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It doesn’t necessarily take height to make a good basketball player, or a good team, for that matter.
The Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Boys Basketball First Team consists of five players who can be playmakers anywhere on the court.
There is not a lot of size on that first team — the tallest player is listed at 6-foot-2. Meanwhile, the five third team players range from 6-2 to 6-5.
Gibsonburg 5-10 junior Gage Beaber, Lake 5-10 junior Rashad Smith, and Oregon resident and Toledo Christian 5-11 senior Nick Rightnowar would make an excellent guard trio for any coach.
Two other playmakers who are effective in the paint or the backcourt are Waite 6-1 senior Dishon Harris and Woodmore 6-2 sophomore Donny Bowen. Those five are All-Press First Team choices as voted by 10 area coaches and 10 media members.
Beaber is Player of the Year with Smith, Bowen, Rightnowar, Clay 6-7 senior forward Doug Waldmannstetter, Lake 6-3 junior guard Josh Tantari, and Cardinal Stritch 6-1 senior guard Justin Staler receiving votes.
Beaber, a Suburban Lakes League first team selection, scored 19 points in Gibsonburg’s 62-42 Division III sectional final rout over Collins Western Reserve. Twelve of Beaber’s points came in the second half.
“Gage is a gym rat who is a really tough kid and really athletic,” said Gibsonburg coach Brent Liskai. “Gage gets better every game. He thrives in the tournament situation because he is one of the most competitive kids I have ever coached.”
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Gage Beaber
Top left
Dishon Harris
Top middle
Donny Bowen
Top right
Nick Rightnowar
Bottom left
Rashad Smith
Left
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For the season, Beaber averaged 15.1 points, 5.2 assists, 4.1 steals, and four rebounds. Gibsonburg finished the regular season 10-10 and went on to come one game short of the regional, losing 70-63 to Ontario in overtime during the district final.
The Bears won five of their last six games, and seven of their last 10. In the Golden Bears final season competing in the SLL they were 7-5, good enough to finish as league runner-up tied with Lake and Eastwood and behind champion Elmwood.
Next year as a senior, Beaber will play against the likes of Northwood, Stritch, and Toledo Christian in Gibsonburg’s first season competing in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference.
Lake’s Rashad Smith, a second team All-SLL choice, led the Press area in scoring at 17.4 points plus he dished out 2.8 assists.
Rightnowar shot 51.3 percent from the field (59-of-115), 40.9 percent from 3-point territory (56-of-137), and 73.1 percent (38-of-52) from the free throw line. He had 51 rebounds, averaged 13.5 points, 1.8 assists and two steals. Halfway through the season, he was averaging only 10 points per game, but since the midpoint averaged closer to 17.
Donny Bowen led the Wildcats in scoring (14.1), rebounding (9.5), and field goal percentage (66 percent). His 9.5
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| Lake coach Ryan Bowen |
rebounds led the SLL, he shot 69 percent from the line and averaged 2.4 assists.
Waite’s Dishon Harris, a Second Team Division I All-District 7 and Third Team City League choice, had to take charge of the offense after the Indians lost potential NCAA Division I recruit Ke-Sean Harris mid-season. Dishon averaged 10.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.7 steals. Waite lost in the tournament, 51-50, to eventual Division II state qualifier Rogers in a district semifinal at Bowling Green State University’s Anderson Arena.
Lake coach Ryan Bowen, in his first year at the helm, is Press Coach of the Year after leading his school’s team to its first winning season in 12 years. In addition, Lake, which finished 12-9, was the only boy’s team in The Press coverage area to finish the regular season over .500.
Bowen set out to accomplish something that coach after coach had not been able to during the past decade at his alma mater.
“Changing the culture was our biggest challenge,” said Bowen, and he did so by installing an up-tempo offense that playing home games on Owens Community College’s 94-foot floor, often succeeded at scoring 90 or more points.
Toledo Christian had only one east side player, Rightnowar, but coach Dave McWhinnie received votes For COY after leading the Eagles to a Division IV regional semifinal where they lost to the suffocating defense of final four state qualifier Continental.
Also receiving COY votes was Liskai and Woodmore coach Brad Sander, whose team also finished the regular season 10-10 and fifth in the SLL at 6-6.
(Sportswriter Nathan Lowe contributed to this article.)
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