12-21-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
ST. ELMO – Opponents of the Altamont Indians be warned.

Like the movie Oceans 11, this team has a lot of quality players who know their respective roles.

Head coach John Niebrugge has put together a deep cast of characters that have garnished some early season high-praise.

On Saturday night in the title game of the St. Elmo Holiday Tournament, all 11-players on the Altamont roster had a hand in securing a title game triumph.

With the kind of depth that his club has, they can overcome a lot of adversity.

In their 72-49 win over the host Eagles, Altamont got past some early foul trouble and put together some defensive stands that produced offensive runs.

The Indians moved to 6-0 on the season with the championship game romp, securing the first tournament title for this second year coach.

Getting a game-best 20-points from senior point guard Garrett Ziegler and 14-points from reserve freshman Ryan Armstrong, the Indians strong-armed the Eagles, stopping a string of three-consecutive championships by the hosts.

In winning the 12th tournament title in this 54th annual event, Altamont broke away from the Eagles with a big second quarter and then finished off St. Elmo-Brownstown from the foul line in the final frame.

Six-foot-four senior Jake Seidel added 10-points for the Indians while Derek Jahraus and Claiton Wolff added eight points each.

St. Elmo-Brownstown, unlike Altamont, doesn’t possess the depth on its bench as Coach Greg Feezel’s team ran out of steam late in the game.

Brother’s Levi and Malachi Maxey netted 17 and 16-points respectively in defeat.

However while Altamont was getting help from everyone in a uniform, the Eagles combined for just 16-points by three other players.

“They (the Eagles) hit shots early but we kept telling the kids that they are going to start missing shots and we just need to keep contesting their shots,” said Coach Niebrugge. “We tell them that our conditioning and depth will kick in.”

Last season Levi Maxey “lit up” the Indians in a 69-63 championship game win by scoring 33-points.

But on Saturday night, Altamont didn’t let this senior guard get rolling, making the 6-foot guard earn his points and while holding him in check after a 12-point first half.

St. Elmo’s best basketball came in the early going, with Levi, junior Cole Smithson and freshman Landon Feezel scoring in a brief run for the Eagles biggest lead of the night at 13-9 at the 2:41 mark of the opening quarter.

That 7-0 barrage turned out to be the largest of the game for the Eagles.

Two buckets by the Maxey’s ended the period at 17-16 St. Elmo-Brownstown.

The Indians initiated their first big scoring burst (11-2) at the start of the second quarter and took the lead for good.

Ziegler scored five of the points, driving the middle of the lane for a basket and nailing his second 3-pointer of the game.

Seidel closed the run with a score in the post on an assist from Ziegler for a 27-19 spread.

The second run occurred a few minutes later, with back-to-back 3-point bombs by Armstrong and Griffin Jackman and a mid-range shot by Armstrong that pushed the lead to 37-23 with 3:33 left in the half.

“He (Armstrong) is a scorer and we got a big night tonight from him,” added Coach Niebrugge. “Sometimes he doesn’t want to shoot it but I told him he needs to do it more.”

St. Elmo-Brownstown got the deficit back down to under 10 at intermission with both Maxey’s scoring while Feezel grabbed a rebound for a score at a 39-31 halftime score.

Altamont put the game in their hip pocket with another run to close out the third quarter.

Six-consecutive points from Armstrong, Wolff and Justin McGinnis gave Altamont a commanding advantage.

During the third quarter, the Eagles began to show signs of fatigue as they were just 3-of-13 from the field and fell behind 55-40 heading to the fourth quarter.

Seidel and Ziegler both scored in the first two minutes of the final stanza.

Ziegler’s steal and fast break lay in pushed the advantage to 59-40.

“We were pushing the ball (offensively) in the first half but we weren’t taking the best shots,” Coach Niebrugge explained. “The second half we ran our offensive better. When they (St. Elmo-Brownstown) went to a zone we had a lot of patience and got some good shots. It was a team effort tonight. We have 11-guys who love to play.”

Spreading the floor and forcing St. Elmo-Brownstown to chase, and eventually foul, the Tribe put the game away by hitting 5-of-6 free throws to make it 66-43 with just 2:21 left.

The numbers didn’t lie on this night as Altamont won every statistical battle in the title game.

The numbers didn’t lie on this night as Altamont won every statistical battle in the title game.

The Indians were “lights-out” from the field, connecting on 28-of-52 (53.8 percent) and were 5-of-11 from beyond the arc (45.4 percent) in the offensive explosion.

