03-30-2023
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – When you're the two-time player of the year in the top 1A basketball conference statistically in the state, you will get a lot of attention.

North Clay senior guard/forward Logan Fleener has performed at a high level against some of the best teams in southern Illinois for the past two seasons.

Facing the oppositions best defensive player in most contests, Fleener still managed to put up impressive numbers for a 21-10 team (6-2 league) for second place in the National Trail Conference.

The senior netted 22.8 points a game for the Cardinals and grabbed 6.6 rebounds.

He also dished out over 100 assists for the season (3.34 per game) while racking up all-tournament team honors from all three of the tournaments in which North Clay competed (Cumberland Thanksgiving, Wayne City Holiday, National Trail Conference).

Behind his play and leadership they finished second at Cumberland, first at Wayne City and third at the NTC.

They ended their season with a tough loss to eventual champs Effingham St. Anthony in the 1A South Central Regional.

The NTC “POY” is special in that the opposing coaches picked Fleener for two consecutive seasons.

The National Trail Conference teams were a combined 138-80 against non-conference foes (63.3 winning percentage) as the top six teams won 20+ games while a seventh won 18.

This was the top mark of any 1A conference in the state and it produced two regional champions.

Five of the losses this season for the Cardinals were to 1A state ranked teams (Casey-Westfield, Altamont and St. Anthony) and they picked up a win over eventual 2A sectional finalist Lawrenceville along with an early season victory over St. Anthony, a team they played three times.

"Logan Fleener will go down as one of the best basketball players in the history of our program at North Clay High School. Logan has the rare combination of having one of a kind athletic ability along with having a high character, which allows him to be respected by his teammates, his coaches, his community and his competitors," said Coach Zink.

As with the 1A Deep South, the 2A area also possessed many standout players but one stood out for ABV.

Carterville senior guard Caden Hawkins battled injuries last season and this winter he showed what he could do when healthy.

The 6-0 play-maker led his Lions to an unbeaten run through the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division, earning the program its first ever league championship since they moved to the conference back in 2010.

Hawkins averaged 20.2 points a game, 4.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals for a regional championship team that finished 26-7.

The senior missed 29 games between his junior season injured and also the Covid19 schedule and still surpassed 1K in points for his career (93 games).

During the conference run they topped Elite Eight team Pinckneyville twice.

In the first matchup Hawkins lit up the Panthers with a 36-point performance back in January just a few days after the passing of his grandfather Tom Hawkins.

For head coach Shane Hawkins, coaching his son and seeing his improvement over the years was special.

"It's not very often in your coaching career that you get the opportunity to coach a player that is very skilled, lives in the gym, has a high basketball IQ, plays as equally hard on both ends of the court and whose ultimate goal is to win every game. I had that opportunity the last four years," said Coach Hawkins. "As a coach, you spend your career coaching other people's kids and you often don't get to enjoy the chance to coach your own. As a coach, every decision that you make is in the best interest of the team. So when you are coaching you're own kids, you don't get to enjoy their successes as much until later. It was awesome to have a front row seat every day to watch him come back from his shoulder injury to have the season that he had this year and he took it as a challenge every day to prove that he was the best player on the floor everyday."