11/25/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Each season Coach Greg Feezel at St. Elmo/Brownstown seems to get the best out of each of his teams.

Last season was a 22-10 finish, 4-4 in the National Trail Conference and 4-1 in the Egyptian Illini.

The Eagles won both the Mulberry Grove Thanksgiving Tournament and their own Holiday Tournament.

However late in the season SEB lost five of their final nine contests, including a semifinal defeat to eventual regional champ Webber Township.

Coach Feezel lost first team ABV all-south pick Adam Atwood along with seniors Josiah Maxey, Collin Maxey, Cade Schaub and Brody Mason.

All are done with prep basketball after graduating in the spring.

But, as usual, there will be others ready to step up to the plate.

Lowell Wilhour, a 5-9 senior, will be one of the guards returning for the Eagles.

Five-nine senior Vadim Plum is back along with 5-10 senior Gavin Sanders.

Trenton Monet, a 6-3 senior, returns along with 6-1 junior Jaden Hughett and 5-11 sophomore Graidon Wilhour.

“This team played well this summer. They will work hard for us and hopefully that will translate into wins,” said Coach Feezel. “We will be very inexperienced on the varsity level but we showed this summer we can play with a lot of the better teams. Time will tell on this team.”

The Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City cooperative, known more at CHBC has produced some quality teams in the past few seasons.

Head coach Tanner Thompson should be proud of the accomplishments as they play a pretty strong schedule in both the NTC and EIC.

Last season the Bobcats ended up just short of the .500 mark at 15-17, sharing the title of the Egyptian Illini with rival St. Elmo/Brownstown and 4-4 in the National Trail.

Some seniors left the building after graduation; Carson Evans, Clayton Wojcik and Gage Lorton from the team that lost to regional champ Arcola, 53-41, at the 1A Okaw Valley Regional.

The ones returning for Coach Thompson look to continue the improvement for the program.

Five-nine senior Kaidyn Calame is a returning starter.

Both of those kids contribute on both ends of the floor.

Coach Thompson calls 6-3 senior Wyatt Rueff “the best rebounder I have ever coached and runs the floor well.”

Another starter for CHBC is August Cosart, a 5-10 junior.

Five-nine junior Clive Schlanser is back along with 6-5 classmate Gage Hart.

Ben Askins, a 5-11 junior, and senior Hunter Pope are also in the conversation.

Six-three senior AJ Radloff give the Bobcats more size.

Coach Thompson have what he calls a special group of sophomores to add to the depth.

Five-ten Carter Dilley, 6-0 Remington Howell, 6-3 Porter Lilly, 6-1 Hayden Sarver, and 5-10 Griffin Vaughn should all earn playing time.

“I look forward to a stellar season this year. We have so many coming back from last season. We will be big and our sophomore class is absolutely outstanding. They really push the tempo they will get minutes as well. Freshman class is eager to get ready and are no joke either. It looks to be a great season,” said Coach Thompson.

Five-ten senior Owen Landreth graduated after leading the Patoka/Odin Warriors in scoring while securing a spot on the ABV 1A All-South Team.

The Warriors didn't last long in the postseason (loss to St. Elmo/Brownstown at Altamont) and this coach will turn to some newcomers and hold overs to try and keep the mesh between the cooperative going strong as the agreement enters the fourth year.

Three other seniors; Braden Meyer, Lane Arnold and Wade Voelkel have also left.

Coach Eddy returns 5-11 senior Tyler Huffman and 5-8 junior Lincoln Roberts for 2024-25.

The pair played a bevy of varsity minutes a season ago.

Also with PT on the varsity level are 6-1 senior Landon Robb, 6-2 sophomore Brady Cain, 5-7 senior Jace Bodine and 5-10 senior Camden Parrish.

Huffman and Cain were shelved last season with injuries and Coach Eddy hopes to have them both back full-strength this winter.

There will be others ready when the season begins at the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament.

Coach Eddy mentioned 5-9 senior Reed Jourdan, 6-2 junior Ben Spencer, and 6-0 junior Easton Johnson.

Two others stepping up are freshmen 6-1 Kody Burks and 5-9 Brady Haines.

The Warriors have been competing in both the Egyptian Illini Conference and the Midland Trail Conference.

