12/26/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - The 41st annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament will be the final edition that has a 16-team format.

The hosts have decided to decrease the number of teams to eight beginning in 2023, which means eight other schools will need new holiday homes next winter if they choose to.

As for this event, one of the surprise squads of the 2022-23 campaign in southern Illinois is the top-seed.

The Sparta Bulldogs and head coach Jordan Beckley are off to the best start in the program's recent history.

They are 8-1 entering the SVHT with just a single defeat to 10-2 Wesclin in the Cahokia Conference Illinois Division on December 13th.

The Bulldogs won the Elverado Turkey Tournament and have wins over Cobden, Marissa/Coulterville, Crab Orchard, Waltonville, Valmeyer, Carlyle, Okawville and Chester.

Coach Beckley has three main players who are averaging double-digits in scoring this season.

Ethan Willis, 6-3 senior forward, has averaged 19.3 points a game for Sparta along with 12.9 rebounds and 6.4 assists.

Six-foot senior Brayden Henry (12.9 p.p.g.) and 6-0 junior Zach Bodeker (10.8 p.p.g.) give the Bulldogs scoring options.

Damian Lanton, a 5-9 sophomore, 5-11 junior James Pillers and have also played well.

The Bulldogs won the consolation championship at Sesser-Valier last December and are favored to end up in the winners' side of the bracket this week.

The second-seeded team in the tourney is Altamont as the Indians have played some good teams early without the burden of an early season tournament.

Coach John Niebrugge's club, in its most recent contest, went on the road and edged state-ranked Casey-Westfield, 48-47 on December 20th.

Altamont is 6-3 on the young season with other triumphs over Cumberland, 2A Vandalia, South Central, Carlyle and Oblong/Palestine/Hutsonville.

State-ranked 2A Breese Central, 3A Morton and 2A Newton are good opponents for the Tribe heading forward.

Mason Robinson, a 6-3 senior, is one of the leaders for Altamont as he gathered in some individual honors a season ago, including first team ABV 1A Deep South.

He scored 15 points in the C-W win.

Five-eleven senior Jared Hammer is a starter for the squad as is 6-1 senior guard Avery Jahraus.

Six-foot-two senior Logan Cornett, 6-0 senior Wyatt Phillips and Dillan Elam, a 6-3 junior, are all part of the success.

Kienon Eirhart, a 6-4 senior, is also a main piece of the puzzle for Coach Niebrugge.

Six-five senior Eric Kollmann has missed several games due to illness and his status isn't certain for this week.

Altamont is in its third SVHT having finished second in 2019 and third last season.

DuQuoin comes into tourney for the first time as the 2A Indians left the Marion/Carbondale Tournament from last December.

Coach Jason James has a deep team in which he uses a 'five in, five out' rotation with some success so far.

The Tribe are 4-5 on the campaign, with wins over West Frankfort, Cairo and Anna-Jonesboro plus a 50-41 win at Murphysboro back on December 10.

One of the standouts for DuQuoin so far has been 6-0 senior Gage Green.

Senior Nishan Woody, a 6-0 forward, 6-1 senior forward Kameron Hugya and 5-11 forward Jakob Eaton all play minutes in this setup.

Five-eight senior Malik Jones, 6-2 senior Seth Howerton, 5-11 junior Eli Maynor, 5-10 sophomore Luke Bauman and 5-9 junior guard PJ Winters all put in PT in this pressing, fast paced style.

Six-one junior forward Dwayne Wilmington and Jaden DeMarie, a 5-10 sophomore, 5-10 junior Da'Marion Johnson and 6-4 senior Owen Cornett make playing against this depth difficult.

DuQuoin's defeats have come at the hands of Carmi-White County, Herrin, Carterville, Pinckneyville and Harrisburg.

Number-four seeded Red Bud is another contender with head coach Dane Walter bringing the Musketeers to the event this week after a good beginning.

The club opened the season with a victory over Valmeyer before winning 3-of-4 at the Trico/Murphysboro Tournament.

Trico, Steeleville and Harrisburg were the wins with a loss to Carterville as they ended up third.

