ELMWOOD — Peoria Christian faced the reality of life after Wes Hunt.

The 6-foot-7 all-state forward averaged 19.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.8 blocks as a senior last season on a PCS boys basketball team that won 26 games and made the 2022 Class 1A sweet sixteen. Now, he's playing basketball and baseball at Taylor University.

“You can’t replace a guy like that on or off the court with one guy,” PCS coach Jason Persinger said.

So, the five-year coach isn’t even going to try. He’s relying on a group of experienced players to fill the void left by the program’s all-time block leader.

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Starters Malachi Persinger, Kitan Isawumi, Camden Gardner, Adam Pepper and Jayce Moody did get a chance to work out with Hunt in the summer. The group was able to take away several things from their former captain.

“Most importantly,” Isawumi said, “he taught us how to improve ourselves, get better, work in the offseason and eventually for me to lead this team.”

The 5-foot-9 senior forward, who is a co-captain with his classmate Pepper, is a difference-maker. This was evident in Tuesday’s 54-38 winner over Elmwood. He scored six of his eight points during a second-quarter spurt that saw PCS (16-9) take an 11-point lead into halftime.

When the Trojans made a 10-point, third-quarter run to take a one-point lead, Peoria Christian kept its poise, responding back with a six-point push for a lasting lead.

“Whenever we’re down, whenever we’re up, we’re always calm,” Isawumi said. “… Coach always has us ready and equipped for whatever comes at us.”

The younger Persinger was more than ready against Elmwood. He scored 27 points on 50 percent shooting and went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. His nearly 17 points-per-game average leads the team.

“I’m one of the younger guys on the team,” the 5-foot-9 sophomore guard said. “I still have a big voice … help (the team) out, encourage them.”

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PCS is coming off winning the Inter-County Athletic Conference Tournament on its home floor two weeks ago. The Chargers knocked off top-seeded and state-ranked Illini Bluffs, 56-42.

This gave Peoria Christian, which is 6-2 in 2023, its second tournament title of the season, starting the season by taking home the Peoria Heights Tournament crown.

“We’ve underperformed,” Jason Persinger said, “that’s no secret, so (winning the ICAC tourney) really showed what level we can compete at when we buy in.

“All of our guys really don’t care who gets the credit. … when they’re all just playing together, it’s really something special.”

Winning the ICAC tournament was nice, but PCS has its sights on getting back to where they were last season. A nine-point loss in the sectional championship still sticks with the Chargers.

Three successive sectional appearances is the longest streak in program history.

“We don’t want that to be the high point of our season,” Malachi Persinger said of the win over IB. “We want to keep growing as a team. We don’t want the season to end.

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“We need those (wins) as a team to get stronger,” Isawumi added, “get better, prepare us for postseason … hopefully make a deep run. It was expected. We went into that game expecting to win and we won it.”

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA basketball: Peoria Christian rising to meet expectations