A long standing member of the EIC, the transition into duel conferences hasn't hurt the scheduling at all as they play some good teams in each league.

“We spent a lot of time this off season going back to the fundamentals of defense and simplifying the offense to make sure we are all on the same page. It has been a complete group buy in to sellout for each other on the floor at both ends. If this team can continue to grow and fight for each other day in and day out I believe we will surprise some people. This is a group of players ready to make a name for themselves as the year goes on,” said Coach Eddy who enters his 21st season at the helm. “It has been a fun group to watch develop and grow. We will go into the season with a lot of questions, but I think that the effort on the court will turn into some positive returns.”

While some teams in the area are missing a ton of talent from last season, head coach Samuel Barber has most of last season's squad returning at Mulberry Grove.

The Aces (a flying pilot, not a playing card) are down just two seniors from last winter.

Gavin Strohkirch and Carter Scoggins and Landon Sugg from the team that finished 6-19, 1-4 in the EIC and were escorted out of the 1A Altamont Regional by the hosts in the opener.

Hagan Henrichsmeyer, a 5-10 junior, returns for Mulberry Grove.

Senior 6-1 Logan Bauer is also back for Coach Barber, who takes the reigns after being an assistant last winter.

Six-one junior Connor Hartman, 6-2 junior Jackson Icenogle and 6-6 senior Landon Sugg will help give Mulberry Grove some size in the frontcourt.

Key players off the pine for Coach Barber will be 6-2 senior Aiden Walker, 6-0 juniors Lucas Epperson and Kruz Schlemer and 5-8 sophomore Hunter Altenberger.

“This team has a lot of potential as we have players with varsity experience. The big thing for us to succeed is to play team basketball. We have a decent amount of talent for 1A basketball we just need to play as a team,” said Coach Barber.

With nine seniors missing from last season, the Ramsey Rams will have a much different look heading into 2024-25.

Kevin Moreland, Curtis Cole Crockett, Randy Reese, Keegun Evans, Jace Claycomb, Gunner Finley, Landon Christian, Hayden Hayes and Ty Benhoff have departed from the 4-25 club that produced wins over Mt. Olive, Mulberry Grove (2) and Lebanon.

The Rams were one-and-done in the postseason, losing to Effingham St. Anthony 105-27 in one of the largest margins of victory in the 1A postseason last February.

Coach Jeff Babbs will have one letter-winner back, sophomore Aaron Trexler.

Junior Teegan Snider is the only other Ram who has much experience in varsity games.

The rest of the roster is untested.

Two seniors are on the list; Sederick Russell and Brady Cook.

Other juniors on the roster include Waylon Williams, Andrew Lorton, Malakai Moreland, Nolan Logsdon, Bladyn McCloskey, and Cooper Tedrick.

Besides Trexler, the sophomore class has Owen Warner while freshmen Charlie Philpot and Max Reiss to round out the 2024-25 Rams' roster as they head into the Mulberry Grove Thanksgiving Tournament.

“We graduated nine seniors last year, so we will have a lot of new faces on our varsity team. We plan on playing quite a few kids early to get experience for later in the season,” said Coach Babbs. “We will be small but quick. Last year, we tried to play quick and speed up our opponents when we could. This year, we will double down on that and try and speed things up even more.”

The Martinsville Bluestreaks, yes it's one word, play in both the Egyptian Illini Conference and the Little Okaw Valley Conference.

Last season ended at 13-19 overall, 2-3 in the EIC, 1-2 in the LOVC.

A win over Neoga in the regional at Casey-Westfield was a plus before losing to eventual regional winner Tuscola.

Six-two senior Adam Parcel is one of the top players listed by head coach Joey Parcel.

Other seniors expected to play are Kaiden Simons, Gavin LeLoup, Brayden Tresner, and Landry Price.

Martinsville will have some juniors to work with; Hector Herrera, Ben Hiatt, and Drake Brant.

The sophomores listed are Gabe Griffin, Jaxson Miller, Anthony Pierce, Seth Svika and Caden Wilhoit while three freshman made the roster; Lucas McCandless, Jaron Pickens, and Hunter Pitts.

The program has started a tip-off tournament this season.