How Pleasant Plains boys basketball came together to win the Sangamon County title
The Pleasant Plains boys basketball team came into the Sangamon County Tournament with a degree of uncertainty.
The No. 4-seeded Cardinals wield a particularly young lineup of new faces and had just lumbered through a 63-33 nonconference loss to Champaign St. Thomas More the previous weekend.
Plains not only hoisted the county title with a 61-28 victory over No. 3 New Berlin in Friday’s final at Cass Gymnasium, but it also seemingly transformed into a more cohesive and potent unit.
“It’s unbelievable,” Plains junior guard Evan Houser said. “We didn’t really expect to be here. We have no seniors this year (in the starting lineup). We proved to ourselves we could do anything in this tournament. We didn’t know how good we were going to do, but we proved everyone wrong that we could be here.”
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
Plains (11-6) couldn’t miss.
The Cardinals shot 21-of-41 (51.2%) from the field and 9-of-16 (56.3%) from 3-point range while also converting 10 of 11 (90.9%) free throw attempts.
The floodgates opened once Houser nailed a contested 3 to begin the second quarter. Junior guard Nick Sabo and freshman guard Cooper Schallenbeg each followed with a trey to fuel an 11-2 push.
Plains went 5-of-7 from long range in the first half and led 30-15 by halftime.
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Houser and Sabo combined for five 3s and finished with 10 and nine points, respectively.
Have the Cardinals ever shot that good this season?
“I don’t think so,” Houser said. “I don’t think we missed. It was crazy, I couldn’t believe it. The buckets just got bigger and bigger.”
Schallenberg hit three of his four 3-pointers in the third period and provided 14 points.
“I just hit one and then I got the confidence to keep shooting,” Schallenberg said. “Once I made two, I knew they were all going in.”
Junior forward Zach Powell, of course, remained dominant. He registered another double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
“What a great game,” Plains coach Kyle Weber said. “We came out and executed. The key against New Berlin is you’ve got to knock down some shots and our guys were ready when those shots became available tonight. They took advantage and I just thought we fed off of one another.
“We’ve got some guys who can score and we’ve got a kid like Zach Powell down low, it makes it tricky for the other team. They’ve got to pick their poison a little bit and I thought we did a great job of executing.”
MAJOR TRANSFORMATION
Schallenberg knew little of the team prior to the season. That chemistry and camaraderie has certainly strengthened since.
“My teammates help me out a lot, especially all of the juniors, our senior (Drew Cox) and all of the sophomores,” Schallenberg said. “They’ve all just been really nice and welcoming to the team.”
They especially grew up before everyone’s eyes over the week and captured the program’s third straight County title and 18th overall.
“We talked a lot to our kids all week about how you never know what’s going to happen and to kind of stay in the moment,” Weber said. “You never know when you’ll get a chance to get back to the semifinal, so you’ve got to take advantage of when you have that opportunity. Our kids looked forward to it tonight and we were ready for it.”
ONE SENIOR ON THE FLOOR
The Pretzels (12-7) featured the lone starting senior: forward Duncan Scheidenhelm.
Sophomore guard Gannon Dodd led New Berlin with 11 points while junior point guard Kevin Howell added six points.
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Dodd and Howell were each named to the all-tournament team, alongside Plains teammates Powell and Houser.
It’s only the beginning.
“Our kids are getting great experience,” New Berlin coach Blake Lucas said. “We wish we could’ve came out and battled a little differently, but credit Plains, they kicked our fannies tonight.”
Contact Bill Welt: bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA basketball: Pleasant Plains routs New Berlin for Sangamon title
