Dame Raiders tonight at 7:00 PM at the Banterra Center in Carbondale in the 2A Supersectional.

We were also planning to have some of the Goreville Blackcats on the show, but the team left early Sunday to make the trip north to Jacksonville, Illinois, where they will face the Jacksonville Routt Catholic Rockets in the 1A Supersectional at the Jacksonville Bowl.

If both of our area teams advance tonight they will head to Champaign for the IHSA State Finals in their respective classes.

Episode 16 is brought to you by Rend Lake Cabins in the Woods. We filmed this week’s episode at The Light House to fit all of our guests.

If you’re looking for a quiet place to relax in a beautiful setting, you’ve found it with Rend Lake Cabins in the Woods.

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:06:19 - Benton Rangers Starting 5

0:47:31 - Lucas Roberts & Jason Hobbs

1:28:07 - Outro

After all of the regional championships have now wrapped up, we now set our eyes on the IHSA Sectionals. We have many remaining teams left. Trico hosts the 1A sectional, where Goreville, Hardin County, Waltonville, and Sparta will face off. In Nashville, a lot of familiar foes with Benton, Breese Central, Carterville, and the host Nashville. Then in 3A, the Centralia Orphans are at the Waterloo sectional, where they will play the Triad Knights in the sectional semifinal, a rematch of last year's 3A Sectional Championship. On today's show, we had three segments with three different regional champions. The Sparta Bulldogs won their first regional championship in 35 years, and head coach Jordan Beckley and junior guard Dariontez Monroe were on the show. Then the second segment was with the Nashville Hornets after winning the Pinckneyville 2A Regional. We had father and son head coaches of the Hornets, Stote Reeder, and his son, Max Reeder, a guard for Nashville. Then, to round out the show, we had Gage Peterson and father, Chuck Peterson, after Waltonville won its third straight regional title.Full schedule for the sectionals below. Who do you think will make the deepest run?1A Trico SectionalTuesday: Waltonville vs Hardin CountyWednesday: Goreville vs SpartaFriday: Winner of G1 vs G21A Macon Meridian SectionalTuesday: Tuscola vs AltamontWednesday: Lawrenceville vs CaseyFriday: Winner of G1 vs G22A Nashville SectionalTuesday: Benton vs NashvilleWednesday: Breese Central vs CartervilleFriday: Winner of G1 vs G23A Waterloo SectionalTuesday: Centralia vs TriadWednesday: East St. Louis vs JacksonvilleFriday: Winner of G1 vs G2

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:12:51 - Sparta Bulldogs

1:14:37 - Stote Reeder & Max Reeder

2:11:34 - Chuck Peterson & Gage Peterson

2:57:07 - Outro

We will start uploading each episode at 6 PM instead of 4 PM each week.We had three segments on this week’s episode. The first segment was with head coach of the Anna-Jonesboro Wildcats basketball team Mike Chamness and junior Kaleb Gore of the Wildcats. Gore recently went off for 55 points and 12 three-pointers in their win against West Frankfort.Our second segment was with the Porter Boys. Drew Porter the father of Drake Porter. Drew graduated from DuQuoin High School many years ago, and Drake is a sophomore at Benton Consolidated High School. He plays baseball, basketball, and football.Then our final segment was with Christopher Kays or better known as Bucket Hat. Kays is a volleyball referee and a photographer. Alongside Derek Moore who is a local farmer and a long time basketball referee.

Timestamps:0:00:00 - Intro0:05:12 - Kaleb Gore & Mike Chamness0:40:38 - Drake Porter & Drew Porter1:54:27 - Chris Kays & Derek Moore2:52:59 - Outro