Another win at 3A Waterloo had RB sitting at 5-1.

Narrow losses to Wesclin, Chester and Ste. Genevieve (MO.) as well as victories over East Alton-Wood River and Carlyle have the Musketeers tested and poised to contend at the SVHT coming in at 7-4.

Five-eleven sophomore Trent Sternberg has provided offensive lift for Red Bud with 13.5 points a night.

Three other players; 6-2 junior Owen Liefer, 6-2 senior Devin Hall, and 6-0 junior Drew Grohmann are all in the nine-point range in scoring.

Five-nine senior brothers Nick and Noah Gantner are also capable scorers in the six-points per game area.

Goreville is the number-five seed and are always a threat at the SVHT.

Most recently the Blackcats won the tournament in 2019 and were the fifth place winner last year.

Coach Todd Tripp has a key senior standouts in 6-1 guard/forward Ian Sopczak and 6-1 forward Ethan Lingle.

The wins this season for the 6-3 Blackcats have come against Hardin County, Anna-Jonesboro and Johnston City at their own Goreville Invitational Tournament.

Also victories against Zeigler-Royalton, Harrisburg and West Frankfort have highlighted a strong start.

The defeats are to Hamilton County, Benton and Mounds Meridian.

Five-eleven junior Drake Moss, 5-11 junior Tyler Suits, 6-1 senior guard Marquavion Cleaves and 6-4 junior Levi Damon are also on the roster for the 'Cats.

The six-seeded club is New Athens for head coach Conrad Widdersheim who have also posted some solid wins in 2022-23.

The Yellow Jackets are 8-3 coming in with a current four-game winning streak.

The defeats came against (8-4) Wayne City, 52-50, at the Christopher Turkey Tournament to open the season.

Also a loss to state-ranked (8-2) Waterloo Gibault and at (7-4) Steeleville

The wins for NA are against Father McGivney, Valmeyer, Trico, Dupo, Perryville (MO.) and Lebanon.

Gannon Birkner is a 6-3 senior forward who sits at 21.3 points and 7.1 rebounds heading into the tournament.

Six-one sophomore Isaiah Lintker is at 12.3 points a game for the Yellow Jackets.

Junior Ethan Range and senior Andrew Wynn along with senior guard Luis Mazariego give Coach Widdersheim some kids to work with.

Senior Owen Tolson and junior Jack Alfeldt supply more minutes.

New Athens will have a tough opening round game against the host Red Devils, who are finally getting back healthy after some injuries and illness hit the program early.

Early season games against some good teams made for a rough beginning.

Sesser-Valier head coach Tommy Holder was missing players early and the team struggled with a 1-5 start.

However Sesser-Valier should be near full strength on Monday and have a pair of recent wins over Christopher and Webber Township.

Six-one senior Gabe Gunter and 6-4 senior Blake Menser along with 6-0 junior Wyatt Loucks, 6-0 senior Carson Hoffard and 5-10 junior Jonah Ruffino are some of the Devils who have had issues this season so far.

Freshman Kyan Short is also in the mix as a starter.

Six-one junior Colton Payne is gone for the season with a knee injury.

The NA/S-V match up might be the only competitive first round game on Monday as most of the other first round games look to be mismatches on paper.

Marissa/Coulterville sits at 6-3 so far with victories over Galatia, Agape Christian, Elverado, Dupo, Lebanon, and Festus (MO.) so far.

Coach Scott Wine has two double-digit scorers in Chase Hurst and Garett Harrell.

Hurst, a 5-10 senior guard, is at 16.1 points a contest for the Meteors this season.

Six-five senior Harrell averages 12.9 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Chrisean Charleston, a 5-6 junior guard, is at seven points a night and Brock Portz, a 5-8 sophomore guard, adds 5.8 points per outing.

The losses include a double-overtime defeat at Valmeyer, a 47-45 loss to Steeleville and a 59-43 loss to Sparta in the semifinals of the Elverado Tournament.

A win in the first round would give M/C another crack at Sparta in the quarterfinals.