By Ryan Storz
For the second year in a row, Sullivan was the victim of proximity.
Despite being one of the best teams in the area, they were no match for St. Francis Borgia.
Any other district and the Eagles may have back-to-back championships. Sullivan went 19-8 in 2009-2010 in Blair Thompson’s second season. The Eagles nearly tied for the conference championship again, and they also boasted the highest scoring offense in the conference.
Sullivan’s offense never skipped a beat after they lost last season’s leading scorer, Cody Davis. They also lost Austin Berti and Daniel Schatz, who combined to score over 20 points per game in their senior seasons.
As expected, Tyler Garner took over and became the leading scorer. He averaged over 15 points per game this season.
He was flanked by Johnny Bell and Kyle Roehrs, who stepped up big in their senior seasons. Roehrs averaged 11 points, while Bell averaged 11.8 points per game and led the team in assists.
Adam Lindemann may have been the best sixth man in the conference. He averaged close to 10 points and four assists while also providing good rebounding numbers.
The emergence of Ross Arteaga gave the Eagles another perimeter threat and defensive presence. Arteaga had been tasked numerous times with shutting down the opposing teams best scorer and he succeeded. He stopped the conference’s leading scorer, Matthew Jett, in both meetings.
Sullivan established themselves as a dominant regular season tournament team. They swept their way to three more tournament championships this season, winning the Potosi, Owensville and St. James tournaments by wide margins.
Thompson’s teams are 18-0 in regular season tournaments and their average margin of victory is 17 points.
Sullivan is also 12-2 in conference play under Thompson. The Eagles were a bad bounce from going undefeated through the conference this past season, falling short to St. James back in December.