By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD — One of the biggest motivators for the Logan-Rogersville boys basketball team is a perceived lack of recognition from the voters who determine the state rankings.
They might need to hurry up and find another one.
Sophomore Curry Sutherland scored a career-high 22 points, Western Illinois commit Jonathan Dunn dunked six times while adding 21 and the Wildcats took control of the race for the Big 8 East title with a decisive 66-48 victory over rival Springfield Catholic on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (14-4, 3-0) have won seven consecutive games and 14 of 16 since opening the season with back-to-back losses at the Republic Invitational. Their two most recent victories have come on the road against Greenwood, one of the top-ranked Class 3 schools, and the Fighting Irish, who received votes but fell just outside the Top 10 in last week’s Class 5 poll.
With a new set of rankings due out Wednesday, this may be the week the Wildcats make the list. Holding the Blue Jays to 44 points and Springfield Catholic to 48 commands attention.
“We’ve felt like we’ve kind of been snubbed a little bit,” Logan-Rogersville coach John Schaefer said. “The kids understand that and they’re trying to keep that tradition that we’ve had the last four years. Usually you look up (the rankings) and you see Log-Rog in Class 5 or 4 and we haven’t seen that all year. Hey, that’s fine. That means we’ve got to work harder. We’re not there yet, but we need to be. So that’s been a little bit of a motivational factor.”
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Ultimately, the coach continued, the Wildcats don’t care if they make the list. For as much as they would like to be there, they are perfectly content to rack up wins and fly under the radar.
But teams — and players — can only do that for so long. Talent naturally rises to the top.
Take the case of Sutherland, the 6-foot-3 sophomore forward who has played beyond his years all season but gone relatively unnoticed behind standouts like Kanon Gipson, JJ O’Neal, Zach Bergmann and Dunn, who recently transferred to the school from Hazlewood Central.
Sutherland wasn’t even in the starting lineup for last Tuesday’s game against Greenwood, but scored five points in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats rallied for a last-minute 46-44 victory.
That helped Sutherland earn a start against the Fighting Irish and he continued that momentum, scoring eight points in the first quarter as the Wildcats stormed to an early 20-9 lead.
“Having great players like Kanon, JJ, Max (Goff) — everyone on the team really draws attention,” Sutherland said. “Everybody can shoot. Everybody can do everything. With all the defenses having to collapse on everybody, it gives you the open looks and I knocked them down tonight.”
Sutherland finished the game as its top scorer, the first time he’s done that in his varsity career.
“He’s just another weapon,” Schaefer said. “He’s maturing. He’s getting better with every game.”
The same can be said of Dunn, a 6-foot-7 highlight reel who will play Division I basketball next year and started the game on the bench — a testament to how deep the Wildcats roster is.
Schaefer and his staff have focused on turning Dunn into a more complete player who excels on both ends of the court. The returns were significant on Tuesday, as the senior forced turnovers and came up with loose balls that resulted in wide-open runs at the basket and powerful dunks.
“His match-up skills have gotten better since he’s got here,” Schaefer said. “We’ve been on him non-stop and tonight — like I told him, this is probably the best defensive night that he’s had.”
Dunn said he’s been working on improving his play on the wing, and the Wildcats also made a concentrated effort to rebound better than they did in the victory over Greenwood.
“As a team, we’ve locked in together,” Dunn said. “We’re doing very good defensively as a team as that’s just carrying over to us winning more games. If we keep doing what we’re going to do, we’re going to keep winning games.”
Playing for the first time in three weeks after postponing at least two games due to COVID-19, Springfield Catholic trailed by as many as 29 points in the fourth quarter before closing the night on a 17-6 run after the Wildcats substituted several of their starters.
Will Squibb and Zach Howell each had 18 points to lead the Fighting Irish, who fell to 11-5 and 2-1 in the Big 8 East that Logan-Rogersville is now the clear frontrunner to win.
“Coming in here, we knew we were going to have our hands full and be a tough battle,” Schaefer said. “We couldn’t get rid of them in the first half. We had a lot of turnovers and miscues, but kids played hard. I thought we guarded extremely well and that’s basically all we wanted to talk about. ”
