Winning back-to-back National Trail Conference Tournament championships isn’t a rare feat.
Since the tournament started, there has been a repeat winner 14 times.
What is rare, though, is Altamont accomplishing the feat.
However, Saturday would change that.
The Indians came into the 87th National Trail Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed and proved it, winning their second-straight championship and eighth in tournament history. It was also the first time since the first two years of the tournament — in 1935 and 1936 — that it happened.
Altamont (19-3) defeated St. Anthony (17-9), 51-32.
“This is my 11th year, and I’ve won three times, so it’s not like it happens often,” Indians’ head coach John Niebrugge said. “It’s one of our goals each year, and this was much more special than some others.
“We had the mark on our back with the No. 1 seed, and we took everybody’s punch.”
Altamont wouldn’t take very many punches against the Bulldogs, though.
The Indians stormed out to a 10-0 lead to start.
“It wasn’t a fast-paced 10-0,” Niebrugge said. “It was a slow-paced 10-0.”
Eric Kollmann and Jared Hammer converted layups to start. Avery Jahraus made two free throws and converted a layup, and Dillan Elam hit a midrange shot, leading to a St. Anthony timeout.
Collin Westendorf would then get the Bulldogs on the board with a layup with 1:12 left in the period to make it 10-2 before making one-of-his-two free throws to make the score after the first frame.
St. Anthony never stopped battling, though.
After Altamont scored 10 quick points to start, they didn’t muster but nine more the rest of the first half, as the Bulldogs went into the break trailing by eight points, 19-11, following a Griffin Sehy three-pointer that made the score.
St. Anthony head coach Cody Rincker, though, knew his team needed more.
“It all mattered with what type of start we had to the second half,” Rincker said. “It was big to be only down eight; that was huge not to have a double-digit deficit going into halftime. I felt encouraged to only give up 19 in Altamont’s building, especially with how poorly we shot.
“It just wasn’t our night. Hats off to Altamont; they played a fantastic basketball game. They got size and strength and, honestly, were the better basketball team here tonight.”
Brock Fearday started the second half by converting a shot while drawing a foul, sending him to the charity stripe for a 3-point play opportunity.
“We ran a nice little set there,” Rincker said. “The boys executed it fantastically.”
Fearday would then miss his foul shot, leaving the score the same, but would then make up for it by making a layup shortly after that to cut the lead to four points, 19-15.
But the Indians would respond, going on an 11-0 run that pushed the lead to 15 points, 30-15, following a Jared Hammer 3-point play.
The Bulldogs then scored the following four points to cut the lead to 11 before Kollmann converted a 3-point play to push the lead to 14.
Altamont ended up taking a 37-22 advantage into the fourth before outscoring St. Anthony 14-10 in the final frame to equal the final score.
“It was a battle,” Jahraus said. “We knew they would be great on the defensive end, and we figured if we just played defense like we know how to play, we can make them struggle on offense.”
Jahraus finished with 11 points and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
“It wasn’t a goal,” Jahraus said. “The goal was to win, but my teammates were finding me; we were trusting each other.”
The Indians ended the night with two players in double-figures — Elam was the other with an equal 11 points.
Hammer neared double-digits, finishing with eight. Logan Cornett and Kollmann each had six, Eli Miller had five, and Kienon Eirhart and Kaidyn Miller had two.
“We don’t know who’s going to score each night,” Niebrugge said. “Avery’s pretty consistent shooting the basketball. Jared can score when he wants. Eric’s going to get his points. It could be someone different every night, but that’s why we’re playing so well. Even with the people we have out, we’ve just continued chugging along, playing unselfish basketball.”
All that unselfishness played dividends, too, as Altamont is now relishing another tournament crown.
This one, though, may mean a little more than last year’s title.
Hammer said, “It means a lot. The National Trail Conference) is a really good conference, great competition.”
Kollmann added, “It means everything. We work hard in practice for this, so winning it back-to-back is very special.”
Jahraus continued, “It means everything. To win it in our gym, two years in a row, in front of our fans, it means everything.”
The Indians have now won 14 straight basketball games and 17-of-18. They have also not lost to a 1A opponent all season.
“We’re rolling; we’re playing hard,” Jahraus said. “After that Breese (Central) game, we were disappointed with that loss, so we came together, and after that, we decided that we got to pick it up. Most of us, it’s our last year, so we got to pick it up and find a way to win a ball game, and we’ve been rolling ever since.”