Berry back with a bang as Granite City wins season-opening Nokomis Tournament

Granite City’s days of being a Southwestern Conference punching bag could be over.

The Warriors are poised to make a stand this season, and they laid a foundation Saturday when they clinched the championship of the Nokomis Tournament.

Granite City went 3-1 in the round-robin tournament, earning the title with a 60-39 victory over Civic Memorial. The Warriors needed to win by at least 10 points to be awarded the tiebreaker.

Senior Kenny Berry scored 21 points against Civic Memorial and finished the tournament with 95 points, seven 3-pointers, 15 assists and 10 steals to earn Most Valuable Player honors. Berry averaged 17.3 points and made 46 3-pointers as a junior.

Other victories were against Triad (51-46) and Nokomis (53-31). The Warriors’ loss was against Taylorville (48-46). The 6-foot-2 Berry scored a tournament-high 30 points against Triad and added 24 against Nokomis, including 21 in the first half.

“Berry’s amazing,” eighth-year Granite City coach Steve Roustio said. “Everybody knows he can score. He’s just got to be able to get his teammates involved. Teams are going to run a second (defender) at him because they know he can score. He can score around the basket, he can pull up and shoot and he can also knock down 3s. He’s a three-dimensional player.

“So when he sees (a double-team), he’s got to get other people involved in the offense and trust that if the possession goes longer, he might get it back. He has progressively gotten better in all aspects. He’s understanding he has to play at both ends of the court.”

Seeking success in league

Granite City was 11-17 overall and 1-13 in the SWC last season. The Warriors have lost 65 of their last 70 conference games, never winning more than two in the last five years.

“This is the best I’ve felt in my eight years here,” Roustio said. “I feel really good about this team. We have four conference games before the Collinsville Tournament. It would be nice to get two or three of those. We have to see ourselves as being able to do that. To sit in eighth place gets old.”

Roustio acknowledged a small margin for error, but he is convinced that the Warriors could break through in the league if their defense improves.

“If we can clean that up and hold opponents in the mid-40s, this is a season when we can finally make some progress in the conference,” said Roustio, whose team dropped seven games by four or fewer points last season. “No matter who we play, if we play our game and play hard, we’re going to be in it. That’s what you want in high-school ball.”

Experience returns

Ron Allen, a 6-1 senior, 6-5 senior Tra’Ron Allen and 6-1 junior Torrey Deal also played well in the season-opening tournament. Ron Allen averaged 9.5 points and 4.8 rebounds, Tra’Ron Allen averaged 8.5 points and four rebounds and Deal grabbed a team-high 24 rebounds.

“Tra’Ron is able to play a little inside and outside,” Roustio said. “If he’s got a smaller guy on him, we can put him inside. If he’s got a bigger guy on him, we can kind of bring him out, away from the basket. Ron Allen and Torrey Deal are probably our best overall players. Not our best scorers, but our best overall players.”

Other players are 6-1 junior Malique Mason, the starting point guard, 6-0 junior Jake Roustio, 6-6 freshman Nick Grote, 6-3 junior Jamie Roustio, 6-1 junior Jacob Spears, 6-1 junior Marquise Shaw and 6-1 junior Jaylin Harper. Jake Roustio’s 15 assists are tied with Berry.

Reakwon Jackson, a 5-10 senior, is expected to join the team in a few weeks. Jackson played regularly in the second half of last season and averaged 2.8 points.

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Berry back with a bang as Granite City wins season-opening Nokomis Tournament."