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Sting stands tall in Class 2A

PEORIA - Talk about a Disney story… once upon a time, there was this small, catholic high school in the south suburbs of Chicago (South Holland) that was for girls only. About six years ago, a decision was made to make the school co-ed with all of the amenities of competing schools. Then, along came coach Ken Stevenson, who had a vision of building a basketball team from the bottom up. There first year, the team went 4-4 at the varsity level and experienced a couple of uncertain periods including multiple changes in principals. And well, the rest is being written every day including today, in which the Sting have won their very first state title against Massac County 83-63.

"It's our time," said the Ohio University recruit DJ Cooper. "We made history. This just feels unbelievable. For me, this is once in a lifetime."

And now, Cooper doesn't want to wake up from this dream.. Or at least not until prom or graduation day or his first official day at Ohio University, but for right now, all of his hard work has paid huge dividends.

NOTE: Cooper was named Small school Player of the Year.

Going into this game against Massac County Patriots, Seton had four players averaging double figures; DJ Cooper 13.7; Jordan Walker averages 13.6; Corbin Thomas, whose production has increased tremendously, averages 11.6; and Tony Nixon averages 10.

Seton started off a little slow and were down 10 - 8 until Walker and Cooper began connecting time after time after time after time, in the paint, which resulted in a 13-3 run which opened the door to the title.

The Patriots rallied back and were able to tie the game at 29 on a smooth 3-pointer from Dustin Korte right before the half, but the Sting

picked up the tempo and put together one more run of 8-2 including a power dunk by Walker to give them a 37-31 lead at the half.

Nixon has been quoted saying "our intensity makes this team. We kept hearing everyone tell us we couldn't do this, but we've stayed behind each other and we have done it."

In the second half, junior guard, Khameron Harper made his presence felt hitting back-to-back 3's and adding 4 assist on the evening. "We came out focused," said Harper. "We knew what we needed to do to win and just played our game." Harper finished with 8.

Corbin Thomas, 6'6" 200-pound forward, coming off the supersectional game against Hales, he grabbed 12 rebounds and had a season-high 25 points. During an interview conducted with Thomas earlier in the week on our Sports Podcast Talk show, In Da Kennel, Thomas made it clear that his "hands were still hot" and ready to go. During the title game, this appeared to be true with Thomas finishing the game as the second highest point scorer with 25, behind Walker who had 26. Click here to here the interview - episode #26.

This is beautiful," said coach Ken Stevenson. "I have some great kids who believe in me and I believe in them. This isn't just about basketball. My goal for every one of these kids is to go to college."

The Patriots were lead by Bryon Bailey with 20 points, followed by Dustin Korte had 17 who came off the bench.

"Right now our team is young, we have several juniors coming back and now we have some experience under our belts.. so we plan on being right back here," said Harper looking ahead to next season.

If this school was a college, it would be considered a mid-major something similar to George Mason, or maybe even Hampton University. But one thing is for sure, neither one of those schools won a championship, but on this day, Seton Sting did... winning the Class 2A title 83-63.

NOTE: We are proud to announce that for the entire month of February, S.C. Fitch Enterprises, and all of its affiliates including Amateur Sports News Network, ASNN365.com, and Amateur Sports Gallery will be honoring March as National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the American Dietetic Association. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. Click here for more information.

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