By Mark Bennett
For the first time since Feb. 28, 1998, the
Indiana State Sycamores played a game without injured senior
guard Kelyn Block, gritting out a 45-40 win Saturday over visiting
Evansville.
Next season, that'll be the situation in every
Sycamore basketball game. Block's fellow seniors Djibril Kante
and Terence Avery will have graduated by then too.
As they depart, four high school seniors will
take their places, as well as that of former team member Andy
Williamson who is completing his final year at ISU as a student
only. All four come from programs with successful traditions,
including this season.
Sycamore Coach Royce Waltman likes possibilities
presented by the foursome -- 6-foot-10, 212-pound center Ted
Morris of St. Louis Chaminade Prep School; 6-4, 180-pound guard
David Moss of Thornwood (Ill.) High School; 6-8, 210-pound forward
Tristan Parham of Thornridge (Ill.) High School; and 6-5, 200-pound
guard Russell Trudeau of Lafayette Central Catholic.
"You never know until they get at this
level," Waltman said last week. "But I think they're
skilled. And they're kids who come out of programs where you
have to play hard. I'm really optimistic about that class."
Trudeau can infuse ISU with some good old
Hoosier backcourt savvy. He's currently averaging 19 points per
game for Central Catholic, and -- this sounds good -- is hitting
better than 50 percent of his shots, said Knights Coach Chad
Dunwoody.
And those numbers are coming in a lineup that
includes two other NCAA Division I-caliber players -- 6-9 Tyler
Best and 6-5 Kristof Kendrick. "If Russell didn't have Kristof
or Tyler, he'd be getting almost 30 points per game," Dunwoody
said.
Trudeau and the Knights are off to a 6-5 start.
But the former Class A state champions have lost four of those
games to ranked Class 4A opponents, and one to a 3A foe. "With
us being a 1A school, we're trying to play tough competition,
and you're not going to go 18-2," Dunwoody explained.
Through it all, Central Catholic leans on
Trudeau night after night.
"He's the heart and soul of the team,"
Dunwoody said. "Russell is obviously very skilled, but he
also plays the game with great passion. The kids look up to him.
We do have lots of talent around him, but he's our leader."
The Knights' schedule continues Jan. 11 at
undefeated Benton Central. "So it doesn't get any easier,"
Dunwoody said.
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Across the border in the Chicago suburbs,
Moss and the Thornwood Thunderbirds are headed for a conference
clash with Parham and the Thornridge Falcons in SICA East action
this week.
Moss made the Bloomington-Normal Holiday Classic
All-Tournament team last week after the Thunderbirds captured
the Class AA championship there. In a 62-57 semifinals victory
over Quincy Notre Dame, Moss had 20 points and 12 rebounds. In
a 57-43 victory over Rockford Boylan in the title game, Moss
scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half. He's averaging
14 points, four assists and six rebounds per game. And he's hitting
40 percent of his 3-point shots.
Moss has become a leader for Thornwood a year
after future NBA star Eddy Curry carried the Thunderbirds to
an Illinois AA state runners-up finish. The team entered this
weekend with records of 13-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference.
"He's showing a lot of leadership in
these games," Coach Kevin Hayhurst said of his team's captain.
"Seniors usually do that."
Parham has had a rougher start, suffering
a knee injury in the Falcons' second game and missing more than
two weeks. "His conditioning kind of suffered because of
that," said Thornridge Coach Mike Flaherty.
Parham has had his shining moments, though.
When Thornridge beat Joliet -- one of the Chicago area's top
teams -- he had 14 points and 12 rebounds while playing just
half the game. For now, conditioning work is Parham's priority.
"He's not able to play at full strength yet," Hayhurst
said.
Like rival Thornwood, Thornridge entered this
weekend with a 3-0 SICA East record and an 8-4 mark overall.
Morris and the St. Louis Chaminade team were
undefeated in their conference too, leading the Metro Catholic
League with an early 2-0 mark going into Friday's game against
rival DeSmet.
Coach Calvin Lee's team is 8-2 overall, and
won its own Christmas tournament with a 52-37 victory over St.
Louis John Burroughs. Morris was matched against a 6-10 opponent.
"Ted outplayed the kid," Lee said.
Morris is averaging 19.5 points and 12 rebounds,
and leads the conference in the latter.
"He's having a great senior year to date,
and I expect him to grow," Lee said. "He's going to
get better and better as the season progresses."
From Terre Haute, right now, that sounds good.
Mark Bennett can be reached by telephone
at 1-800-783-8742, Ext. 377, by e-mail at mark.bennett@tribstar.com
or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
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