12-25-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
BREESE - The Breese Mater Dei Holiday Tournament has no shortage of talented teams slated to battle December 26-29 in Breese.

With a state-ranked 2A power Chicago North Lawndale receiving the top seed and highly regarded Effingham St. Anthony in the field – look for an exciting week of high school hoops in Clinton County.
Those Phoenix from the Chicago area finished second in the state last March and return three Division One caliber athletes in an attempt to win the MDHT championship.

Zilijan Jones – a 5-foot-8 junior point guard - was part of that second place team last season and runs the show for head coach Lewis Thorpe. The Phoenix also have a 6-foot-11 sophomore Paul Bunch and 6-foot-5 junior Jonathan Mills. Another starter is 6-foot-4 sophomore Jermaine Winfield.

Effingham St. Anthony (7-1) have just a loss to crosstown rival Effingham in its eight games.

Head coach Matt Britton is doing its damage by committee with just one starter averaging 10.1 per game and that one is Anthony Hecht who is a 6-foot-1 senior.

St. A has won four-straight games and are seeded second.

The Bulldogs will make their final appearance at the Mater Dei Tournament as they are moving back to the Charleston Holiday Tournament next season.

Jerseyville of the Mississippi Valley Conference snared the third seed in the pool play event.
The Panthers of head coach Stote Reeder have a 5-3 mark with wins over Waterloo and Civic Memorial in the MVC and non-conference triumphs over Mount Vernon, Soldan (MO.) and Chatham-Glenwood.

Three Panthers are averaging double-figures with sophomore guard Cody Bradfisch topping the chart with 14.5 points a game. Twin brothers Kyle and Tyler Church average 13 and 10 points respectively.

Breese Central (7-3) have three players combining for 43.3 points a game.

Six-foot-four sophomore David Wiegmann has come on big for the Cougars after growing four inches over the summer emerged as the top scorers with 20.3 points a game. Garrett Gaffner - a 6-foot-3 sophomore (12.3 p.p.g.) and brother Galen Gaffner – a 5-foot-10 senior (10.7 p.p.g.) have both started games according to head coach Stan Eagleson.

The other contributors on the BC club are Pat Shrieker – a 6-foot senior guard (8.7 p.p.g.) 5-foot-9 senior guard Jake Keck (8.1 p.p.g.) and 6-foot-2 senior Nick Fischer (4.1 p.p.g.) who have all been in the starting lineup.

Like most of the coaches in the tournament – North Lawndale is considered the heavy favorite to Eagleson.

“Well on paper Lawndale is the class of the field,” said Breese Central head coach Stan Eagleson. “We have been led by our sophomores this year. A sophomore has led us in scoring every game this season. David (Wiegmann) got an opportunity to play early in the season and he has taken advantage of the situation and is our leading scorer. He has always been able to shoot and he grew five inches over the summer so he has been a big help.”

Nashville is the defending champion and are 7-3 on the season with losses to Madison, Columbia and Pinckneyville. Coach Darin Lee's club is built around the sharpshooting of 6-foot-5 guard/forward Tommy Pelczynski who is averaging a robust 24.5 points a night for the Hornets.

They are 3-1 in the SIRR Mississippi and are in the same pool as Lawndale and Central.

The host Mater Dei Knights also play a very destructive type schedules.

As an Independent the Knights take on a lot of good teams in a season and heading into the holiday's they are 5-3 with losses to Granite City, Highland and Belleville West. Six-foot-seven senior center Jacob Dulle averages exactly 16 points a game for head coach Brian Perkes. Six-foot-one junior Aaron Fuehne (7.6 p.p.g.) and 6-foot-2 junior Blake Ofstedal (6.8 p.p.g.) are next in line in scoring for MD.

If you need a longshot that is viable try the Okawville Rockets. At 6-2 - head coach Jon Kraus has the lone 1A team in this event. Brandon Brammeier is leading the Rockets in scoring. Okawville won the Marissa-Coulterville Post-Thanksgiving Tournament back in December but this tourney will be a much tougher task.
The Mascoutah Indians (3-4) are another rep from the Mississippi Valley Conference. Coach Scott Oltmann turns to senior Mike Milton – a 6-foot-2 guard with an 11.9 scoring average – to lead this club. Sophomore forward Matt Milton – at 6-foot-5 – adds eight points a contest.

Carlyle (3-4) and head coach Andy Palmer are a top scoring team that hasn't defended well enough to get over .500 yet. Six-foot-three senior Matt Palm and 5-foot-11 senior guard Travis Isaak are the Indians top weapons at 22 and 14 points apiece per game.

Springfield SHG (1-4) enters the event with just four games played but are a dangerous large school in this tournament. They have lost to Springfield Southeast,Springfield Lanpheir, Springfield High and Peoria Richwoods and have a top scorer back in Stephen Hott – a 6-foot-3 junior forward.