Richards has rewarding all-star experience
by Greg Ceilley of The Review staff
PLYMOUTH – The week-long experience connected with the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association’s all-star basketball event was very rewarding for Plymouth’s Scott Richards and his Division 2 boys South squad.
“At the end of the day when you find out how much you supported the MACC [Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer] Fund, it makes it all worthwhile,” said Richards who was the South’s head coach.
The South edged the North, 88-87, June 19 at the UW-Madison Field House. The all-star series, which showcased the state’s top seniors, raised over $105,000 for the MAAC Fund. Richards said his squad raised in excess of $30,000. The other games in boys and girls divisions 1-4 were also held June 19.
“It was a great game. We were down 87-83 with 2:29 left. To hold them scoreless the last 2½ minutes was pretty impressive,” said the former Plymouth High School head boys basketball coach.
“Both teams played really hard. There was very good teamwork by both teams.”
Derek Schell from Catholic Memorial (Waukesha) hit a three-pointer with 48 seconds left to give the South an 88-87 lead.
Richards enjoyed coaching the squad and being a part of the all-star experience. His assistant coaches were Plymouth’s Josh Oppeneer and Port Washington head boys coach John Bunyan.
“These are very high-quality kids. They got a long really well,” said Richards. “They came together well for the most part and shared the ball [well].”
Richards said he was humbled and honored to be an all-star coach because there are a lot of good coaches in the state.
“It was really special coaching three Division 1 college recruits,” he said.
Catholic Memorial’s T.J. Bray will play at Princeton University, Port Washington’s Josh Gasser is headed to Wisconsin and Wisconsin Lutheran’s Flavien Davis is a Loyola, Chicago recruit.
“They [South players] enjoyed the experience. They enjoyed Plymouth a lot,” Richards recalled.
The South all-stars practiced in Plymouth June 14-16.
“It was nice to coach again,” said Richards who retired this year after coaching the Panthers the past nine seasons.
Prior to the all-star games, the participating teams visited cancer patients at a children’s hospital in the Madison area June 18.
Waupun’s Austin Armga and Kiel’s Brandon Gries played on the Division 2 North team. They were coplayers of the year in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference last season.
“Once again, Armga and Gries tried hard to make my life miserable,” cracked Richards, referring his PHS teams’ matchups against the two standouts in EWC action.
“Seeing Gries and Armga in the all-star game is a credit to the EWC and shows the quality of the conference.”
