Here are this week's candidates for the Antonio's Pizza Prime Time Performer. You can vote once every 12 hours until the polls close on Friday at 5pm. The winner will receive a $20 gift card to Antonio's Pizza!
Austin Finley (Pleasant Plains Forward) Even though he claims not to be the guy, he stepped up and led Pleasant Plains and head coach Cliff Cameron to his unprecedented 10th County Tournament title. Finley's free throw with 3.7 seconds to play put the game on ice against Williamsville. Riddled with foul trouble in that title game, Finley managed to score five points and grab six boards. In the semifinal, he led the team in scoring with 18 points against Auburn and grabbed eight boards. Finally, Finley had 13 and seven against New Berlin in the County opener. Flocka Fin was feasting this week and gets the nod for Prime Time Performer from a Plains team that has plenty of talent.
Nate Brauer (Auburn Forward) He made it to sectionals in golf and his twitter avi is him playing baseball, but Brauer can hoop too. The Trojan forward led the way in the County Tournament on the glass with 28 rebounds and was named to the all tournament team. He led the team in scoring against Pawnee with 15 points. He had 10 points and nine boards against Plains in the semifinals and added 11 points in Auburn’s third place win over Rochester. Brauer is a banger down low, doing the dirty work for Scott Bacon’s team, who have shown flashes this season of playing with the top of the conference.
Maggie Sorenson (Williamsville Forward) Most of the time it’s the flashy offensive numbers that get noticed and Sorenson had a quality week in that department, but her defense against Katryel Clark on Monday night caught our attention. She also scored nine points in the first half against the Trojans, which helped the Bullets build a nine point halftime lead that eventually led to the road win. Sorenson scored 12 points in Williamsville’s next conference game on Thursday when the Bullets clinched at least a share of the Sangamo conference crown.
Amber Clouser (Plains Forward) A game winning, put back layup against a quality conference foe will land you on the Prime Time Performer list. Clouser closed out Athens with 4.3 seconds to play in the game and finished up with a game high 12 points. Then she chipped in four points against Lutheran on Thursday and helped the Cardinals beat the Crusaders again on Saturday to move Plains into the winners bracket at the County tournament.
Matt Wendling (Athens Forward) Go ahead and try to find a better overall scorer in the area in 1A or 2A. We’ll wait. Wendling became the Athens High School all time leading scorer, passing Don Todd’s 1,450 career points on last Tuesday with 25 points against North Mac. Wendling followed that up with 18 points and a nasty two handed hammer against Edinburg on Friday and then scored 24 points to lead the Warriors to a Mohawk Classic championship crown. Wendling is the only senior starter on Jeff Johnston’s squad that is quietly 17-2 and if Sangamo foes can’t stop Wendling from scoring, these boys will be in the running for a conference crown.
Anthony Frank (Riverton Forward) With all the offensive attention on the Hawk guards Ryan Roscetti and Zak Merchant this season, Riverton’s future opponents better take notice of Anthony Frank. The lanky wing led the County Tournament in scoring with 51 points total and grabbed 24 rebounds in three games. In Riverton’s huge win over New Berlin for fifth place, Frank was feeling it, scoring 21 points, not missing a single shot. Frank will have to be a key contributor on Friday with the Athens Warriors coming to town.
James White (Jacksonville Guard) Big performances in the Bowl put you on the radar for Prime Time Performer. White set a new school record at Jacksonville for three-pointers made in a single game with eight on Friday. White’s career high 26 points led the Crimsons to a blowout win over a short-handed Rochester bunch. If not for a great play from Joel Alexander on Saturday, White’s three-pointer at Chatham would have forced overtime against the Titans.
Joel Alexander (Glenwood Forward) Stepping up when his team needed it the most, Alexander was in the right place at the right time on Saturday night. He had ten points before he watched Parker Allen’s shot come off the rim in the final seconds against Jacksonville and he rushed in and got the tip-in to win a huge CS8 game for Glenwood. The night before he had four points and nine boards and was a defensive presence in the Titans’ road win at Lincoln. Parker Allen and Ethan Hunt are going to score for Todd Blakeman’s bunch, but it’s Alexander who takes this team to another level.
Angela Perry (Rochester Forward) The Rockets were tested on Saturday but escaped with a huge Central State Eight conference win over the Cyclones thanks to a team high 18 points from Perry. SHG hit eight threes but couldn’t figure out how to stop Perry inside, much like most of Rochester’s opponents this season. Perry added ten points against Southeast on Friday night to get Coach J.R. Boudouris his 300th career coaching win. Perry’s post presence gives Rochester a solid shot at repeating as CS8 champs but they'll need her to play well on Tuesday against Springfield High.
Garrett Kinison (Springfield High Wrestler) The 106 pound sophomore known as Gumby gets the Prime Time Performer nomination from City wrestling this week. Kinison was able to get a reversal and score with one second left to seal the win and bring the City title back to the Solons. Kinison’s clutch win over Lanphier all but locked up the 11th title in the last 13 seasons by a score of 44-25 over the Lions.
