Movin' Maroons' blast Arcola
Dieterich wins title over "cold" shooting Purple Riders; Sullivan, CHBC, Grayville win
12/28/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
DIETERICH – If the Arcola Purple Riders shooting performance was ranked as a disaster, FEMA would have been called.

Coach Greg Gisinger's club couldn't find the basket in the title game of the 38th annual Dieterich Holiday Tournament.

With a combination of the host Movin' Maroons' defense and the brutally off night by Arcola, Coach Brent Bohnhoff's team pulled away early in the game and never allowed even a hint of a comeback.

How bad was the first half for Arcola?

The Purple Riders connected on just 3-of-24 shots and committed four second quarter turnovers as they fell too far behind to make it a contest in the second half.

“They (Dieterich) guarded us really hard but I thought we had some good looks at the basket early and just couldn't make them,” said Coach Gisinger. “I don't think we handled the moment (championship game). Some of our guys especially haven't been in this kind of game and I thought we rushed things. It's an experience that we need. Playing against a good team in a regional championship game environment is something that we need. It's part of the process. We'll learn from the loss.”

The individual who had a great deal to do with Dieterich's second-straight tournament title was 6-2 senior Lucas Westendorf.

The athletic forward scored 22-points and was part of dominating performance on both ends of the floor.

“He (Westendorf) is really strong, athletic kid and he has done a lot of work in the last four years and if you knew that amount of work he has put in you would understand why good things are happening,” said Coach Bohnhoff. “He is a difficult matchup for a 1A school.

Dieterich added to the Arcola misery by out-rebounding the Purple Riders 41-24, with 11 of the caroms coming on the offense end.

Six-two junior Brock Niemerg added nine-points for the Movin' Maroons and senior Landon Keck supplied six-points for Coach Bohnhoff as Dieterich improved the season won-loss mark to 11-2 on the campaign.

“They (Arcola) are a very good team and good shooters so we knew we really had to have a really good defensive effort tonight and that was our game-plan coming in to give us a chance to win,” said Coach Bohnhoff. “It was hard to really complain about anything at halftime. Defensively we stuck to the game-plan.”

No player from Arcola reached double-digits in scoring.

Coach Gisinger's search for offensive answers were never discovered as the Purple Riders are also 11-2 so far in 2024-25.

Senior Braden Phillips scored nine-points in the game to lead Arcola and senior Tanner Thomas added five-points.

Arcola managed an early 4-3 lead before the championship aspirations went down the tubes.

Scores by Braden Phillips and Thomas made it a one-point lead with 3:58 left in the first quarter.

But Westendorf and his teammates began making the plays.

The senior forward scored on a nice drive in the lane and added 4-of-6 free throws in the first quarter.

A Niemerg 3-pointer added to the lead as Dieterich was up 11-6 at the end of the opening quarter.

Following a early score in the second quarter by Niemerg, Thomas connected from 3-point range on the left wing.

It found the mark with 7:06 left in the first half.

Arcola didn't score again in the second quarter.

(CONTINUED)

Dieterich ran off 14-straight points to get to the break in championship form.

Westendorf scored six of the points in the run and Keck scored on a nice drive in the lane.

Seven of the eight baskets by the Movin' Maroons came on drives to the basket through the Purple Riders' defense.

The other score came on an offensive rebound by Westendorf.

Freshman Bryce Bohnhoff came of the bench and scored his four-points in the second with a drive down the middle of the lane that closed the half at 27-9 Dieterich.

“We really wanted to take care of the ball and play good defense tonight,” said Coach Bohnhoff. “And the score shows that.”

Arcola managed to get to the foul line in the third quarter and ended up with nine-points in the frame.

A score on a drive by Braden Phillips and a 3-pointer from reserve DJ Stevens helped.

However those two scores were the only made field goals by the Purple Riders in the quarter.

Arcola went 2-of-9 in the stanza and couldn't cut into the lead.

Westendorf added to his stats with eight-points in the third with three of the field goals coming off of offensive rebound stick-backs, twice on tip-ins as Arcola couldn't keep the Maroons off the glass.

His last tip-in beat the third quarter buzzer for a 39-18 lead.

Westendorf's final tally of the contest came on a nice spin move in the paint for a basket to begin the final eight minutes.

Senior Jaxon Funneman scored in the lane off of an assist senior Tanner Will and Keck pitched in a pair of free throws for Dieterich, who coasted home for the title game triumph.

“These kids are great kids and coach-able. They're going to come to work and get better,” said Coach Gisinger. “By the end of the year we will reach our ceiling and then we will see if that is good enough to win another regional.”

The final numbers for Arcola weren't pretty.

The Purple Riders hit just 7-of-44 field goal attempts, 3-of-21 from long range.

They only committed five-turnovers but the shooting woes could not be undone.

Dieterich won the contest by hitting 19-of-47 overall but 18 of the made field goals came inside of the arc and mostly near the basket.

Of the eight-turnovers from the Movin' Maroons, four of them came late in the contest after the damage had been done.

“This is two in-a-row now and three out-of-four and we're happy about that,” said Coach Bohnhoff. “There are some good teams in this tournament.”

“It is difficult to block out on rebounds when you're getting beat off the dribble and having to rotate on the backside,” said Coach Gisinger.

