Mater Dei senior riding wave of scoring; Lebanon dealing with loss

Going from a role player to a starring role has been a smooth transition for Mater Dei senior Nick Pollmann.

After tossing in 23 points Friday in a 66-63 road win at Quincy Notre Dame, Pollmann torched Gibault for a career-high 29 points a day later in a 54-47 victory.

The 6-foot-1 senior guard traces his hot streak to a 23-point outing earlier this season against Althoff, the top-ranked Class 3A team in the state.

“When you go out and have a big game, especially against a team like Althoff ... to be able to go into their place and do that really gave me a big confidence boost,” said Pollmann, who split time at point guard last season with Butchie Timmermann during Mater Dei’s run to the Class 2A state tournament. “I knew it wasn’t my job to score (last season), it was to put the team in the best position to win.

“This year we knew we were losing a lot of experience and a lot of points and I knew I was going to have to step up and have a bigger role this year. I’m growing in confidence and my teammates and coaches have confidence in me.”

Pollmann is among the area scoring leaders with a 20.6-point average through five games for the Knights (4-1), whose only loss is to Althoff. Mater Dei coach Ron Schadegg likes the transformation he has seen from his senior guard.

“We knew coming in he’d have to carry a lot of the load for our offense, but he’s gone above and beyond our expectations,” Schadegg said. “The more we get out of him the better off we’re going to be. He’s never been a shy shooter.

“Can he maintain this? I don’t know, but he’s certainly been fun to watch the last two nights. He just plays so hard and the effort is tremendous. I think the rest of our guys are feeding off him right now.”

Schadegg said Pollmann just didn’t prove a lot to others with the big game against Althoff, he proved a lot to himself.

“That generated his confidence level, being able to compete that well against Althoff,” Schadegg said. “He just decided if I can do it against them there’s no reason I can’t do it against everybody. He had two really fabulous games over the weekend.”

Pollmann’s friends have also gotten behind his rise to prominence, creating a “Total Nick Move” account on Twitter (@TotalNickMoove) to chronicle his life and times. It was the idea of fellow athletes Sam Krebs and Grant Huelsmann.

Their reasoning for starting the account? “4 individuals dedicated to EXPOSING all Nick Pollmann does in his Pursuit of Happiness,” was the explanation on the account.

Recent examples of “Total Nick Move” tweets were “droppin’ 29 points on Gibault,” “taking a selfie before getting his braces removed,” and “choking when asked a basic question by Mr. Eversgerd.”

“I guess I do a lot of unique things,” Pollmann said. “I saw they tweeted that out, it was pretty funny. It’s a group of my closer friends, so any time I do something stupid during the day they tweet that out. People seem to enjoy it.

“They love to give me a hard time.”

He heard it from his friends again when he missed a late free throw against Gibault that would have given him 30 points, even though he was already at a career high.

Pollmann was a high scorer on the freshman and junior varsity level and now is showing early signs of becoming one of the region’s top scorers.

“Against Gibault, they were playing a pretty tough zone and I was able to hit the gaps and score some easy ones inside,” Pollmann said. “In the second half, they backed up on me and I was able to hit two big threes on back-to-back possessions and later kept finding open teammates.”

Pollmann is enjoying the personal hot streak, but enjoys the victories even more.

“It’s been awesome,” he said. “It’s happened really fast and more importantly, we’re winning games. I’ll just keep doing what I have to do to help the team.”

Also a soccer standout, Pollmann played defense for the Knights team that won a regional title and lost to Althoff in the sectional. He plans on attending the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and hopes to play basketball or soccer there.

Lebanon’s loss

Former Lebanon High basketball player Blake Wood died last Friday from injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Lebanon. Wood was an excellent athlete for the Greyhounds who also played baseball, golf and soccer, eventually playing college baseball for Maryville University.

He was 26.

“If there was a sport to be played, he was one that would be there playing it,” said Lebanon High Athletic Director Chad Cruthis, who also coached Wood in basketball. “Everyone enjoyed having him on their team.”

Cruthis said even after he was out of high school, Wood enjoyed doing whatever he could to help out with the various sports programs.

“He always had a smile on his face and was ready to go out and do whatever was asked of him,” Cruthis said. “There’s no doubt that he made everybody’s world a lot better when he was around. During Thanksgiving break, he had actually contacted me out of the blue asking if I needed any help with my tournament.”

Kerry Allen Court

Cruthis was extremely proud last Friday to dedicate the Lebanon High basketball court, which is now known as Kerry Allen Court. Allen, a longtime basketball and sports coach in the district, died of cancer on April 7.

Allen was an assistant coach when Cruthis coached the boys basketball team at Lebanon, but had his hands in many other sports and projects involving young people in the community.

“He was one of my best friends,” Cruthis said. “I wouldn’t have had any of the success we’ve had here without somebody like him.”

Lebanon’s gymnasium was named in honor of longtime district basketball coach Charles E. Manley in November of 2007. Manley died of cancer in August, 2007.

“They were two best friends brought together again by naming the court after Kerry Allen,” Cruthis said. “You talk about two people that were true assets to the entire community, not just in sports but with the school and community ... that’s why they were deserving of it.

“My hope is 20 years from now kids will walk on the floor or see the gymnasium and they’re going to ask who those guys were. It’s two guys that did so many things behind the scenes to help our youth that deserved that recognition.”

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Mater Dei senior riding wave of scoring; Lebanon dealing with loss."