Monday, November 23, 2009 9:38 AM CST
A look at the Effingham St. Anthony Thanksgiving
Tournament field
by Sports Editor Brian Nielsen
POOL A
EFFINGHAM (9-20)
A year ago the Flaming Hearts had to replace five starters from a 21-8 Class 3A regional championship team.
Now coach Ron Reed has four starters back from a team that lost a regional title in overtime to Charleston.
Sharpshooting guard Cody McCollum, who averaged 18 points last season, head the group that also has 6-4 post player Cole Morrow, who averaged seven points, and the Green brothers Chad and Chase.
EFFINGHAM ST. ANTHONY (23-5)
Through last season’s 23 wins that included a National Trail Conference tournament championship, the thought was just think how good these Bulldogs will be next year.
Next year is here with four returning starters — 6-5 guard and All-National Trail first-team pick Taylor Worman, who averaged 16 points and four rebounds; 6-6 forward Myles Baker, who averaged 10 points and seven rebounds as a sophomore who then placed third in the Class 1A state track triple jump; 5-9 guard James Jansen who averaged eight points and four assists; and 6-4 forward Paul Sudkamp.
Other returning lettermen include 6-6 Alex Lustig, 6-7 Ryan Schmitt, 6-3 Derek Rohlfing and guards Marty Jansen and Kit Koerner.
Coach Matt Britton does not try to hide from the high hopes.
“Lots of experience, size, strength and depth,” said Britton, who is 44-15 in two seasons at St. Anthony. “Expectations are very high for this year’s team.”
TAYLORVILLE (2-26)
After a season as the sophomore coach, Jim Novar takes over the continuing project of reviving this basketball program trying to survive in the Central State Eight Conference.
“These guys have done a good job for me in the summer and in the off-season,” Novar said. “We haven’t won a conference game in three years. It’s one of those things where you have to crawl before you walk and walk before you can run. It’s just a matter of coming out and competing in 32 minutes.
“Losing tends to bring out the worst in people sometimes. We’ve approached things with a positive attitude. We want to make progress. We want to move forward. What does that mean? I don’t know what that means from the win-loss aspect. I just want to compete.”
Kraig Heil, who averaged six points per game, Matt Yard (5 ppg) and Dunstin Ehrhardt (3 ppg) are seniors with 6-4 junior Connor Bollinger playing the post.
More help could come from athletic Jordan Chlebus, a point guard who is making a comeback after last season’s knee injury.
VANDALIA (15-12)
A freshman point guard joins two double-figure scorers from last season’s 15-12 team.
The veterans include 6-3 junior Marty Johnson, who was slowed by an ankle injury last season while averaging 10.5 points.
“I don’t know that he ever was healthy,” coach Kevin Jackson said. “He can do a lot of things. He can handle it, he can shoot it and he can post up.”
Jackson is also hoping for more production in the third varsity season by 6-3, 230-pound Will Cower, who averaged 10 points the past two seasons.
Angel Asorio, who has high jumped 6-6, started at times when Johnson was injured last season.
Likely to start at point guard is freshman Tim Ritchey.
“He played with us all summer,” Jackson said. “Having a freshman point guard is not a concern. The kid knows the game. He won’t play like a freshman. We think he has the potential to do a good job there or we wouldn’t be putting him there.”
Jackson stands 45-40 enter his fifth year at Vandalia after a 108-102 stint at St. Elmo.
“We have a lot of kids back,” he said. “We lost our heart, our senior leaders, but we have a lot of kids back.”
POOL B
BREESE CENTRAL (30-3)
These teams are list alphabetically but if ranked by predictions, Breese would still be on top.
After reaching an IHSA Class 2A super-sectional last season, the Cougars look ready to defend their St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament championship.
Sometime this season Breese Central is likely to honor two players going over the 1,000-point mark in their high school careers.
David Wiegmann could do that this week in the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament. He is a 6-foot-7 senior who has played since he was a sophomore and last season averaged 17.4 points and six rebounds.
Another third-year player receiving some small-college interest is 6-5 Garrett Gaffner, who averaged 16.3 points and seven rebounds last season.
“They’ve both been great players and how our season goes depends a lot on them,” coach Stan Eagleson said.
