After giving Effingham their first loss in the Apollo Conference, can Charleston pull off the Effingham sweep? Playing their second opponent from Effingham, Charleston travels to Effingham St. Anthony to take on another quality opponent. With the momentum in the favor of the Trojans, we will see if the team can use Thursday’s big victory to put up another win. It will feature the basketball trifecta with freshmen, junior varsity, and varsity contest. 

Here is tonight’s preview. 

Team Records: Charleston (3-4, 1-3) @ Effingham St. Anthony (5-4, 2-1)

Where: Effingham St. Anthony High School

Tickets: Tickets can be purchased at Effingham St. Anthony

School Size: Charleston (796), Effingham St. Anthony (208)

Freshman: 5:00 (6-minute quarters) 

JV Tip-Off: 6:15 p.m.

Varsity Tip-Off: 7:45 p.m.

Opponent’s History: Cody Rincker began his tenure with the team in 2013. Since then, he has led Effingham St. Anthony to six Regional Championships and a state championship in 2017. Rincker owns eight seasons of at least 20 wins. The state championship team from 2016-17 went 30-5. Last year, the team went 20-12 and swept the National Trail Conference 8-0. 

St. Anthony’s Past Results: St. Anthony went 2-2 at the team’s Thanksgiving Tournament. The team defeated Robinson 50-43 and Effingham 54-48 but lost to Breese Central 50-34 and Highland 56-44. After a 53-49 loss to North Clay, the team defeated Sullivan (52-37), Cowden Herrick/Beecher City (69-25), and St. Elmo (61-31). Their last loss came on Tuesday to Newton 63-54. 

St. Anthony’s Top Players: The team relies on two primary scorers. Brock Fearday scored 16 points and added seven rebounds in a win over St. Elmo. Collin Westerndorf added 15 points and nine rebounds. Fearday is a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard while Westendorf is a junior guard. The team also relies on Jonathan Willenbord, Ryan Schmidt, and Max Koenig. 

“Right now our leading scorers are Brock Fearday and Collin Westendorf,” said Rincker. “They have been consistently in double figures and do a good job of scoring from all three levels. Griffin Sehy is the senior leader that does a little bit of everything for us.”

St. Anthony’s Team Stats:  The Bulldogs are averaging 51.8 points and allowing 45.1 points per game. 

Charleston’s Past Results: Charleston is coming off a huge 73-58 win over Apollo rival Effingham on Thursday. The team was led by James Hess, who had 17 points. Luke Bonstetter added 15 points, while William Applegate (16 points), and Caleb Oakley (13 points) rounded out the scoring attack. 

Charleston’s Team Stats:  Charleston is scoring 50.8 points and allowing 59.2 points per game. The team now has three players averaging double digits. Applegate leads the team with 14.0 per game. Oakley follows with 12.0 and Bonstetter adds 10.4 points per game. 

What St. Anthony Said: “We have been struggling with playing consistently well,” said Rincker. “We have spurts of being really good but have made some costly errors that set us back. Overall I feel we have a quality team and it will take a good effort from our opponent to beat us. Honestly, I don’t know much about Charleston currently but in the past, their size and length have given us challenges. Oftentimes playing larger schools with football players we find it difficult to match their physicality.”

What Charleston Said: As we prepare for St Anthony, we’ve been working hard as a team and coaching staff to put together full games (solid first half and second half),” said Alexander. “Lately we’ve had a decent first or second. I know they have a solid-scoring sophomore #15 (Fearday).