02/14/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
NEW ATHENS - There was zero bad luck for the New Athens Yellow Jackets on Friday the 13th.

Needing just a win over Lebanon to clinch the outright championship of the Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division, Coach Conrad Widdersheim and his deep roster were way too much for the Greyhounds.

Thirteen different players scored as they rolled for a 88-33 victory to pad their record to 9-0 in the division and 19-6 overall.

The depth of the bench for New Athens comes into play as Coach W uses a rotation similar to that of Division II national power Nova Southeastern from Davie, Florida.

The plan is to rotate players five at a time and create chaos with full-court pressure.

The Sharks, a fitting nickname for the style of play, have won two NCAA DII national championships in the past three seasons with this philosophy.

So far it has worked for the New Athens' program as they picked up their first outright division championship since winning three consecutive in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

“They (Nova Southeastern) play a pressing style, a very uptempo game and they usually play a lot of players,” said Coach Widdersheim. “It's just an exciting way to play. I know some people might say it is gimmicky but I've seen it work. We tried it out two years ago and then we scrapped it. Last year I have one really good player (the program's all-time leading scorer Isaiah Lintker) but this season I just felt like I had a bunch of good athletes and we found the groups (five each) that work well together. I tell them you're going to be out there for two minutes, I need you to give me everything you got, then we will put a new group in.”

Three of the players hit for double-digits as their balanced attack quickly broke free from the Greyhounds.

Sophomore Cam Steinwagner led the way with 15-points for the Yellow Jackets.

Senior Cam Taylor added 13 and sophomore Graer Badgett finished with 10.

Part of the astonishing balance was that five other players ended up with at least five-points.

Senior Lane Kimbrell scored nine and junior Sawyer Sullivan scored eight.

Carson Lauer, another senior, scored six-points for New Athens.

Sophomores Brett Middendorf and Lukas Shemonia scored five-points each.

Three other players hit four-points each; senior Cole Dachsteiner, senior Will Mulholland and senior Brodie Sieber.

As if that wasn't enough, junior Wyatt Mulholland added three-points and sophomore Mason Burkett scored two.

Head coach Ayinde Bennett and his mostly young Lebanon squad fell to 1-8 in the Kaskaskia and 11-16 overall.

Senior Deion Washington led the Greyhounds with nine-points, six of which came in the first half.

Freshman Alex Okal scored seven-points for Lebanon.

Two other Lebanon players; freshman Kyrie Munton and junior Kyle Moud, scored five-points apiece.

It took a few rotations by the Yellow Jackets before they broke away from Lebanon.

A score inside by Okai and a 3-pointer by Noud closed the Greyhounds' deficit to just 9-7 with just over three minutes left in the first quarter.

But scores by Lauer, a 3-pointer, and two baskets by Taylor, extended the advantage for New Athens to 22-13 at the end of the first quarter.

(CONTINUED)

The Yellow Jackets delivered a nightmarish second quarter knockout to Lebanon.

The host pressure forced the Greyhounds into eight-turnovers in the frame, 13 for the half, as they pulled away.

A 14-2 run started the quarter and a 19-2 run finished it.

New Athens hit 14-of-20 field goal attempts in the eight minute stretch, turning a nine-point lead into a 55-18 spread by halftime.

“We try to get as many possessions as we can and if we can make the other team have more turnovers than us, we will get more possessions,” said Coach Widdersheim. “If we can get more offensive rebounds that is even more possessions. If we win the rebounding battle, and have more possessions, I like our chances.”

Coach Widdersheim's squad canned a trio of 3-pointers in the barrage of points.

Steinwagner hit two of the long range shots.

Sieber finished off the half with pair of lay ins as the Yellow Jackets had delivered the knockout blow.

If there was a slight bit of doubt about the victory, it was removed quickly in the third quarter.

A 9-0 run with another 3-pointer from Steinwagner in the middle of the run pushed the lead to 64-18.

Lebanon did have a couple of bright spots in the third quarter with scores by Munton on a 3-pointer and Okal on an offensive rebound off of a missed free throw.

A rebound score by Burkett beat the third quarter horn for a 72-29 lead heading to the final frame.

Badgett and Shemonia hit 3-pointers in the final minutes of the continuous clock fourth quarter to close out the scoring.

The tale of the tape in this unanimous decision was just as lopsided as the final score.

New Athens hit 36-of-59 shots from the floor, 9-of-17 from the 3-point line.

The Yellow Jackets held a 33-13 rebounded edge and committed just 10-turnovers in the “Helter Skelter” type contest, which is pretty good all things considered.

Lebanon was forced into 22-turnovers and hit just 13-of-36 attempts from the field and only 2-of-10 from the arc.

DeVaughn Ware, a senior for Lebanon, was held to just two-points on the night.

Ware went over 1K in points last week and he is the only senior starter for Coach Bennett as the bulk of the team will return next season for this optimistic coach.

“We have a good class that is coming up, seven freshmen,” said Coach Bennett. “It's a learning process with games like this. I think we're okay. We have some building blocks. This is my second year coaching and we're trying to rebuild the program to what it used to be. I think we're going to be better. We're on the right track.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: New Athens added a road win on Saturday with a 76-52 victory over Carlyle to improve to 20-6.

New Athens (88) – Lauer 1 1 1-2 6, Dachsteiner 2 0 0-0 4, Taylor 4 1 2-2 13, Will Mulholland 1 0 2-2 4, Wyatt Mulholland 0 1 0-0 3, Middendorf 1 1 0-0 5, Badgett 3 1 1-1 10, Steinwagner 3 3 0-0 15, Kimbrell 4 0 1-2 9, Sullivan 4 0 0-0 8, Sieber 2 0 0-0 4, Shemonia 1 1 0-0 5, Burkett 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-27/3FG-9/FT-7-9/PF-10.