Bulldogs Are State Champs!!!

The 2017 Class 1A State champion St. Anthony Bulldogs. Photo courtesy of Phil Zaccari and Courtney Koester.

The St. Anthony Bulldogs are the Class 1A Boys State Basketball champions.

It's the first high school basketball state championship for the City of Effingham.

The Bulldogs captured the title with a 49-46 overtime victory over the Okawville Rockets. The contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

In addition to the first-ever state basketball championship for St. Anthony, the Bulldogs finished their season with a 30-5 record, the most ever wins in a season for a St. Anthony basketball team. Three other teams had 29 wins.

The victory was made even sweeter in that it came on Bulldogs Coach Cody Rincker's birthday.

St. Anthony broke in front 6-0, but Okawville to tie the contest 8-8. The Bulldogs then scored the last nine points of the first quarter to lead 17-8. When St. Anthony scored the first basket of the second quarter, the Bulldogs held an 11-point lead, which turned out to be the largest margin of the game.

St. Anthony scored just four more points in the period, but again held Okawville to eight points and the Bulldogs led at halftime, 23-16. After a 9-9 third quarter standoff, St. Anthony was still in front by seven, 32-25.

Then came the fourth quarter. Okawville turned loose 2,700-point career scorer Noah Frederking, who scored 11 points in the final stanza. The Rockets took the lead on two occasions, but St. Anthony fought back to tie the game 41-41 at the end of regulation.

The four-minute overtime period saw five points from Okawville, but none from Frederking. Meanwhile, Drew Gibson and Adam Levitt each scored four points and the Bulldogs had the win and the state championship.

Gibson, the lone senior for St. Anthony, tied for scoring honors with 14 points, 11 in the second half and overtime. Also finishing with 14 points was Alex Beesley, who picked the title game to deliver his best offensive game of the season. Beesley was especially potent in the early part of the game, helping build the lead with seven first quarter points. Adam Levitt was also in double figures with 12 points, following his 16-point performance in the semi-final game Friday. Levitt was six-of-seven from the field. Levitt led the Bulldogs with five rebounds. Also scoring for the Bulldogs was Alex Deters with six points including a fourth quarter three-pointer and Cade Walsh with three points on a second quarter trey. Jack Nuxoll and Brandon Runge also contributed big minutes for the Bulldogs.

Noah Frederking, who has many relatives in the Altamont community, led all scorers with 26 points for Okawville on nine-of-15 shooting. He also led in rebounding with six. Also scoring for Okawville: Shane Ganz 9, Luke Hensler 6, Payton Harre 3 and Caleb Frederking 2.

St. Anthony shot 49% from the field, 19 of 39, including 3 of 7 threes. The Bulldogs made 8 of 12 foul shots, grabbed 16 rebounds, and turned the ball over 8 times.

Okawville made 17 of 33 shots, 52%, including 4 of 12 threes. The Rockets were 8 of 14 from the line, pulled down 17 rebounds, and committed 9 turnovers.

Okawville saw a great season end with a 32-4 record.

A Welcome Home for the Bulldogs will begin with a parade through town at 2pm Sunday. The procession will stage at 2pm at the Effingham Knights of Columbus Building and then east through town and then north to the Enlow Center at St. Anthony High School for a reception at 3pm. The reception will be broadcast live on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com plus our Zak Dietzen will be videotaping the ceremony.

Placing third in the Class 1A State Tournament was Chicago Hope Academy who downed Newark 60-46.

In the Class 2A State Tournament, Chicago Orr beat Mount Carmel 59-39 for the state title while Kankakee McNamara finished third with a 58-53 win over Monticello. Monticello is coached by Neoga graduate Kevin Roy. His brother, Mike is the Neoga High School assistant coach.