03-02-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
DU QUOIN – Two of the teams in the Bridgeport Red Hill Sectional are very familiar to each other each other.

Both Dieterich and Effingham St. Anthony are just a few miles apart and are part of the National Trail Conference.

Along with Altamont, the Movin’ Maroons and the Bulldogs finished tied for the regular season title in the league.

For the Bulldogs and head coach Cody Rincker, the revenge was sweet with a 40-39 win over the Indians to win the title of the Nokomis 1A Regional on Friday night.

The Indians had beaten St. Anthony twice during the season, including the title game of the annual NTC Tournament.

Playing a brutal non-conference schedule has helped the Bulldogs reach this point.

Effingham St. Anthony stands at 20-10 on the season and have been led by John Goeckner, a 6-foot-2 senior, who has averaged 12 points a game for the Bulldogs this season.

Six-foot-five senior Alex Holscher and 6-foot-1 senior guard Neil Williams are right at nine points a contest for St. Anthony.

Holscher lead the club with eight rebounds a night.

“When we take care of the ball and rebound well we have a chance to beat anyone,” said Coach Rincker, a Stew-Stras grad in his first season running the show at St. Anthony. “Defense and rebounding has made us successful this season and will need to continue for us to keep having success.”

As a team, the Bulldogs are averaging 50 points a game while giving up just 39.

Others in the mix are twins Andrew and Zach Gardewine, each are 6-foot-3 juniors.

Derek Rios is a 6-foot-5 junior forward who also sees PT.

This is the first season that the Bulldogs were classified as 1A. The class drop kept them away from long-time nemesis Teutopolis in the postseason.

For the Dieterich club, this is only the second regional title for boy’s basketball since 2008, the first year of four-class basketball.

Coach Jeff Staser’s club took care of business at the Toledo Cumberland Regional, topping NTC rival Neoga, 59-40, on Friday night.

Dieterich (20-8) has been led by 5-foot-9 senior guard Tanner Traub (13.0 p.p.g.) and 5-foot-10 senior point guard Alex Bohnhoff (12.3 p.p.g.) have been the leaders for this team that was 8-1 in the NTC.
Six-foot-five senior Devin Aherin has produced in the paint (9.1 p.p.g.) and has averaged 6.7 rebounds a game.

Travis Niemerg, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, put up good numbers this winter (7.9 p.p.g., 7.0 r.p.g.).

Sophomore Nick Feldhake (7.1 p.p.g.) and classmate Lance Niemerg (4.1 p.p.g.) also see minutes.

For the Patoka Warriors and head coach Joe Eddy, this has been quite a season.

The emergence of a freshman scorer and the fact the regional set up shifted in 1A in which they didn’t have to watch Woodlawn celebrate another regional title helped the cause.

Patoka ousted Marion County rival Odin on Friday night at the Mulberry Grove Regional, 68-61 behind 32-points from freshman 6-foot-1 Jered Cain.

Cain is second on the team in scoring average at 15.5 p.p.g. and also runner-up in rebounds at 6.2 a contest.

Johnnie Clift, a 5-foot-11 senior guard, leads the team in scoring at 16.2 points a game while hauling down a robust 9.1 rebounds.

Seth Allen, 5-foot-10 senior, is pitching in with 8.5 points a night.

Patoka put together a nice run so far with some key wins, including a 60-51 win over Dieterich at home on January 14.

The Warriors won 3-of-4 games with Odin, losing the first game of the season at the Mulberry Grove Thanksgiving Tournament but taking the next three meetings.

Oblong is becoming an old hand at making it to the sectional.

Head coach Brent Harper’s program has won three consecutive regional titles.

Last Friday the Panthers survived a scare from Cisne, taking down the Lions in overtime to win the Albion Edwards County regional.

The New York Yankees had the M&M boys of Mantle and Maris.

Oblong has the M, M&M boys.

Six-foot-five senior Koert Mehler averages 18 points and 10 rebounds for Oblong, who has a losing record of 13-17 but played a brutal conference and non-conference slate of games.

Jared Mayhew, a 6-foot-5 junior, has been strong up front, averaging 10 points and 15 rebounds a contest for Oblong.

Dawson Maus is chipping in 10-points a game for the Panthers.

ABV Projected Winner - Effingham St. Anthony.