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Senior is top player -- again
Nashville standout set scoring records
BY NORM SANDERS
News-Democrat
Nashville High senior Lucas O'Rear will graduate as the Hornets' all-time leading scorer and rebounder and with the highest shooting percentage in school history.
Area coaches were impressed -- and will probably be happy to see him graduate. They made the 6-foot-7 O'Rear a unanimous pick for the Belleville News-Democrat's 2006-07 Class A Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
This is his second straight Player of the Year award, and he's headed to Northern Iowa on a basketball scholarship. He helped Nashville to a 33-0 record and No. 1 ranking in the state before the Hornets lost 43-38 to Teutopolis in the quarterfinals of the Class A state tournament.
How will O'Rear be remembered 20 years from now?
"They'll say he was the dominant force in high school basketball in Southern Illinois for three years," Nashville coach Darin Lee said. "He really couldn't be defended by one person. Other teams always had to double- and triple-team him, and he was very unselfish."
While O'Rear and the Hornets didn't win an Elite Eight game in two tries, it's tough to say anything negative about a team that won its first 33 games.
"It bothered me for a little bit, but we had a heck of a season," O'Rear said. "We won 33 games in a row and fell one short of winning a game at state. We went out there and tried playing our game, and we weren't hitting. It bothers me, but you can't look at that one game at state.
"You've also got to look at the 33 games before that."
The Hornets were 111-21 with O'Rear in the lineup. He averaged 18.9 points and 10.7 rebounds this season while hitting a ridiculously high 76.3 percent of his shots (271-for-355).
That included an impressive string of 21 shots in a row over a three-game span.
"The shooting percentage, that was probably the most remarkable of all his stats," Lee said. "We'll never see the likes of that again when you start talking about 76 percent."
O'Rear also had 99 assists and 62 blocked shots.
"He changed the way teams had to play defense," Lee said.
"They had to adjust to him and that took them out of their comfort zone."
A few more O'Rear tidbits:
• O'Rear is Nashville's all-time leading scorer with 2,116 points. He also holds the single-game scoring record with 40 points.
• O'Rear holds Nashville's career and season rebounding record with 1,090 in his career and 363 this season. The 1,090 rebounds ranks 14th best in state history according to current Illinois High School Association records.
• His 401 career free throws and 76.5 shooting percentage are also school records. The shooting percentage is the third-best in state history according to the IHSA (minimum 150 shots attempted), while the career free throws ranks seventh all-time.
O'Rear is proudest of the way the Hornets functioned as a team and the many close friendships he made among the players and coaching staff.
"We had probably nine players that could start, we could rotate people in and out and it really didn't matter," O'Rear said. "The whole team bonded so well and even though basketball's over, we still hang out. It's like a big family."
Lee said O'Rear's hard work rubbed off on his teammates from the first day of practice.
"It was a domino effect," Lee said. "The whole team worked hard and I'm sure they fed off of each other. That's one reason we were very hard to beat.
"Winning a state championship is special, and nobody would have liked it more than me or him or anybody else in Nashville. That still didn't change the fact that he was a dominant player."
Central coach Stan Eagleson, who took an unheralded team all the way to the Jacksonville Super-Sectional, tied Lee for News-Democrat Class A Coach of the Year honors. Central finished 22-11 and won the Cahokia Conference-Mississippi Division title.
Contact reporter Norm Sanders at [email protected] or 239-2454.
Senior is top player -- again
Nashville standout set scoring records
BY NORM SANDERS
News-Democrat
Nashville High senior Lucas O'Rear will graduate as the Hornets' all-time leading scorer and rebounder and with the highest shooting percentage in school history.
Area coaches were impressed -- and will probably be happy to see him graduate. They made the 6-foot-7 O'Rear a unanimous pick for the Belleville News-Democrat's 2006-07 Class A Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
This is his second straight Player of the Year award, and he's headed to Northern Iowa on a basketball scholarship. He helped Nashville to a 33-0 record and No. 1 ranking in the state before the Hornets lost 43-38 to Teutopolis in the quarterfinals of the Class A state tournament.
How will O'Rear be remembered 20 years from now?
"They'll say he was the dominant force in high school basketball in Southern Illinois for three years," Nashville coach Darin Lee said. "He really couldn't be defended by one person. Other teams always had to double- and triple-team him, and he was very unselfish."
While O'Rear and the Hornets didn't win an Elite Eight game in two tries, it's tough to say anything negative about a team that won its first 33 games.
"It bothered me for a little bit, but we had a heck of a season," O'Rear said. "We won 33 games in a row and fell one short of winning a game at state. We went out there and tried playing our game, and we weren't hitting. It bothers me, but you can't look at that one game at state.
"You've also got to look at the 33 games before that."
The Hornets were 111-21 with O'Rear in the lineup. He averaged 18.9 points and 10.7 rebounds this season while hitting a ridiculously high 76.3 percent of his shots (271-for-355).
That included an impressive string of 21 shots in a row over a three-game span.
"The shooting percentage, that was probably the most remarkable of all his stats," Lee said. "We'll never see the likes of that again when you start talking about 76 percent."
O'Rear also had 99 assists and 62 blocked shots.
"He changed the way teams had to play defense," Lee said.
"They had to adjust to him and that took them out of their comfort zone."
A few more O'Rear tidbits:
• O'Rear is Nashville's all-time leading scorer with 2,116 points. He also holds the single-game scoring record with 40 points.
• O'Rear holds Nashville's career and season rebounding record with 1,090 in his career and 363 this season. The 1,090 rebounds ranks 14th best in state history according to current Illinois High School Association records.
• His 401 career free throws and 76.5 shooting percentage are also school records. The shooting percentage is the third-best in state history according to the IHSA (minimum 150 shots attempted), while the career free throws ranks seventh all-time.
O'Rear is proudest of the way the Hornets functioned as a team and the many close friendships he made among the players and coaching staff.
"We had probably nine players that could start, we could rotate people in and out and it really didn't matter," O'Rear said. "The whole team bonded so well and even though basketball's over, we still hang out. It's like a big family."
Lee said O'Rear's hard work rubbed off on his teammates from the first day of practice.
"It was a domino effect," Lee said. "The whole team worked hard and I'm sure they fed off of each other. That's one reason we were very hard to beat.
"Winning a state championship is special, and nobody would have liked it more than me or him or anybody else in Nashville. That still didn't change the fact that he was a dominant player."
Central coach Stan Eagleson, who took an unheralded team all the way to the Jacksonville Super-Sectional, tied Lee for News-Democrat Class A Coach of the Year honors. Central finished 22-11 and won the Cahokia Conference-Mississippi Division title.
Contact reporter Norm Sanders at [email protected] or 239-2454.
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