Clawson Boys Basketball Reaches Season Goal, Enters State Tournament Tonight

When boys basketball coach Bill Shellenbarger Jr. looked over his roster for the 2010-2011 season, he saw a lot of potential as well as some uncertainty. Though he had five seniors returning, only one of them had seen any real action on the court.

"We had a million question marks," Shellenbarger said. "We were unproven, we were untested, we played a lot games in the summer but we'd play good one day, then bad the next."

Heading into the season, the third-year coach knew he "had some great pieces, but those were pieces that either didn't play a lot of minutes last year or had a lot of minutes on the JV."

With "great athletes and great character kids", Shellenbarger knew he could build something, but he needed each player to find it within himself to become a team player and do the necessary hard work.

The coach put the team through team building events including a sleepover in the gym where each one talked about goals for the season. The unanimous goal? Win the conference title.

"I knew we could (win) in one of two ways," Shellenbarger said. "Either a conference championship or a very average team."

Shellenbarger and his coaching staff worked to mold the players into a championship team. But it took some time.

"Even after three or four weeks of practice and a few games into the season, I didn't know what we had," Shellenbarger said.

Winning more than it lost, but still playing inconsistently, the team struggled to find its identity.

"I found out we had a group of scrappers on the team," he said. "A group of tough kids who were going to do the dirty work the other teams don't do."

Taking charges, diving after loose balls and showing plenty of hustle at both ends of the court gave the team confidence to use all of its abilities every day. Shellenbarger said the key to winning is not what's flashy on the court but sticking to principles that work.

"Our gaudiest stat: We took 26 charges as a team," he said. "That to me tells me how we won games. We weren't flashy by scoring 60, 70 and 80 points. Our leading scorer (Tyler Marwin) averaged 11.5 points. But we did it by holding teams to 44 points a game and doing the things that truly wins you championships."

Starting five brings different skills

Breaking down the team, Shellenbarger sized up his top players:

1. Tyler Marwin: The lone returning starter had played in the post, but the coach saw his shooting skills and made him shooting guard. "I played him in the post and he embraced it," he said. "I knew he had perimeter skills." The switch caught opponents off guard as Marwin had a hot start averaging 15-18 points a game with plenty of 3-point shots. 

Marwin was voted unanimously First Team All Conference and was runner-up in Conference Most Valuable Player.

2. Eric Thompson: The senior center was also voted unanimously to the First Team All Conference team. Thompson had only played half of last season so he was truly untested in Shellenbarger's eyes.

"He put in some serious time in the offseason and it obviously benefited him," Shellenbarger said. "To go from never playing a minute last year to First Team All Conference, he's the most improved kid in the conference."

Thompson had a steep learning curve but around mid-season he scored double figures and then kept the pace to the end. "He had five or six double-doubles (double digits in scoring and rebounding)," Shellenbarger said. "He just turned into an absolute monster for us and teams couldn't handle him."

3. Steve O'Connell: The senior guard had some action on the court last year and was known for his shooting.  It was his defense intensity combined with his offensive skills that kept him on the court and rarely on the bench this season.

"He's one of our best perimeter defenders and had a lot of responsibility for us," Shellenbarger said. "We had to keep him on the floor. Early on he scored 21, 17 then hit a shooting slump."

There "was no better way for him to break out of that by hitting the game-winning shot to win the conference championship," the coach said.

4. Deshawn Gilbert: The junior point guard was another untested player who "was a hero in a lot of games for us," Shellenbarger said. "He had a good first year as a varsity starter. He averaged about eight (points) a game. He was our No. 1 defensive stopper. He's lightning quick. He's going to be a great floor general. I can't wait to work with him in the off-season. He'll be a big key to our repeating as conference champions next year."

5. Jalen Harrison: The fifth starter and junior center also showed the coach remarkable talent on the floor. "He's a big body kid who was up for half a season last year," Shellenbarger said. "Significant improvement from last year to this year."

Moving from just a "big athletic kid last year to a big athletic kid with offensive skills and post moves and he became a vocal leader in the huddle."

Growing as a player wasn't the only improvement Harrison made. "As much as he's grown up on the floor, he's grown up just as much off the floor in terms of his character and leadership," Shellenbarger said.

Some of the other standout Clawson players this year were Cody Lehman, James Steffan and Kentrial Holt.

Clawson hits the floor at 7:30 tonight at Detroit Country Day, where they will take on Cranbrook in the state tournaments.

"It's a tough matchup no matter who we play," Shellenbarger said. "We'll be ready for them."