On this week's episode of the Ballin4God Talk Show, we had three different segments. Lee Bennett of Centralia, Nick, Tommy, Bobby King of Goreville, JR Russell, and Brian Murley of Blackcats Network.Our first segment was with Blackcats Network, Brian Murley, and JR Russell, the voice of everything Goreville Blackcats. They talked about their start, and what is going on in Blackcats country currently.Our Second segment was with Nick King, Tommy King, and the father of Bobby King. Nick is a junior, Tommy is a senior, and Bobby is a Goreville graduate. We talked about their current season, where they're at, SI Select, and Bobby about his photography.Our final segment was with Lee Bennett, the head coach of the Centralia Orphans boys basketball team. Bennett has over 700 career wins, and 451 wins at Centralia as of Thursday, February 19th, 2026. With Bennett, we talked about American History, basketball, where he began his career, and his newfound love for racing.Very fun episode, and we hope to catch you guys again for next week's episode.Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro04:09 - BlackCats Network45:44 - King Brothers + Dad1:27:35 - Lee Bennett2:36:12 - Outro

We had Coach Ron Winemiller on after he won his 400th career game as head boys basketball coach. 344 of those wins have come at Benton, and the 400th career came against one of his best friends Mike Chamness at Anna-Jonesboro 66-45.Our second segment was with senior Cale Maurer from Mt. Vernon, and head coach of the Mt. Vernon Rams basketball team Tim Holloway. The Rams currently sit at 18-7 on the season, and play at home against the Cahokia Comanches.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

13:10- Ron Winemiller

38:47 - Tim Holloway & Cale Maurer

1:19:39 - Outro

We are back after a one week hyaistus. Due to the winter weather, we took a week off, but this week we were at Joe's Pizza and Pasta in Benton, Illinois, our sponsor for Ballin4God Player Of The Week. Speaking of Player Of The Week, we featured two of our winners on this episode with juniors Witten Devor from Waltonville and Zach Snow from Carterville.

Alongside Devor was his head coach of the Waltonville Spartans, Anthony Lowery. Then alongside Snow was his teammate on the Carterville Lions fellow junior Maddox Gulley.

Thompsonville's head basketball coach was also featured on this week's episode, and he shared a powerful testimony of how he found his way back into church. He also talked about being in involved in Thompsonville basketball and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes program at Thompsonville.Joe's Pizza and Pasta Player Of The Week

Holiday Tournament Week: Maddox Ritzel, Nashville

January 2-10: Witten Devor, Waltonville

January 12-17: Zach Snow, Carterville

January 19-24: Gage Peterson, Waltonville

January 26-31: Jaxson Hancock, Centralia

We are here at Rich Herrin Gymnasium hosting our first ever live show. This will take the place of this week’s podcast episode. It will be Episode 11 with me and Travis together, and we will have all sorts of guests on the show. Comment in the live chat, and we will try to respond.FOLLOW US: Instagram: @B4G_SILTwitter: @B4G_SILFacebook: Ballin4GodTikTok: B4G_SILTimestamps:10:55 - Jim Muir55:41 - Bryan Laur1:21:40 - TJ Hamilton1:43:40 - John Homan & Dave McKenzie2:14:13 - Ron Winemiller2:28:33 - Outro

We filmed Episode 10 of the Ballin4God Talk Show. In this episode we had Nathaniel Marlow on and honestly we talked about God pretty much the whole time he was on. He shared his story, his faith, and how his relationship with God has helped him through basketball and just life in general. We also talked about him breaking the Webber scoring record and what that meant to him and his family. Later in the show we had the McKay brothers on Blake and Luke McKay and we talked hoops, growing up around the game and the bond that was built. This was a really special episode and one we are super thankful for. Make sure you check it out.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

09:39 - Nathaniel Marlow

1:49:10 - Blake & Luke McKay

3:14:08 - Outro

We were joined by Carterville head coach Shane Hawkins and his son, senior standout Colton Hawkins, who he also coaches at Carterville. We also welcomed Benton graduates and twin brothers AJ and Lucas Kinsman, multi-sport athletes who recently wrapped up their high school careers. AJ is now competing in shot put at Illinois State.Timestamps:00:00 - Intro05:50 - AJ & Lucas Kinsman1:07:40 - Shane Hawkins2:09:44 - Outro

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

05:50 - AJ & Lucas Kinsman

1:07:40 - Shane Hawkins

2:09:44 - Outro