COVID-19 Shuts Boy’s Manual Basketball Program, Postpones Rivalry Game

COVID-19 within Boys’ High Manual Basketball program postponed Friday’s game with rival Peoria High.

The Rams’ scheduled game at Springfield Lanphier at 2:30 p.m. Saturday has also been called off. Manual won’t play again until 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 28 against Winnetka New Trier at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament, according to an email from Manual’s sports director Tim Kenny.

The Manual-Peoria High game has been rescheduled until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 1.

The most memorable games: 8 Memorable Manual-Peoria High Boys’ Basketball Games in the Past 20 Years

This is not the first incident of high school hoop postponements due to COVID-19. A pair of Mid-Illini Conference sneakers games at the start of the month had to be rescheduled.

Positive COVID-19 test in East Peoria boys ‘basketball disrupted meeting with Metamora, and COVID-19 issues in Beijing girls’ basketball team forced postponement of a championship match with Dunlap.

Meanwhile, the Tri-County region 2,030 new cases of coronavirus this week rivaled the numbers from last winter. The number of COVID cases has increased at the rate of 25% per week, according to health officials.

Adam Duvall is a sports reporter for Journal Star. Email him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared in the Star Journal: COVID Temporarily Shuts Down Boys’ Basketball at Peoria High School