Championship
1
2
3
4
-
F
Dieterich
11
16
12
06
-
45
Arcola
06
03
09
06
-
24
Dieterich (45) - Tanner 0 0 0-0 0, Keck 2 0 2-2 6, Cook 0 0 0-0 0, Funneman 20 0-0 4, Niemerg 3 1 0-0 9, Bohnhoff 2 0 0-0 4, Meinhart 0 0 0-0 0, Westendorf 9 0 4-7 22.
2FG-18, 3FG-1, FT-6-9, PF-14.
Arcola (24) – Wesch 0 0 0-0 0, Wisman 0 1 0-0 3, Stevens 0 1 0-0 3, Myers 0 0 0-0 0, Braden Phillips 2 0 5-8 9, Thomas 1 1 0-2 5, Brody Phillips 1 0 2-4 4.
2FG-4, 3FG-3, FT-7-14, PF-10.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

SULLIVAN 69, SOUTH CENTRAL 53
The Redskins took advantage of foul trouble from the Cougars to win the third place game on Saturday.

Sullivan (6-7) hit 30-of-44 free throws as South Central was plagued by mistakes in the defeat for head coach Blake Doehring.

Camden Watkins (20) and James Feldkamp (18) led Sullivan in scoring.South Central (9-4) was paced by 11-points each from Neilson Westin and Jalen Smith.
Third Place
1
2
3
4
-
F
South Central
15
13
14
11
-
53
Sullivan
19
13
23
14
-
69
South Central (53) - Hoover 1 0 0-0 2, Bursott 1 0 0-0 2, Moore 2 0 0-0 4, Hiestand 2 0 0-0 4, Neilson 0 3 2-3 11, Sidwell 2 2 0-0 10, Bergmann 2 0 3-3 7, Smith 4 0 3-5 11, Robb 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-24, 3FG-7, FT-1-7, PF-31.
Sullivan (45) – Moore 1 0 1-3 3, Feldkamp 1 1 13-16 18, Christensen 1 1 1-2 6, McRill 1 0 7-10 9, C. Watkins 4 3 3-4 20, D. Watkins 1 0 5-9 7, Hooten 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-12, 3FG-5, FT-30-44, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Moore, Bergmann - South Central.
Technical Fouls – Hiestand - South Central.
CHBC 72, RED HILL 66
The Salukis wasted a 35-point performance from junior guard Ozzy Ash as Red Hill dropped the fifth place game decision to the Bobcats.

Red Hill (8-8) lost three-straight at the event after beating Ramsey in the first game.

Coach Bryan Havill's club got 11-points from junior Abram Clark.

Coach Tanner Thompson's kids improved to 6-9 on the season behind 32-points from senior Wyatt Rueff and 16-points each from Remington Howell and AJ Radloff.
Fifth Place
1
2
3
4
-
F
CHBC
16
17
12
27
-
72
Red Hill
13
24
11
18
-
66
CHBC (72) - Cosart 0 0 0-0 0, Vaughn 0 0 4-6 4, Remington 4 2 2-3 16, Calame 0 0 0-0 0, Rueff 8 4 4-4 32, Radloff 7 0 2-3 16, Sarver 0 0 0-0 0, Pope 1 0 2-2 4.
2FG-20, 3FG-6, FT-14-18 , PF-13.
Red Hill (66) – Arbuckle 0 1 0-0 3, Ash 13 2 3-4 35, Clark 4 0 3-5 11, Wattles 0 0 0-0 0, Davis 2 1 0-1 7, Carie 0 0 0-0 0, Young 1 1 2-2 7, Crutchfield 0 1 0-0 3.
2FG-20, 3FG-6, FT-8-12, PF-18.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

GRAYVILLE 75, RAMSEY 46
The Bison finished the week with a win over the Rams for seventh place and are now 8-7 overall in the season.

Jake Hosman led the scoring with 23-points.

Zach Leavens added 18-points, Canyon Neeley scored 12 and Ian Kleinschmidt added 10 for Coach Travis Thompson.

Ramsey (1-15) lost all four of the games at Dieterich and have dropped eight-consecutive games.

The Rams got 21-points from Bladyn McCloskey and 13-points from Aaron Trexler in defeat.
Seventh Place
1
2
3
4
-
F
Grayville
14
31
22
08
-
77
Ramsey
13
08
18
07
-
46
Grayville (75) - Funkhouser 0 0 0-0 0, Leavens 3 4 0-0 18, Neeley 4 0 4-6 12, Hosman 7 3 0-0 23, Ramirez 2 0 0-1 4, Verkest 0 0 0-0 0, Colyer 1 0 0-0 2, Kleinschmidt 4 0 2-6 10, Roosevelt 1 0 0-0 2, Cheadle 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-25, 3FG-7, FT-6-13, PF-13.
Ramsey (46) – CMcCloskey 4 2 7-8 21, Logsdon 1 0 0-0 2, Russell 0 0 0-0 0, Cook 0 0 0-0 0, Warner 2 0 0-0 4, Reiss 0 0 0-0 0, Snider 0 0 0-0 0, Trexler 5 0 3-4 13, Mooreland 0 0 0-0 0, Lorton 0 0 1-2 1, Williams 1 1 0-0 5.
2FG-13, 3FG-3, FT-11-16, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.
The 38th annual Dieterich All-tournament Team consisted of Lucas Westendorf, Landon Keck and Brock Niemerg of Dieterich, Braden Phillips and Tanner Thomas of Arcola; Camden Watkins of Sullivan; Wyatt Rueff of CHBC; Ozzy Ash of Red Hill; Westin Neilson of South Central and Zach Leavens of Grayville.