By FRED KRONER
Friday (March 12) was Senior Night for the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ basketball team and what a night it was for the seniors.
The six Bulldog seniors – four of whom were starters – combined to score 56 points and pull down 20 rebounds. Their offensive contribution was enough in itself (by seven points) for M-S to post a 68-49 win over Apollo Conference rival Charleston.
M-S ends the abbreviated COVID-19 season with a 10-4 overall record. Thanks to the win in the finale, the team never had as much as a two-game losing streak in 2021.
Senior Braden Finch scored a season-high 21 points in his final prep basketball game. He was the third senior to eclipse the 20-point mark in scoring for a game this season, joining Quinton McCullough and Eli Warren.
Finch also hit a season-high four three-point shots.
The team’s other seniors were major contributors in the season-ending game.
Against Charleston, McCullough scored 10 points, Warren had nine points, Zach Travis had eight points, Zach Carr had four points and Zach Severns also ended with four points in his high school finale.
Carr led the team in rebounding (six) against the Trojans. He shared the team-lead in assists with junior Luke Koller (five apiece) and in steals with Finch and Travis (two each).
Charleston started strong and carried a 21-13 lead into the second period. The Bulldogs responded by scoring 21 of the next 27 points and owned a 34-27 halftime cushion.
For the game, M-S made 25 baskets and 20 of them were assisted. Warren chipped in with four assists.
“From a big-picture standpoint, I could not be happier with how our kids competed throughout the year,” M-S coach Ryan Bosch said. “We had to overcome a lot this season and the first few weeks of our season were not necessarily the way you want to get a season started, but our kids battled through the adversity, and the seniors did an excellent job of working to right our path.
“The thing that made this group special was how well they ended up defending and creatively finding ways to generate offense in order to win games. They were really special on the defensive end in some huge road victories in back-to-back weeks at Lincoln and state-ranked Effingham at their place (the Hearts’ only loss of the entire season).”
Team captains Carr and Finch were key cogs in the operation.
“Braden Finch and Zach Carr were really the backbone of our defensive identity,” Bosch said, “but also as (6-foot-9) Luke Koller grew and developed as a little bit of a rim-stopper, it allowed our defensive identity to develop.
“Zach Travis was also instrumental in helping us slow down some of the best playmakers in the conference.”
For the season, Warren was the lone double-digit scorer, averaging 15.2 points per game.
“Eli Warren was an All-Area-type scorer for us,” Bosch continued. “Because of his elite ball-handling, he was really difficult for teams to keep out of the paint, and his ability to probe a defense allowed us to put a lot of pressure on defenses.
“Braden Finch, as the season wore on, started to get back to himself offensively and was really electric on Friday for Senior Night.”
Other team scoring leaders were Finch (9.4), Koller (8.4), Blake Wolters (8.2) Travis (5.8) McCullough (5.6) and Carr (4.3).
The overall team balance was reflected by the number of squad members (seven) who led, or shared, the team-lead in scoring in at least one game.
Warren was the leader (nine games) and was followed by Finch (two), Koller (two), Travis (two), Carr (one), McCullough (one) and Wolters (one).
The Bulldogs’ most accurate free throw shooters were Warren (72.1 percent), Travis (66.4 percent), Wolters (60 percent) and Carr (58.8 percent).
Warren (68 attempts), Koller (37 attempts) and Finch (33 attempts) were the best at getting to the free throw line.
Finch led the squad in three-point conversions (26), followed by Wolters (17) and Warren (16).
Though Koller was the top rebounder for the season, leading the team in 10 games, six of his teammates led, or shared, the rebounding lead in at least one game.
McCullough and Warren led twice. Finishing as the leader in one game were Carr, Finch, Severns and Wolters.
M-S finished with a 9-4 Apollo Conference mark. Based on the number of league losses, the Bulldogs wound up in a three-way tie for second place.
“The future is bright as Luke Koller has really started to grow his game and looks to return for a strong senior season,” Bosch said. “Blake Wolters flashed real promise off our bench as a sophomore, being a great offensive punch.
“We’ll also return big man (6-foot-8) Tyler Uken, who offers us a great 1-2 combo inside with Luke and will be a load for teams to deal with.”
Coach Eric Andracke’s junior varsity team consisted of only sophomores and compiled a 10-2 record.
“They showed a lot of promise in a dominating season,” Bosch said. “We look forward to a strong off-season program and, hopefully, a little more regular summer to get ourselves in a positive place heading into next season.”
