Published: November 29, 2009 01:06 am      

Local teams learning

DANVILLE — The 43rd annual Schlarman Topper Classic concluded on Saturday with local teams still working the kinks out at the start of the season.

The Cardinals finished the tournament in second place with a record of 4-1. The Bismarck-Henning Blue Devils were fourth at 2-3, the Schlarman Hilltoppers fifth at 1-4, and the Oakwood Comets were sixth at 0-5. The St. Thomas More Sabers went 5-0 to win the classic.

The Cardinals started Saturday’s play with a 61-56 win over Oakwood. Shane Anderson led the Cardinals and all scorers with 24 points with Cody Owen adding 21. The Comets were led by Joe Garrett’s 20 points with Casey Fletcher and Adam Cundiff adding 10 each.

Led by 22 points from Owen and Zack Parsons, the Cardinals also defeated the Paris Tigers 62-53. The Cardinals lost 28 points and 9 rebounds per game from last season with the graduations of Logan Ross and Matt Morris but following an opening night 54-50 loss to St. Thomas More, they were still able to reel off four consecutive wins.

“Derrick McCormick looks to be our best defender. He is getting his first varsity minutes as a sophomore and understands the defense well,” said Cardinals coach Shawn Nugent. “He also reads the offense well. We had two games were we had one good quarter and then one bad and we need to focus on playing 32 minutes of defense. We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball and working on rebounding fundamentals. Our free throw shooting has been bad early in games but saved us late. After missing all of last season Zack Parsons will continue to improve with each game.”

The Blue Devils fell behind 8-0, early but took the lead in the second quarter and defeated Schlarman in the last game of the day 59-44. Michael Grant led the Blue Devils with 19 points and Heath Goodwin led the Hilltoppers with 17.

Bismarck-Henning lost earlier in the day 57-47 to St. Thomas More. Tanner Ribbe led the way with 13 points with Ian Park adding 11.

“We got a little better each game,” said Blue Devils coach Deon Mennenga. “Our defense is coming along and our offense is about where it needs to be point wise. Overall we are in a process of learning to play hard. Michael Grant deserves any award he gets and knows what he needs to do to be a senior leader.”

The Hilltoppers also lost 54-37 to Paris in a game that Paris led19-15 at the half.

“I would much rather be challenged against competition like this because it will only benefit you as the season goes on,” said Schlarman coach Pat Kelly. “We are trying to find out who we are as a team and the tournament helps us do that. We played more as a team as the week went on and our goal is to improve each day. The week was an especially big help to our post players Justin Davis and Tyler Mangum. They had a chance to see what they need to do to score against players their size.”

The Comets also lost 66-48 to St. Thomas More with Joe Garrett leading the way with 12 points.

“We got John Garrett back earlier from injury than we thought and that will be important for us,” said Comets coach Jesse Johnson. “He and his brother Joe play well together and compliment each others game. Casey Fletcher will be able to find shots and get points. We will need guys to play hard on both ends of the court if we are going to be competitive as the season goes on.”

Cody Owen of Chrisman and Michael Grant of Bismarck-Henning were named to the all-tournament team.