A look at the top basketball performers in the NewsTribune area for the holiday tournaments.

During the holiday tournaments at Seneca and Plano, many Times-area boys basketball players put together tremendous efforts. A look at their accomplishments and what their coaches had to say about them in Brian Hoxsey's boys basketball notebook.

Mendota’s Oliver Munoz scored the Trojans' final six points, including the go-ahead basket with 1:30 remaining, to capture fifth place with a 46-45 win over Ottawa in the Plano Christmas Classic on Tuesday.

Newark senior center Cody Kulbartz's block in the final seconds helped secure the Norsemen's 59-58 victory over Streator in the 15th-place game of the 62nd Plano Christmas Classic on Tuesday morning.

Gallery

Here are Gary Duncan's photos from Monday's game between Kaneland and La Salle-Peru at the 62nd Plano Christmas Classic.

The top-seeded Kaneland boys basketball team used a game-changing 14-0 run spanning the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters in a 67-50 victory over No. 4-seeded La Salle-Peru in Monday's semifinals of the 62nd Plano Christmas Classic.

Plano sophomore Jayden Zepeda scored 22 points off the bench, sending the Reapers past Sandwich 54-42 and into the semifinals of the 62nd Plano Christmas Classic.

The Yorkville Christian boys basketball team needed every bit of Jayden Riley's 37 points and Tray Alford's 21 points to hold off a determined Mendota squad for a 74-69 triumph in Saturday's quarterfinals of the 62nd Plano Christmas Classic.

The No. 4-seed La Salle-Peru boys basketball team scored the opening 16 points of Saturday's quarterfinal game against No. 5-seed Ottawa and eventually advanced to Monday's semifinal against top-seeded Kaneland with a 63-28 victory at the 62nd Plano Christmas Classic.