Cougars Get First Tourney Win Since 2005

AFFTON HIGH SCHOOL – One of Mike Fitzgerald’s favorite things to do as coach of the Affton High boys basketball is keep track of his teams’ hustle plays.

So after every game, the third-year Affton coach takes a look at which player had the most rebounds, blocked shots, deflections, and dives on the floor for loose balls – all of which are plays that according to Fitzgerald signify how much extra effort his guys are willing to give to help the team win.

And as a reward, Fitzgerald will give whichever player had the most hustle plays a special WWE-style championship belt he had made, as a way of recognizing that player as the Cougars’ reigning champion of hustle.

“The kids love it,” Fitzgerald said. “Probably the first thing they’ll ask me once they get dressed, is ‘who gets the belt today?’ That’s always the first thing they ask about after every game.”

Following Thursday’s game, the championship game of the 2011 Affton Holiday Basketball Tournament, which the Cougars won in impressive fashion, 68-52, over St. Pius X High, Fitzgerald will have two primary candidates to possibly give the award to.

“It’s always between (twin brothers Kohl and and Reid Siebert),” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t even have to look at the stats sometimes. One of them wins it almost every time. They basically trade it back and forth every game.”

And against St. Pius, it seemed that both Siebert brothers really wanted the rights to the belt for the rest of 2011, as both Kohl and Reid were nearly everywhere and made nearly every play in the Cougars championship win over the Lancers.

“I like playing them together,” Fitzgerald said. “They just work so well together, and they always know where each other is. They have that special sense. It’s just fun watching them out there together.”

If total points scored figure into determining Affton’s “hustle champion,” then Reid Siebert will take the honors on this day. He led the Cougars’ balanced scoring output with 13 points, while teammate Halid Abera added 11 points, and Kohl Siebert had 10.

“You can’t win the belt with just total points,” Fitzgerald said. “But it doesn’t hurt.”

Affton took control of the game with its defense, which forced a number of St. Pius turnovers and ugly shots in the early going that allowed the Cougars to grab a 24-9 lead in the first quarter, and a 40-21 advantage by halftime.

From that point on, Affton just cruised to its first holiday tournament championship victory since 2005, which also gives the Cougars an 8-3 record heading into the 2012 portion of their schedule.

“This is definitely something we can build on going forward,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re a good team. But we’ve still got some work to do to be where we need to be for districts. We’re going to be starting our conference season, so it’s just going to get more intense every game.”

The Cougars will get a well-deserved couple days off over the weekend, then get back to work at practice on Monday, before heading out to Arnold on Tuesday, for their next game – a 7 p.m. tip-off against Fox.

Affton will then play two more road games (January 6 at Ladue, January 9 at Windsor), before hosting their first home game of 2012 on January 12 against neighborhood rival Lutheran South.

AFFTON COUGARS REMAINING BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

1/3                   at Fox                                      7 pm

1/6                   at Ladue                                   7 pm

1/9                   at Windsor                               7 pm

1/12                 vs. Lutheran South                    7 pm

1/16-1/20         Orchard Farm Tourney               TBA

1/26                 at Seckman                              7 pm

1/27                 vs. McCluer South-Berkeley     7 pm

1/31                 at Kennedy                               6:30 pm

2/3                   vs. Hancock                             7 pm

2/10                 vs. Normandy                           7 pm

2/14                 at Clayton                                 7 pm

2/16                 vs. Jennings                              6 pm

2/19-2/24         MSHSAA Districts                       TBA

                         @ Lutheran South High