Beecher coach Tyler Shireman has been telling his team for the past few years that if they kept winning, fans would eventually come out to watch them play.
Beecher coach Tyler Shireman has been telling his team for the past few years that if they kept winning, fans would eventually come out to watch them play.
Beecher is not a basketball town. The school has won just one regional in its history and has averaged fewer than ten wins a season over 72 years.
A talented group of kids and a committed coach is starting to change that. Shireman’s promise to the team has come true. Tuesday night the community was out in force to see if the Bobcats could set a new school record for wins.
The team delivered with a 50-43 win against Momence, it’s their 23rd victory of the season. The 1968-69 and 1969-70 Beecher teams both won 22 games.
“The beautiful thing about small-town basketball is watching a couple of promising classes stacked up through elementary and junior high and knowing it’s something to get excited about,” Shireman said.
Senior guard Duane Doss scored 13 and grabbed six rebounds for the Bobcats.
“It’s been great watching this grow,” senior guard Duane Doss said. “It’s been a process from my freshman year to now. We got better as a group and we stayed together and kept winning. We wanted this last year but we only played ten games. So we got it this year.”
Doss, a high-scoring lead guard, has scored more than 1,500 points in his career despite the short season last year.
“He does everything for us,” Shireman said. “He’s leading us in points and rebounds. When we need a basket he goes and gets it. We want him with the ball in his hand. I’m real proud of him and I feel lucky I was able to coach him for four years.”
Sophomore Adyn McGinley led Beecher with 18 points and eight rebounds and senior Mitch Landis added 11 points.
McGinley is a lefty shooter with a smooth stroke. He missed eight weeks this season with an injury and only recently returned.
“We had some guys step up when [McGinley] was injured and that made us stronger as a team,” Landis said. “But now that he’s back everything is coming together.”
The win improves Beecher’s record to 23-7, 11-1 in the River Valley. The victory was not guaranteed. Momence (22-3, 11-1) was undefeated in the conference heading into the game and is led by talented 6-7 junior guard James Stevenson Jr.
Stevenson finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds. He’s a college prospect, long and athletic with excellent court vision and ball-handling ability.
“He’s probably the hardest guy that we’ve had to guard this year,” Shireman said. “We couldn’t keep him out of the paint.”
Beecher is the sixth seed in the Class 2A Clifton Central Sectional. To win the regional the Bobcats would have to beat Manteno, McNamara on the road, and possibly Momence again in the regional final.
“We are peaking at the right time,” Shireman said. “We got a share of the conference championship tonight and we have our eyes on some more hardware. If you look at the wall you see there’s only one regional win in history. That’s always been the goal.”
Watch the final minute of Momence at Beecher:
— Michael O’Brien (@michaelsobrien) February 16, 2022