PEORIA — For some it was a first step, for others a next step as Peoria’s top high school basketball coaches, players and teams got varsity reps at the Richwoods Shootout on Sunday.
Sixteen teams, good basketball, NCAA Division-I prospects and 20 referees lined up on the baseline watching their colleagues work games like a learning lab. This time of the offseason, teams are figuring out what they need and what players might supply it for the coming season — but expectations are high and hope is in abundance.
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Here are big five things we learned at the Richwoods Shootout:
Metamora’s new basketball coach excited to lead
Last season, Justin Dehm filled in as head coach at powerhouse Metamora while Danny Grieves was away from the team. Grieves has retired, and now Dehm has the head coaching title and launched a career this weekend at his alma mater’s gym.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life for this,” said Dehm, who helped Richwoods to a 2006 state runner-up finish as a junior and went on to play at Furman. “I’m comfortable on the sideline, I had a chance to coach games last year when Coach Grieves was away from the team, so that helped in the transition.
“We’re going to continue building and setting high expectations for this team.”
Those high expectations were underscored by 6-foot-4 senior shooting guard Matthew Zobrist, who dropped 35 points on Dunlap in the equivalent of about three quarters Sunday.
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“He’s taken that next step,” Dehm said. “He’s a player fully capable of being the featured guy, giving everything he has to the team and leading. We expect our team to be winners on the court, and be good people overall in the community.”
Dunlap has new coach and new environment
Ryan Julius has taken over as head coach at Dunlap, and his team was knocked out of the tournament Sunday by Zobrist and Metamora.
“When you are 12-16 last season and you are playing the machine that Metamora is, you don’t poke the bear,” Julius said. “We had just gotten the ball out of bounds and we are (talking smack). Against that team, we have to just play basketball. We woke up Zobrist, man what a talent he is, I think he scored 35 on us in three quarters.
“Justin (Dehm) and I played rec league ball together last year. We know each other well, know what to expect from each other.”
Dunlap did not have 6-foot-5 star Mack Sutter this weekend. The highly-touted football prospect was on a visit to Tennessee, which Julius thought resulted in another offer.
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“He’s had offers from Kentucky, Indiana, South Carolina and Auburn in the past week,” Julius said. “They are stacking up. We’re excited to have him back. He’s going to walk into a different environment here.”
Julius says that environment includes senior Isaac Foster, who at 6-foot-7, 295 pounds is a breakout candidate. “He’s working hard, and growing into a leader,” Julius said. “He has an offer from Eastern Illinois and had a basketball camp today with Western Illinois.”
Julius has a diversified coaching resume. He was an assistant on the Peoria Notre Dame girls basketball team that won the Class 2A state title in March. And he coached Notre Dame’s golf team to a Class 2A state title in 2019. Now he’s at the boys helm in Dunlap.
“I love it,” he said. “I feel truly blessed, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to help these young men at Dunlap. They want to be coached. They want to be pushed. They learned today and grew a little.”
Richwoods begins life after Lathan Sommerville
Richwoods sent Lincoln to the free throw line for six shots in their opening game Sunday when a Knights player fouled (two shots), officials then called a team technical for delay of game after the foul (two shots) and Knights head coach Will Smith was hit with a technical (two shots).
Richwoods walked them off with a last-second shot anyway to advance to the quarterfinals. They were eliminated there by a dominating Springfield Lanphier team, 53-22.
Life after Lathan Sommerville has begun.
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“We knew that was going to be a tough one for us (Lanphier),” Smith said. “We were already without our leading scorer (6-4 senior guard) Kingston Caldwell. He rolled an ankle in Saturday’s game, so we didn’t have him today.”
They do have a freshman Smith is excited about in 6-foot-4 Amario Smith-Holley. But there are a lot of guys the Knights have to replace, including the 6-foot-10 Sommerville, headed to Rutgers.
“I think all said and done, we’ll be OK,” Smith said. “You go 30-5 last year and finish third in the state, then lose a 6-10 player and nine seniors. We’ve got some building to do.
“But I think the city is wide open this year, very close among the teams. These games are about getting varsity reps and getting our young team acclimated.”
Division-I recruit committed to Manual and ready to lead
Manual star Dietrich Richardson said he’s committed to the Rams for the 2024-25 season.
“I’m staying at Manual, I’m not thinking about anything else,” he said. “We expect to win a lot of games here. Every guy on this team is getting better, but we know it’s going to take work.”
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The Division-I prospect flashed for 27 in Manual’s win over Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin. He recently got an offer from Xavier, and he just returned from a visit to Virginia Tech. He says he’ll start to think about his stack of offers once his AAU season ends in July.
“Summer is for preparation,” Richardson said. “And right now hopefully I’m nowhere near where I want my game to be in the fall.”
Morton basketball wins Richwoods Shootout
In the end, Morton rolled up an 18-point first-half lead, held off a second-have surge and beat Springfield Lanphier, 55-44 to take the 2024 Richwoods Shootout crown.
“The depth we have, 12 players yesterday, 10 today, it’s a big advantage for us,” Morton coach Abe Zeller said. “This whole weekend was about gaining experience and confidence and learning to play together.”
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Morton beat Davenport (Iowa), Manual, Decatur MacArthur and Springfield Lanphier on Sunday to secure its title. The Potters emerged from a pool lineup that included Peoria High, MacArthur and Milwaukee Lutheran, accounting for three of the final four teams.
“Seven games in two days,” Zeller said. “We’re tired.”
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.