Pleasant Plains boys basketball keeps rolling behind senior class despite injuries
Benton Collins wants to contribute anyway he can regardless of the sport.
“Whether it's me grabbing 10 rebounds or me having to save 10 shots in soccer, it's whatever I can do to help win,” Collins said.
The 6-foot-4 senior forward may largely supply the Pleasant Plains boys basketball team through more subtle means such as rebounding and screens — but still critical to the team’s success nevertheless.
“We're all here to win, so just doing whatever I can to help the team win is my main focus,” Collins said. “Whether that's starting or coming off the bench, the main focus is winning as many games and making the season go as long as we can for our seniors and to help better the younger guys on the team.”
Doing the dirty work
Collins has surged into the starting lineup after the Cardinals lost a couple of key contributors from last season due to injuries over the football season: Nick Sabo and Michael Carter. Both are out for the season.
Collins necessarily doesn’t feel a need to score. Plains (11-3) still has a bevy of other sources to take care of that side of things. That includes senior forward Zach Powell but also senior guards Tristen Gleason and Evan Houser as well as sophomore guard Cooper Schallenberg.
Powell and Schallenberg each finished with 17 points in a 53-24 nonconference win over Buffalo Tri-City in the team’s opener of the Sangamon County Tournament at Cass Gymnasium on Tuesday. Gleason added nine points.
“We've been fortunate enough we've got some guys who can shoot from the outside, which also opens it up inside a little bit for Zach and Benton and those guys in there,” Plains coach Kyle Weber said of the team’s offensive balance.
The Cardinals draw Williamsville (13-1) in the semifinals on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Top-seeded New Berlin faces Auburn in Wednesday’s semifinal.
“We just need someone that's going to be willing to get down and do the dirty work: set screens, sacrifice what scoring someone else can do and just doing what we can to get other guys open and getting the best look we can to get the best chance at winning each game,” Collins said of his role on the team.
More:Tournament wrap-up: Litchfield's Powell, Odle lights up Carlinville
Sophomore among seniors
Collins earned Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association all-sectional honors as a goalkeeper this past fall. He resumed soccer freshman year in high school after dropping the sport in middle school.
He said he just tried to be a leader on the pitch and ended up being a starter. That extends to basketball. Trust is everything, he said, and this senior class has it.
“Powell, Tristen and I have been together since grade school and then Evan came in fourth grade,” Collins said. “Just being able to build a community together and having Cooper join that group is a big deal. He makes our team better and he's a great guy off the court too.
“We all have each other's backs on and off the court, so whenever we have trouble, we'll always be able to go to each other. Just being able to do that is just great for us, whether it's in school or on the court.”
Schallenberg immediately made an impact as a freshman averaging 9 points per game. He dialed up four of the team’s five 3s against the Tornadoes.
Schallenberg said he was treated like everyone else despite being a newcomer last winter.
“We've gotten a lot closer over the last year and we're more than teammates now, so it's a lot of fun to play with these guys,” Schallenberg said.
More:Here are 14 of the Springfield area's top high school boys basketball players for 2022-23
Cardiac Cardinals
Plains has already won four games in overtime.
That included a 52-43 OT win over Effingham St. Anthony for third place in the Effingham/Teutopolis Holiday Tournament. Schallenberg scored five of his game-high 18 points after regulation to escape with the win.
The Cardinals have undoubtedly parlayed their experience into more consistency and clutch plays.
Of course, it helps to have a dominant post player like Powell. He totaled 31 points and five rebounds in another 73-72 OT win over host Effingham in the aforementioned tournament and was named to the all-tournament team.
Powell led the Sangamo Conference last season in scoring with 16.4 points per game in addition to 7.8 rebounds.
Schallenberg enjoyed that OT triumph over the Flaming Hearts the most.
“He's a fun guy,” Schallenberg said of Powell. “He's a good basketball player and even better guy off the court, so it's fun to play with him.”
Williamsville boys basketball makes seamless transition from football in hot start
Other games from Tuesday
Sawyer Smith scored a key layup to regain a two-possession lead with under a minute remaining and Auburn (13-4) escaped with a 51-48 win over Calvary.
The Trojans prevailed after leading 35-33 by the end of the third quarter.
Jackson Kern led Auburn with 12 points, followed by Smith and Carter Hunley with nine apiece. Talin Kern and Kellen Davis had six points apiece.
Amari Anderson and Luke Blackford led the Saints with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
In an earlier game, Kevin Howell and Ben Hermes sparked a quick first-quarter 13-5 lead and withstood Riverton in the second half to come away with a 46-37 win.
Howell delivered his only 3 of the game in the first period while Hermes added a couple of field goals. Hermes and Gannon Dodd led Class 1A No. 6 New Berlin (12-3) with 10 points apiece to advance to Wednesday’s semifinal.
James Moore added nine points while Lucas Bixby had six.
Shaun Jeffers hit a 3 to bring the Hawks as close as six points during the final stanza. He had nine points. Antonyo Davis powered Riverton with 18 points.
Contact Bill Welt: 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA boys basketball: Pleasant Plains soars with slew of seniors
