Newton defeats Robinson, Teutopolis takes down Columbia at Greenville Shootout; Meyers Leonard inducted into Robinson High School Hall of Fame

Dec. 22—ROBINSON — Troy Bierman knew his team needed a bounce-back performance.

After falling to St. Anthony at the Enlow Center on Tuesday night, Bierman's Newton Eagles made sure not to have the same showing against conference foe Robinson on Friday night at Robinson High School, and they didn't.

Newton defeated the Maroons, 56-49, to improve to 7-2 and 2-0 in the stout Little Illini Conference.

Bierman was without point guard Kye Bergbower in the game after he was injured in the third quarter against the Bulldogs.

Gus Bierman stepped in for Bergbower against Robinson and did just what his coach asked of him.

"Gus is an athlete and he brings that energy for us," Bierman said. "He's a gamechanger and can come and do things. He got after guys, defended and got us into our offense when we needed to be."

Bierman finished with four points.

Dylan Gier had 14 points, while Parker Wolf had nine and Jacob Weber had one.

Caden Nichols led all scorers with 28 points after a two-point showing against St. Anthony.

Noah Gilmore led Robinson with 25 points.

"It's been the same thing we've done every year we've played them. Gilmore is a heck of an athlete, so our plan was to limit him because he's going to get his," Bierman said.

LEONARD HONORED

Former Illinois Fighting Illini Meyers Leonard was inducted into the Robinson High School Hall of Fame at halftime of the contest.

Leonard was a part of the 2009-2010 Robinson team that finished 27-5 and won the Class 2A state championship.

"This is a really special night for all of us," Leonard said. "I was texting the guys yesterday because I knew I was going to be able to come up and spend some time and be here for the ceremony and the game and everything. I said, 'Guys, we need to take a second to realize that this was a really special team and a really special group of guys and we did something that nobody can ever take away from us.'"

Robinson started its postseason run with a 67-55 win over Flora in the regional championship game. The Maroons then defeated Tolono (Unity), 61-50, in the sectional semifinals and Teutopolis, 71-65, in the sectional championship.

Robinson followed that with an 81-60 victory over Decatur (St. Teresa) in the super-sectionals at the University of Illinois-Springfield.

The highlight of that game came when Leonard hit Matt Moran with a poster dunk after Moran tried to take a charge.

"[Moran] was put into the game to rile me up and he was doing a pretty good job of it. I remember thinking to myself, 'I got to get this guy somehow,'" Leonard said. "They were pressing and our guards weren't getting the ball, so they threw it to Meyers, which probably wasn't the best idea, but I worked on my skills here and there. I remember getting to halfcourt and I was like, 'I'm going to have to try it; I got to do something crazy.'"

Robinson followed that thrilling victory by defeating Chicago (Hales Franciscan), 64-61, in the state semifinals and then Peoria (Manual), 76-68, in the state championship game.

Leonard was one of the main reasons for that historical run. He was ranked the No. 28 player in the country, according to 247 Sports, and the No. 1 player in Illinois in 2010.

Leonard played two years at Illinois in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 and 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Leonard suited up for the Portland Trail Blazers for seven years, the Miami Heat for two and the Milwaukee Bucks for one.

"The game of basketball has been really good to me," Leonard said. "I've traveled the world and went to the University of Illinois — that place is like the 'Mecca' to me. Sometimes, I put my head on the pillow at night and can't believe that all this is real."

Leonard credited his college coach, Bruce Weber, for helping him reach the top level of the sport and called him a "mentor."

"What a man, an incredible human being," Leonard said. "Obviously, I learned basketball from him, but I feel like I learned almost more about life from Bruce Weber. His passion and how much he cares for you, not just as a player, but as a young man — he wants you to be a quality human being.

"There would be times I'd walk into his office and cry my eyes out, but this is what I've needed my whole life. My father passed away when I was six and it was not easy, so I've needed mentors in my life and Bruce Weber is one of the biggest mentors I've had."

Leonard averaged 8.2 minutes per game his freshman year. He shared how Weber turned his confidence around with one simple discussion.

"My freshman year, I wasn't very good. I came in pretty highly recruited, but we had Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis and Mr. Meyers Leonard was not very good at basketball," he said. "I was thin and I wasn't ready for the Big Ten toughness. I remember going into his office for my postseason basketball review and we went through everything and he was talking about how I was going to have more of an opportunity and I cried the whole time. I was so upset with the fact that I hadn't played well.

"He looked at me and said, 'Meyers, you're going to be a great basketball player and I mean that. You're going to have such an opportunity next season,' and followed that up by saying, 'I'd like you to tryout for the U.S.A. U19 basketball team.'"

Initially, Leonard declined that opportunity, saying that he'd rather stay in Champaign.

Weber, however, talked him through and changed that.

"I just remember feeling that confidence coming out of him and his belief in me and the feeling I felt almost in my soul at that moment," Leonard said. "He said, 'You're going to train your tail off. You're going to go to Colorado. You're going to make this team and you're going to do a darn good job for yourself and you're going to come back a better version of yourself and you're going to help us win games next year.'"

Leonard would come back to Illinois his sophomore season and average 13.6 points and 8.2 rebounds in 31.8 minutes per game. He was then selected 11th overall in the NBA Draft that summer.

TEUTOPOLIS DOWNS COLUMBIA

Chet Reeder wanted his team to stop settling.

Teutopolis was down 17-11 after the first quarter, with Reeder noting that his team wasn't playing aggressively.

Once the second quarter started, though, Reeder's team flipped the switch, dominating Columbia all the way to a 49-36 win at the Greenville Shootout.

Doing as their coach asked helped.

"I think their size and length kept us from going in there, but we wanted to get the ball inside, not necessarily to score, but to make the defense adjust to us," Reeder said. "We got Joey going in the second half, which was big, but that was the whole adjustment. They had some kids knock down some shots, but the whole goal was to not let [Sam] Donald have clean looks and we did a tremendous job of that. Tyler [Pruemer] was great today."

The 6-foot-8 Donald finished with two points.

"Don't let him get to his spot," said Reeder on what the gameplan was against Donald. "He likes to get to the rim, he likes to get to the elbow and we didn't let him get to his spots. We had to pressure the ball so that they don't see Donald when he was open and we did a good job of that."

Joey Niebrugge led the Wooden Shoes (7-2) with 12 points. Gaddis had 11. Logan Lawson, Austin Bloemer and Pruemer all had six. Zac Niebrugge and Koester both had three and Jake Bushur had two.

Contact EDN Sports Editor

Alex Wallner at 618-510-9231 or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.