The size and talent does not stop there. Other returning regulars are 6-5 guard Keaton Scheer, who averaged 6.5 points last season, and 6-6 sophomore Brandon Book, who made the Cougars better when he started playing regularly as a freshman after Christmas. A good 3-point shooter, Book averaged 8.3 points.
Another sophomore Nick Grapperhaus completes the likely starting lineup.
“We’ve got a lot of experience coming back and a lot of size,” said Eagleson, who is 415-222 after 22 seasons at Breese. “There’s some talented kids in this group. Sometimes they rely on that. They need to get better fundamentally and get better defensively. That and depth are our concerns. Those first five are solid we need to find a 6-7-8 to go with them.”
Don’t expect opposing coaches to be shedding tears of sympathy.
CHARLESTON (10-18)
Five seniors started for last season’s team that helped wipe out much of its regular season frustrations by winning the Class 3A Mattoon Regional.
The Trojans have two coach’s kids — senior forward Dylan Doughty whose father, Trevor, is 114-89 after seven seasons coaching Charleston’s boys, and junior guard Joey Miller, whose father, Mike, coaches Eastern Illinois.
Senior Brad Wheeler is the top returning scorer at 4.9 points per game while Miller added 4.3 points as a sophomore. Six-five Taylor Nead was another key reserve last season while Dylan Doughty, Jason Lord, James Addison, Evan Clark and Alex Shick are others who figure to be in the main rotation.
Trevor Doughty called his Trojans: “Hard working, decent shooters, not real big or quick. The key is to rely on each other and their abilities. No one person will make us successful. We need a team effort every game.”
FLORA (12-17)
With freshman Paul Knapp averaging 19 points, Flora did not have that bad of a rebuilding season after starting 2-9 including an 0-4 showing in the Thanksgiving tournament.
The finish could have been even better but the Wolves lost their last two games in overtime.
The only senior in the starting lineup this season is likely to be 6-3 Bryton Krutsinger, who averaged 11 points last season as an inside-outside threat.
Six-foot-three Cole Green Wood, who averaged four points and five rebounds, and 6-0 Austin Lewis, who averaged three points, bring varsity experience from their sophomore seasons.
So does 6-5 Nick Painter, who played varsity at the end of last season averaging five points and now joins Knapp for a sophomore backcourt.
Five-eight senior Michael Bush-King is also likely to contribute after not playing last season.
“I think we’ll be very competitive this year,” said Phil Leib, who is 138-132 entering his 10th season at the school where he played. “We’ll win more than we lose. I thought last year will be great training ground which should help us this year and for years to come.”
MATTOON (7-19)
The starters all graduated from this Mattoon team that stood 7-9 after beating Effingham for the Salem Invitational’s consolation title but finished 7-19 with a loss to the Hearts in the Class 3A Mattoon Regional.
Derrick Zavarella started at times as a junior and averaging 8.1 points per game was the Green Wave’s second-leading scorer behind Colton Pettyjohn, now on Lake Land’s team.
Junior guard Michael Heller is the only other returning player as the Wave look to newcomers Dillan Miller, Austin Ashworth, Trey Milligan, Desmond McDonald, Nathin Arthur, Kris Heller and Shay Carlen for help.
Brooks Inman, 11-41 entering his third season as the Green Wave coach after starting with a 20-8 year at Arcola, said his team is athletic, good shooters, hard works and motivated to be successful but lacking in varsity experience.
ST. ANTHONY TOURNEY SCHEDULE
Monday
6:30 p.m. – Charleston vs. Flora
8 p.m. – Vandalia vs. Effingham
Tuesday
5 p.m. – Mattoon vs. Breese Central
6:30 p.m. – Effingham vs. Taylorville
8 p.m. – Effingham St. Anthony vs. Vandalia
Wednesday
5 p.m. – Flora vs. Breese Central
6:30 p.m. – Mattoon vs. Charleston
8 p.m. – St. Anthony vs. Taylorville
Friday
3 p.m. – Breese Central vs. Charleston
4:30 p.m. – Flora vs. Mattoon
6 p.m. – Taylorville vs. Vandalia
7:30 p.m. – St. Anthony vs. Effingham
Saturday
3 p.m. – Seventh-place game
4:30 p.m. – Fifth-place game
6 p.m. – Third-place game
7:30 p.m. – Championship game
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