BY JACK BULLOCK
Last February the Marissa-Coulterville Meteors were mere seconds away from their first regional championship in boy's basketball in since 1983.

But on their home floor they watched in dismay as a buzzer beating shot by Okawville's Will Aubel derailed the Meteors, 52-51, sending the Rockets on to the sectional, and eventually the supersectional, while M-C saw its season end at 25-3.

For head coach Scott Wine and his troops the season ended way too soon.

However a lot of talented kids return that were on that club that had a lot of highlights during the year.

They won the consolation title at the Metro-East Lutheran Thanksgiving Tournament, took home second at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament and they topped Steeleville twice on their way to a 12-0 Kaskaskia Division championship.

Despite graduation losses (Cam Bowlby, John Broshears and Brenden Cahoun) the Meteors will be back in the hunt for more hardware and perhaps a much better result when the postseason begins.

The top two players returning for Marissa-Coulterville are both seniors.

Six-foot-one senior Logan Jones and -foot-3 senior Sebastian Ivory-Greer return for Coach Wine.

This duo combined for just over 32 points a night last winter.

Three other seniors; 6-foot-1 Blake Steinwagner (7.5 p.p.g.) returns along with 6-foot senior Kade Portz and 6-foot-3 senior Austin Gilley.

Depth of the Marissa-Coulterville bench won't be an issue as there are kids that, according to Coach Wine, will be able to step in and help out at any position.

Six-foot-two senior forward Austin Lawless should see plenty of playing time along with 5-foot-10 junior Nolan Cathcart, 6-foot-2 sophomore guard Caleb Trieb and 6-foot-3 freshman forward Garrett Harrell.

Five-foot-eleven senior guard Clayton Cahoon transferred in from Sparta with varsity experience.

“We added games against Odin and Waltonville this year, playing in the Quincy Notre Dame shootout vs Barry Western in February. MEL Thanksgiving Tournament and Sesser-Valier Tournament will be good for us,” said Coach Wine. “Our conference will be much improved this year with New Athens, Red Bud and Valmeyer returning everyone from last year. Steeleville lost a few key players but i expect them to be very competitive.”

OUTLOOK - Although it isn't a certain which direction the Meteors will go in the postseason, it is a certain that if they stay healthy they will be one of the handful of 1A teams in the ABV area with a real shot at getting to Peoria. They beat some really good teams