“We did what we wanted to do tonight but they shot the ball well,” said Coach Feezel. “We basically played five horses (players) all night long. I thought our kids, even at the end of the ballgame before I subbed, we were still fighting as hard we did at first. We played well but they are just a good team.”

But on the defensive end Altamont really stood out.

Coach Niebrugge’s troop dominated the rebounding chart (38-14) while holding the Eagles to just 15-of-45 from the floor (33.3 percent).

Altamont survived some sloppy play, committing 15-turnovers in the contest while picking up some silly fouls.

With several players in foul difficulty in the contest, Altamont had a lot in the reserve tank.

“That is kind of a running theme for us, we have to adjust after the first half of games (how games are called by the officials) and this is a senior-laden team and they have figured out what they have to do to win ballgames,” said Coach Niebrugge. “We don’t change the pressure, we just adjust to the way fouls are called.”

St. Elmo-Brownstown’s Jacob Behrends, normally a double-figure scorer, was held to just five points by the Indians defense.

Feezel followed the Maxey brothers with eight points while Smithson’s trey in the first quarter was his only points.

St. Elmo-Brownstown committed 15-turnovers in the contest.

Both teams head into the Vandalia Holiday Tournament next week where they are in opposite pools.

Altamont plays twice on Thursday, December 26 against Greenville and the host Vandals while St. Elmo-Brownstown will play the tournament’s top-seed Flora on the opening day.

“Sometimes you just take a loss and learn from it. I’m not as disappointed about this (game) as I was about how we played the first night (Mulberry Grove win),” said Coach Feezel. “This wasn’t a bad tournament for us. For this young of a team and us learning, it was a good week. You’ve got to learn from it and I think that the kids understand. We are learning. I think in five or six more games we will be alright.”

RAMSEY 63, COWDEN-HERRICK 38
Five-foot-ten senior guard Ryan Kelly set the St. Elmo Holiday Tournament record for 3-pointers in a game, leading the Rams to the consolation championship.

Kelly nailed 11 3-point bombs and finished with 35-points as the Rams outscored the Hornets 24-9 in the third quarter to turn a 21-12 halftime lead into a 45-21 lead at the end of three quarters.

Kelly hit six of those treys in the third quarter crusade.

Cowden-Herrick (3-7) was paced by junior Colton Burris with 12-points.

Cowden-Herrick (38) – Blackerby 2 0 1-2 5, Brunken 0 0 0-0 0, Sphar 0 0 0-0 0, M. Sandiford 0 1 0-0 3, Burrus 3 1 3-3 12, N. Sandiford 1 1 2-3 7, Nohren 0 0 2-2 2, Barnes 0 1 2-2 5, Evans 1 0 0-1 2.
2FG-8, 3FG-4, FT-10-13, PF-11.
Ramsey (63) – Lay 0 0 0-0 0, Hunt 2 0 0-0 4, Knisley 4 0 2-2 10, Kelly 1 11 0-0 35, Camez 3 0 0-0 6, thomas 1 0 0-0 2, Aderman 1 0 0-0 , Reiss 0 1 0-0 3, Casey 0 0 1-4 1, Wesselman 0 0 0-0 0, Holland 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-12, FT-3-6, PF-16.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

MULBERRY GROVE 53, SOUTH CENTRAL 46
Junior guard Damian Latham scored 19-points while Ty James added 14 as the Aces picked up the seventh place win on Saturday afternoon.

Austin Redfern added 10-points and eight points came from Jack Criner as MG improved to 2-7 on the season.

The Cougars (0-7) were led by Brett Harmeier with 11-points and Evan Langley with 10.

Mulberry Grove (53) – Latham 5 2 3-7 19, Redfern 4 0 2-2 10, Gannon 0 0 0-0 0, Iberg 0 0 0-0 0, Crisman 0 0 2-4 2, James 5 0 4-5 14, Criner 3 0 2-2 8.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-13-20, PF-19.
South Central (46) – Harmeier 2 2 1-3 11, Henken 0 0 0-2 0, Wilkins 2 0 0-1 4, Markley 0 1 2-2 5, Langley 4 0 2-2 10, Riley 2 0 2-4 6, Ross 1 0 0-0 2, Powless 3 0 2-7 8.
2FG-14, 3FG-3, FT-9-21, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Langley - South Central.
Technical Fouls – None.