03-08-08
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA - Somewhere in this country Jack Sikma is smiling.

His St. Anne Cardinals broke in the first season of four class basketball in the State of Illinois by winning its inaugural event with a 67-61 championship win Saturday afternoon at Carver Arena in Peoria.

Behind 28 points from first team all-state guard Cliff Fleming and a defensive effort that force Nokomis into 20 turnovers – the Cardinals won their first state title in boy's basketball and brought home their first trophy since Sikma led the Cards to a fourth place finish in 1973.

For Nokomis it was a bitter defeat for a team that had used its match up zone defense to get on a roll to reach the title game.

St. Anne (25-8) took the ball right at Nokomis (30-6) and got to the foul line 42 times compared to just 10 for the Redskins.

"If you haven't seen us play before you find out that we are quick and we try to use that to our advantage,” said St. Anne head coach Rick Schoon – who saw his career record improve to 192-89 in ten seasons. “When we saw Nokomis on film and on TV yesterday we told our kids that when they extend that 1-2-2 zone that we needed to attack with us on a college floor here.”

The Cardinals broke away from Nokomis with a 19-8 third quarter advantage.

Austin Bertolino closed out his career by leading his Redskins with 17 points. He scored five consecutive points on a 3-pointer from the right wing and a driving bank shot with 6:11 remaining in the third quarter tied the score at 33-apiece.

It was the last time the game was even on the Jumbotron.

St. Anne exploded on a 13-0 scoring blitzkrieg that turned the tide in the Cards favor.

Fleming scored five of the points on a drive to the basket and a long 3-pointer from the right wing on a pass from teammate Kenneth Thomas with 3:50 left.

Varron Burdunice – St. Anne's 6-foot-3 post player – hit four straight free throws in the run.

Nokomis committed three of its twenty turnovers in the third quarter during that St. Anne move.

Javonta Davis added a drive to the basket in the run which ended when Nokomis' Jared Spears scored on a drive to the basket while being fouled by Burdunice.

Spears converted the three-point play to close the gap to 46-35.

Burdunice added two more free throws for St. Anne to close out the quarter.

Nokomis made a run in the fourth quarter but ran out of steam and time.

A 11-3 sprint with Bertolino and Wade Kimbro scoring important points.

Spears added another in close shot in the paint to cut the St. Anne addy to just 58-51.

However St. Anne closed the door by hitting nine free throws in the final 2:21.

Thomas capped the scoring with a pair of free throws at the :13.4 mark at which time both teams emptied their respecitive benches.

Junior reserve Seth Bowers canned a 3-pointer for Nokomis to cut the final margin to six.

“What it came down to is that we didn't keep them off the boards and we didn't stop their transition game,” said Nokomis head coach Steve Kimbro who is 562-201 in 27 years as the head coach at Nokomis. “They got to the free throw line too many times. They spread us out and they were quick with dribble penetration and we had to foul them.”

Following Fleming's 28 came Burdunice with 19 points.

Burdunice was “money” from the charity stripe connecting on 11-of-12 for the game.

The Cardinals hit 47.4 percent from the floor overall (18-of-38) and were 4-of-10 from behind the arc.

Coach Schoon's platoon took advantage of the Nokomis mistakes with handling the ball by scoring 28 points off turnovers.

Nokomis closed its outstanding season with Bertolino's 17 to go with Kimbro's 15.

Jared Spears – a 6-foot-5 senior – added 13 for the Redskins.

Nokomis (61) - Spears 6 0 1-1 13, W. Kimbro 6 0 3-4 15, Cheek 0 0 0-0 0, Jachino 3 0 0-0 6, Bertolino 2 3 4-4 17, Wood 2 1 0-0 7, T. Kimbro 0 0 0-1 0, Brady 0 0 0-0 0, Pesko 0 0 0-0 0, Bowers 0 1 0-0 3, Stotler 0 0 0-0 0, Goldsmith 0 0 0-0 0, Wright 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-19, 3FG-5, FT-8-10, PF-24.
St. Anne (67) - Peden 2 1 2-2 9, Mason 0 0 2-8 2, Burdunice 4 0 11-12 19, Thomas 1 0 3-4 5, Fleming 5 3 9-14 28, Davis 2 0 0-2 4, DeWitt 0 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Morgan 0 0 0-0 0, Brewer 0 0 0-0 0, Powell 0 0 0-0 0, Broadnax 0 0 0-0 0, Statler 0 0 0-0 0, Springer 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-4, FT-27-42, PF-15.
Fouled Out - Cheek, Jachino - Nokomis.
Technical Fouls - None.