By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Two members of the Big Foot High School boys basketball team recently landed on All-Rock Valley Conference squads for 2014-15.
Sophomore Beau Cary was a second-team selection, while senior Nico Tovar was named honorable mention.
Big Foot was 5-19 overall and 3-13 in the RVC. The Chiefs recorded a 44-42 win over Clinton in a Division 3 playoff opener before they lost 61-52 in the regional semifinal to Evansville to close out their season.
Cary enjoyed a successful varsity debut with a team-high 215 points (9.0 per game), made 88 of 166 field-goal attempts, eight 3-pointers, 31 of 51 from the free-throw line, a team-high 171 rebounds, 29 assists, 12 steals and 25 blocked shots.
Big Foot coach Mike Dowden said Cary showed signs of his potential – but he also knows the best is yet to come.
“Overall, he had some really assertive games, (including) Turner at Turner and East Troy, and some not as good games,” Dowden said.
“From start to finish, I thought he really started to understand what it takes to be a good player in the RVC. He now needs that to carry over and have a great summer in AAU and high school ball to be better next winter.”
Tovar was second on the team in scoring with 182 points (7.6 per game), made 79 of 132 field goals, 24 of 45 free throws, was second in rebounds with 116, and had 22 assists, 15 steals and a team-high 28 blocked shots.
“He looked great against Delavan and the second half of our game against Evansville, but had an up-and-down year,” Dowden said. “When he really wanted to be assertive, he was really hard to guard.”
With the year now officially behind them, the Chiefs already have begun making plans for next season, Dowden said.
There’s no secret what’s at the top of the Chiefs’ to-do list, Dowden said.
“We need to shoot better, plain and simple,” he said. “We need to become better shooters.”
Dowden hopes a strong finish to the year, including that playoff win, will help vault his team to the next step in 2015-2016.
The building process continues, he added.
“(We’re) about where we thought we would be,” Dowden said. “We knew this group had a bunch of athletes, but had to come together to be a basketball team.
“It took the entire regular season to do that, and we had an exciting time in March. Now we need to grow as individual basketball players to take a big leap next year.”
All-Rock Valley Conference
South Division
Boys Basketball Teams
First team – Alec Fruin (sophomore, Beloit Turner), Zach Kaminski (senior, Clinton), Ned Slocum (junior, Brodhead), Nolan Masterson (senior, Parkview), Nacio Villarreal (freshman, Turner).
Second team – Lucas Risse (senior, Clinton), Justin Hansen (junior, Turner), Nolan Strzok (senior, Parkview), Beau Cary (sophomore, Big Foot), Terrell Walker (sophomore, Clinton), Josiah DeLorme (senior, Brodhead).
Honorable mention – Nico Tovar (senior, Big Foot), Griffin Day (senior, Brodhead), Tjaden Sanders (senior, Brodhead), Marc Eliszewski (senior, Clinton), Marc Eliszewski (senior, Clinton), Derek Severson (senior, Clinton), Brady Olson (sophomore, Palmyra-Eagle), Ty Paulson (junior, Palmyra-Eagle), Andy Johnson (senior, Parkview), J.C. Brager (senior, Parkview), Ronny Galvan (junior, Turner), Seth Smith (junior, Turner.
Player of the Year – Alec Fruin (sophomore, Turner). Coach of the Year – Ken Watkins, Turner.
