Published: March 19, 2008 10:46 pm            

Amey Takes AIm: With no further ado, here are Amey’s winter boys awards

TERRE HAUTE — I’ve heard some of the older Terre Haute South High School basketball fans — sorry, Mark — question coach Mike Saylor’s sectional comment about the 2007-2008 Braves having perhaps the best season in the school’s history.

And I’m willing to admit — maybe Mike is too — that this year’s Braves have no Mike Joyners or Brian Evanses, or even many players like some of the great right-handers from South history like Kevin Thompson, Will Uzzell, Cam Cameron, Richard Wilson or David Conrady to name just a few.

Mike’s points, though, were that this year’s team played a tougher schedule than those earlier teams did (although for the first time in at least six years the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference didn’t have an NBA lottery pick) and that this year’s team never got blown out of a game during the regular season — four losses by a total of 15 points.

Others can argue those points ad infinitum. My purpose today is to celebrate my being an idiot.

I’m the one who didn’t see these Braves coming. I’m the one who figured the depleted North Patriots were toast in postseason play. I’m the one who, four months ago or so, was afraid the boys basketball season wasn’t going to be any fun.

But if my many college years taught me anything (besides how to card a door), it’s this: being stupid can occasionally be pretty enjoyable. With that, the Amey boys awards.

In keeping with the theme of the entire season, my favorite part of the awards this winter is the Most Improved Team and its quad-captains.

First there was Terre Haute North’s Thomas Anderson, turning himself from promising project to climb-on-my-back-boys team leader; then there was South’s Christian Barnett, going from the guy who was cut three times in middle school to the one celebrated for new-found swagger (see Evansville Central game tapes); still later came Northview’s Austin Akers, a combination of the previous two in moving from promising player to one with a little swagger of his own; and finally there’s North’s Cory Hemmings, who packed a trip from team scapegoat to team leader into one too-short varsity season. That’s four heart-warming, inspirational reasons why this season was so good right there.

Others who came on strong were Jacob Birch and Adam Capehart of White River Valley; Logan Boyd of Casey; Larry Burks, David Parsons and Josh Taylor of Rockville; Logan Chesterfield of Union; Andy Cochrane of Bloomfield; Justin Dugan and Jacob Willis of Sullivan; Logan Eitel and Alan Wolter of Marshall; Jake Fender and Evan Magni of Linton; Daniel Gabbard and Justin Gant of North; Braxton Griffith, Logan Higgins and Will Kennedy of Clay City; Patrick Harpenau, Logan Laswell and Andy Walsh of South Vermillion; Mitch Hennecke, Storm Lindsay and Jared Ross of North Central; Wade Huber and Kyle Nobles of Greencastle; John Michael Jarvis and Austin Weaver of South; Josh Karr and Jarrod Wrightsman of Turkey Run; Avery Mason and Dustyn Umberger of Paris; Evan Miller, Jordan Pearson and Steven Scank of West Vigo; Brandon Moon of Cloverdale; Clint Reynolds of Northview; Tyler Richardson of Shakamak; Mitch Stahl of Owen Valley; and Eric Vaughn of Riverton Parke.

Plenty of candidates are available to lead maybe the deepest Clutch Team in a long time. I chose a couple of guys who can get to the rim and make up their own shot along the way as co-captains: Jake Odum of South and Tyler Wampler of West Vigo.

Other chips-are-down specialists include Craig Blair of Cloverdale; Aaron Bridge, Matt King and R.J. Mahurin of Rockville; Chase Brinkley of Paris; Brennan Burks of Greencastle; Mitchell Crum of Turkey Run; Jordan Defore of Clay City; Lucas Eitel of Marshall; Zach Harrison of North; Derrick Held of Bloomfield; Dalton Hiatt of Sullivan; Cody Mumaw of South Vermillion; Billy Newton and Ethan Stanifer of Shakamak; Jayton Powell of Linton; Jared Shelton of WRV; Mitch Snyder of Casey; Bobby Swaby of North Central; and Josh Wilson of Riverton Parke.

Competitors? Plenty of these too, but my Competitors Team captains are Drew Aff of West Vigo and Zach Odum of South.

Other hard-nosed players were Justin Bartrum, Drew Evens and Kendall Faust of Greencastle; Taylor Biggs and Aaron Rhoads of Casey; A.J. Boyll, Dylan Walker and Michael Woodsmall of North Central; Tyler Coltharp and Caleb Whitman of Northview; Justin Cox of Shakamak; Keith Cunningham and Jordan Tharp of Linton; John Garvin and Chris O’Leary of North; Mike Griffin, Logan Henness and Zach Walls of Paris; Orry Heffner of Clay City; Levi Hostetter of WRV; B.J. Howard of Union; Travis Johnson of Marshall; Grant Mitchell of Riverton Parke; Ryan Roberts of Hutsonville-Palestine; and Thad Thompson of Sullivan.

