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Fleming, who attended and played
football at Oaklawn Richards (the 2008 4A champion) his
freshman year, moved back to St. Anne and ultimately helped nice
guy head coach, Rick Schoon
,
secure St. Anne's (and Kankakee county's) first
state basketball championship.
Nokomis (31-6), led by
IBCA Hall of Fame coach Steve Kimbro (500+
wins)
, finished as state
runner-up, their best season ever under the 27-year veteran,
The Skins brought home their first state trophy for boys
basketball in school history.
Kimbro's son Wade
, an IHSS
honorable mention all-stater and senior forward on the
Redskins, finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds.
Senior guard Austin Bertolino
led Nokomis with 17
points.
St. Anne defeated Lewistown in the 1A
semi-final, 52-45. Varron
Burdunice propelled the Cardinals into the championship
game with a monster double-double performance, scoring 27
points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Burdunice was helped with
another double-double performance by sophomore
Javonta Davis, who scored 11 points but dominated the
glass with 12 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive
end. Lewistown was handed only their second loss of the
season. Brian Flaharty led the Indians with 16 points, while
Cory Bishop added 13 and Adam
Valencia
added 12 points
respectively.
Warrensburg-Latham
was
considered the favorite by many coming into the state tourney,
but a #1 (W-L) vs #2 (Lewistown) was just not meant
to be as the Cardinals were shocked
in their 36-33 loss to Nokomis
. Zach Boyd
and Dominique Warnsley
led the way for W-L
with 12 points each. Nokomis marched into the
championship game led by
Wade Kimbro's double-double -12
points and 10 boards
, while Austin
Bertolino contributed
9 points to the
effort.
Warrensburg-Latham overcame their utter
disappointment from
Friday afternnon by rebounding on Saturday and
defeating Lewistown 62-51 for third place. Zach Boyd, IHSS' class 1A Player
of the Year led the way for the
Cardinals with 19 points. Lewistown was playing its third
game in 60 hours and it showed as the Indians turned the
ball over 24 times.
Warrensburg-Latham finished the year
with a 32-2 record, the best in school history and their
second 3rd place finish during Vic Binkley's tenure.
Although ranked
#2 in our IHSS
Class 1A boys basketball poll for the majority
of the season with only a single loss to
Monmouth-Roseville in the Macomb Holiday Tournament
championship game, Lewistown bowed out the season with two
consecutive losses at state to finish with a 31-3
record.
Peoria once again did a great
job hosting the state tournament, and IHSS looks for
that to continue for many years to
come!
Class 2A report by
Daniel Poneman & Cavan Walsh from
ILLINOISHSBASKETBALL.com
After finishing second to
Maroa-Forsyth a year ago, North Lawndale (30-4) won the class
2A state championship 56-42, over Peoria Manuel. 6-10
sophomore center Paul Bunch scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Bunch is one of the
top-rated players in the class of 2010, and arguably the top big man
in the class.
IHSS Class 2A first team
all-stater Jonathan Mills of
North Lawndale looked to be slowed
by an injured
ankle. Mills averaged 16+ points and 14+
rebounds per game through the playoffs despite injury, but Jon had
7 points and 11 rebounds in the title game. Mills is one of the top 15
players in the class of 2009.
North Lawndale junior Zilijan “Z” Jones
is arguably the most underrated player in the state. Z had 16
points in the title game, and has been the heart and soul of
North
Lawndale all season.
The 5-7 guard does it all in the backcourt for the Phoenix, and plays with
unmatched passion and effort.
North Lawndale again takes the crown for
the best dressed coaching staff in the state, and
they can coach a little basketball too. Coach Lewis Thorpe had
this to say about the development of his program, and
Lawndale’s three consecutive
trips to
Peoria
: “Hard work…Hard Hard work… a lot of
discipline. Everyone from the teachers to my staff. It feels
so good! Rigorous schedule of Chicago Public League helped us
out tremendously this year.”
Coach Derrick Booth of Peoria Manuel led
Peoria Manuel in 1991 to the state championship game, then
this year Booth coached his alma-mater to a championship
game appearance. Both times he came up short, but his
discipline and experience paid off for a talented Rams team
which fell just short of their state title dreams, but still
finished as state runner-up in a very successful
season.
2009
guard Paris Gulley (Peoria Manuel) is continuing to improve,
and layering his skill set. Gulley led Manuel with 14 points
in the game, and was also named MVP of the Pontiac Holiday
Tournament back in December. Look for this junior to raise his
recruiting stock this spring/summer on the AAU circuit.
Olney
defeated Pinckneyville 55-46 in the class 2A third place
bout.
Missouri Southern commit
Keane Thomann lead Olney with 17 points and 7 rebounds.
Thomann is a 6-10 wide bodied big with a soft touch around the
tin. Sophomore Brandon Berry added 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Berry
is
a player to keep an eye on for a few years to
come.
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