12-20-14

On Saturday night in the title game of the 55th annual St. Elmo Holiday Tournament the Altamont Indians leaned heavily on their defense in the championship game victory over Cowden-Herrick.

The defense had to step up because the offensive performance by both teams left a lot to be desired.

The Indians completely controlled the backboard as they held a commanding 37-19 rebounding edge with 15-offensive rebounds.

As it turned out, the Indians and head coach John Niebrugge had just enough offense to withstand a late rally by the Hornets to win their second consecutive tournament title in this long standing event, 45-37, in front of a large crowd on Saturday evening.

The Indians, who are leaving the tournament to go to Cumberland's Thanksgiving Tournament next season, leave after having won 6-of-the-last-8 St. Elmo tournament titles.

“This is what we are going to be known for; Altamont defense. That is what I was always taught. Sometimes your offense isn't going to be there for you but defense should never have an off night,” said Coach Niebrugge, a disciple of the Teutopolis program and its defense and rebounding mindset. “We played some good defense tonight and they (Cowden-Herrick) have a couple of skilled offensive players. We played good team defense tonight.”

Ryan Armstrong, a 5-foot-11 sophomore and tournament Most Valuable Player, has taken to a leadership role on this team from the point guard spot and he led the club to the win by hitting five 3-pointers while finishing with 20-points on the night.

No other Altamont player hit for double-digits in scoring but the Tribe did get seven points from Klaiton Wolff and six points each from Brandon Runge and Logan Deadmond.

“We knew he (Armstrong) could score, he scored as a junior-high player. Last year he learned backing up Garrett (Ziegler) and I want the ball in his hands,” said Coach Niebrugge. “When the ball is in his hands we will have a good opportunity to be successful.”

For Cowden-Herrick and head coach Marc Bain, the deficit that they created in the first half was just too much to overcome despite a supreme effort in the second half as they rallied to make it close.

For the Hornets, 6-foot-2 senior Colton Burrus topped the club with 15-points on the night.

Six-foot-three senior forward Dylan Barnes scored all eight of his points in the second half as the Hornets' rally fell short.

From the opening tap, Altamont enforced its mindset on the game and jumped out to what turned out to be an insurmountable advantage.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Armstrong and Wolff put the Indians up early and a shot on the right baseline by Wolff forced a C-H TO at 8-0 Altamont with 3:41 left in the first quarter.

Sive-foot-six sophomore Konner Blackerby hit the first shot for Cowden-Herrick by scoring on a shot from the right corner with 3:29 left in the opening quarter.

That turned out to be the only bright spot offensively for the Hornets in the first 10:29 of action.

Cowden-Herrick missed 11-shots in this stretch before finally getting on a roll in the second quarter to cut the disadvantage in half.

Altamont held the ball for a final shot in the first quarter and got a bucket from junior guard Eric Wolff just before the horn.

His made 3-point bomb from the right corner made it 11-2 Indians.

The Tribe would open the second quarter strong again. Or in this case “Arm-Strong” again.

The sophomore shooter nailed a pair of trifectas to begin the second frame; the first one from the top of the circle and the second one from the right wing as the Indians did a good job attacking the Cowden-Herrick zone defense.

His made trey from the right wing got Altamont its biggest advantage at 17-2 with 5:31 remaining before halftime.

“When you get down 17-2 to a good team it is almost game-over,” said Coach Bain. “We fought back and I was happy with our defense. But we struggled on offense. I know there were some shots that were 'point-blank' shots we should have hit. We have got to make them against a team like Altamont. You have to take what you can get.”

The Hornets didn't fold up the tents after falling behind by such a margin.

Cowden-Herrick rallied and got within a respectable shortfall by halftime.

Trey Pasley, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, canned a pair of 3-pointers to spark his club.

When Burrus scored on a back door cut to the basket for a reverse lay in, the Hornets trailed just 22-11 at the break.

Cowden-Herrick was just 4-of-16 overall from the floor as they went to the locker-room trailing.

Altamont appeared to have the game all but sewed up after maintaining their double-figure lead throughout the third quarter.

Armstrong added to his totals by nailing another 3-pointer to open the second half and teammate K. Wolff added a basket late in the quarter on a drive to the goal.