Captains of the Unsung Team are Adam Austin of South, who had to be seen to be appreciated; Alex Bullock of Marshall, who seemed to have a knack for big plays that didn’t involve scoring; and Jered Timm of Northview, who could do it all: score, pass, rebound, handle the ball and his specialty, guarding you and making you miserable.

Others who could have received more credit are Donnie Abrams, Jordan Bean and Derrik Enstrom of North Central; Alex Barrett and Skylar Walls of Paris; Vance Bedwell, Austin Nash, Jesse Orr and Jordan Turner of Sullivan; Colin Brown and Jathan Davies of Turkey Run; Fred Brust and Eric Medley of Union; Sean Burton, Cameron Fagg, Drew Heyen and Aaron Welch of West Vigo; Cameron Coleman, Ross Gentry, Stefan Sparks and Jacob Tibbett of Linton; Reuven Davis and Tyler Zimmerly of WRV; David Frink and Jarrid McLaughlin of Riverton Parke; Andrew Gauer of North; Ryan Hoggatt and Adam Stevens of South Vermillion; Kruz Kusterman and Kirk Shawver of Casey; Ashton Marshall, Austin Miller and Bo Walker of Greencastle; Jaret May and Jon Smith of Shakamak; Caleb McMullen and Josh Reed of Rockville; Kaleb Mumma, Kurt Schulte, Ricky Tally and Gavin Thompson of Bloomfield; Kyler Rhodes and Levi Seymour of Clay City; and Bryn Schwartz and Ike Worrell of South.

The Unselfish Team has as its role models Spencer Harlan of South and Nick Lancaster of Northview. They are joined by Ty Boyd, Jordan Cramer, Kenny Wagner and Luc Yates of Casey; Kyle Burnam, Ethan Delp and Steven O’Rourke of Marshall; Trevor Byram and Phillip Wiseman of South Vermillion; Chad Campbell of Bloomfield; Josh Davidson and Michael Talpas of Union; Spencer Davies and Brad Henderson of Turkey Run; Daniel Hardesty, T.J. Harrison and Adam Lehman of Riverton Parke; Taylor Harper of Rockville; Zach Kirby and Keaton Robertson of Northview; Jeremy Lucas, Joel Modesitt, Fred Powers and Ridgley Smith of West Vigo; D.J. Shouse of South; and Jake Smith and Ethan Wright of Sullivan.

My Most Promising Team captains dazzled me early and continued to make good impressions: Taylor Duncan of Marshall, Jeremy Helton of Riverton Parke, Dylan Reyher of South Vermillion and Jake Weaver of Turkey Run. Others I look forward to seeing more of include Kaleb Barnhart, Clinton Scott, Riley Scales and Chris Unzicker of Casey; David Bedwell, Dreyson Boyd and Connor Wright of Sullivan; Jonathon Bradshaw and Trent Lancaster of Northview; Austin Cook and Seth Marshall of Turkey Run; Jerrett Hastings of South Vermillion; Chase Jones, Jerrel Thompson and Scott Weatherford of North; Drew Kelley of Rockville; Dustin Morey of Marshall; Chase Rhoten of Linton; Chris Rose and Jacob Tanoos of South; and Scott West of West Vigo.

My Left-handed Team captains, Tyler Coltharp of Northview and Aaron Rhoads of Casey, are tough enough that our team including Blair of Cloverdale; Burnam and Duncan of Marshall; Shane Campbell of Owen Valley; Fender of Linton; Marshall and Wrightsman of Turkey Run; Austin Miller of Greencastle; Nash of Sullivan; and Swaby of North Central won’t need much outside help. We might find a spot for Corey Gray of Center Grove, however.

• • •

• Good news from Rockville — According to an e-mail I received last week, Rockville’s Aaron Bridge suffered a torn medial collateral ligament — but not a torn anterior cruciate ligament — in the waning seconds of the Rox’ loss to Lafayette Central Catholic at the Class A Frankfort Regional.

In non-medical terms, that means he could be ready for summer basketball; a torn ACL could have caused him to miss that and possibly some of the football season next fall as well.

• Good referees — The Wabash Valley Officials Association was beaming about the fact that six of the 24 referees involved in high school boys semistate games last weekend were from the WVOA — Rick Gentry, Mark Hopper, P.J. Pitts, Tom Rohr, Jay Slater and Mike Stoffers.

Rohr and Slater will also be working this week’s state finals, and Pitts is an alternate.

• Like I’ve told you, remember this name — Gatorade’s Indiana Girls Basketball Player of the Year is Skylar Diggins of South Bend Washington.



Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at 1-800-783-8742 or at (812) 231-4277; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.

        

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