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Halstead Places 3rd; Halstead Fans Receive Bob Hall Sportsmanship Award
Halstead High School Boys played well during the 36th Annual Rupp Tournament, placing 3rd. The HHS fans, too, walked away with an award, the Bob Hall Sportsmanship Award. Congratulations Halstead!
Pre-Tourney Note from Coach Gerber
Like usual, the Rupp will get together eight teams that are not only doing well right now, but perennially are teams that compete at high levels. The parity in this year's tournament is, once again, very good. The winner of last year's Rupp Tournament, Cheney, has to be considered the favorite along with undefeated Inman.
We are 6-3 and feel pretty good about where we are at this point in the season. We have played a good schedule, including an always difficult MCAA and in the Blue and Gold Classic, we played a good Solomon team, Minneapolis, and Salina Sacred Heart. Our most notable win probably came against an always tough Minneapolis team, who came into our game as the second ranked team in 2A. I'm not so sure we wouldn't have a more lofty record if we were totally healthy. Austin Ratzlaff, our leading scorer from last season (16 ppg) has missed all of our games so far this season with a broken wrist. Austin not only provided points, but rebounds, assists, and overall hustle. He has been greatly missed. Hopefully we will get him back sometime during the Rupp Tournament.
In Austin's absence, people have stepped up. Justin Regehr is playing consistently well, both in terms of shooting the basketball and his overall leadership. Justin Calvin has contributed more on the offensive end and has been in double figures several times this year. BJ Bryant provides solid play, particularly on the defensive end. He has shown an ability to play multiple positions as well. Aaron Howard is just a solid player - he is rebounding well and defending well and is shooting above 50% from the field.
Corey Wells has had some very nice moments during the first half of the season. Surprisely for his size, he still rebounds well and understands what we want. We are still looking for more consistent bench play, but they are inexperienced. As the season progresses, they will do nothing but improve and get more comfortable. Anthony Weber, Matt Vermillion, and the freshmen trio of Taylor Glassco, Tyler Armendariz, and Tyler Ratzlaff have all seen significant minutes during the first nine games.
To win the Rupp Tournament, we have to play really well three nights in a row and get a little bit lucky. We are not particularly tall or athletic, so we've got to make up for that by doing things fundamentally well, executing, and out-working our opponent. Our guys understand this and I am confident they will compete well in this year's Rupp.
Come be part of our basketball heritage at the Adolph Rupp Invitational Tournament!
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