Although he failed to convert the “and-one” opportunity, the Indians had a comfortable lead 31-20 heading to the fourth quarter.

While the game seemed in hand for the Indians, the calmness turned to chaos in just a few short minutes as Cowden-Herrick made a big run to get close.

On two separate occasions in the final stanza, C-H got within a basket of tying the championship contest.

Burrus and Barnes combined for a 6-0 run to close the gap.

Burrus drove to the basket for a score and Barnes took an assist from teammate Blackerby for a lay in.

Barnes followed up the score with a trip to the foul for a pair of made free throws to cut the Altamont lead to just 32-30.

While Cowden-Herrick was making this run, Altamont was on a streak where they turned the ball over six-times in the quarter, including a 10-second violation that gave the ball back to the Hornets to set up the Barnes free throws.

“Unfortunately we are good at that (letting teams hang around) and the last two games (Okaw Valley, Cowden-Herrick) we had double-digit leads and we let it get down to single-digits,” said Coach Niebrugge. “But we will improve on that, it will come from experience. Learning how to win and to keep attacking in the right situations. This is a young team and they will get better with their decision making. We are winning and learning at the same time, which is a good thing. We didn't expect to be 6-0 that is for sure.”

Coach Bain's team got to within two-points one more time, getting a pair of free throws from Burrus with 3:12 remaining.

But at this point, Altamont turned back to Armstrong and this sophomore didn't disappoint.

He scored eight points in the fourth quarter and he hit for another 3-point shot and a pair of late free throws to help hold off the Hornets' comeback attempt.

Although they struggled a bit from the foul line (13-of-24 overall) Altamont converted the big shots late.

Armstrong and Deadmond and Runge all converted big charity tosses in the final minutes.

The Indians survived six fourth quarter turnovers and six missed free throws to take home the championship.

When looking at the numbers, Coach Niebrugge's club needed every last rebound and defensive stop on a night when they struggled shooting the ball.

Altamont finished 11-of-43 overall (25.5 percent) and were just 4-of-24 (16.6 percent) from near the basket.

The Indians ended up with 17-turnovers but as it turned out, Cowden-Herrick didn't do much better offensively in this title tilt that wasn't an offensive steamroller.

The Hornets concluded their championship try at 13-of-38 overall (34.2 percent) while being able to get just four second chances (offensive rebounds) in a game where they could have used some.

Cowden-Herrick also committed 13-turnovers in the match up where the defenses dominated the overall play.

Altamont, even though they are now 6-0 overall, were seeded just eighth in the upcoming Vandalia Holiday Tournament which begins on December 26.

The Tribe will play top-seeded Greenville at 6:30 pm the first day of the tournament.

“St. Elmo has treated us well over the years. We aren't leaving because we don't like the tournament, we are leaving because we don't want to play back-to-back tournaments, we want to try something different,” Coach Niebrugge explained.

Cowden-Herrick will host Effingham St. Anthony on Tuesday night, December 23 and then they get an extended break from games as they don't participate in a Christmas break event.

They won't play again until hosting Mulberry Grove on January 6.

“We knew they were going to crash the boards. We've been out rebounded every game this season,” said Coach Bain. “But offensively we just weren't there tonight.” 

Coach Tony Sparks saw his club improve to 3-4 on the season with a win as they were led by 18-points from senior 6-foot-4 senior Devon Still and 13-points from 5-foot-11 senior Peyton Still.

OV got 10-points from senior Greg Walker as the Timberwolves 34-17 at intermission and never were tested in the victory.

Ramsey and head coach Rodney Hunt had just one player in double-figures with sophomore guard Brady Black scoring 12-points.

Michael Camez added eight points for the 3-8 Rams.

Okaw Valley is a consolidation of Bethany and Findlay.

Coach Sparks was a shooting guard on Findlay's 1991-92 state championship team.

Head coach Bobby Koontz got three players in double-digits as junior guard Austin Redfern topped the list with 14-points and Ty James, a 6-foot-3 junior, notched 12-points as MG improved to 5-6 on the season.

The Eagles (3-5) were led by 6-foot-4 sophomore Landon Feezel with 13-points and Brock Oberlink with 11.