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Whitewater's Hookstead earns all-conference honors

Miles Hookstead’s road to the Whitewater High basketball team began in grade school.

While a seventh-grader, Hookstead would run up to the high school and serve as the Whippets’ ball boy during the basketball season.

This year, he completed a successful four-year varsity career with the Whippets, while earning all-conference honors for the third straight season.

“He’s a real team-oriented guy,” said Whitewater coach Hugh Gnatzig. “He probably should have started as a freshman, but we went with a senior. Even the senior thought Miles probably should have started.”

After two years of making the All-Southern Lakes team, Hookstead has earned first-team honors in the Whippets’ first season in the expanded Rock Valley Conference’s North Division.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Hookstead consistently presented problems for opponents near the basket. He averaged 19 points a game and was the conference’s second-leading scorer. He shot 54 percent on field goals and 65.5 percent from the line, while averaging just less than 10 rebounds a game.

“He plays with his back to the basket as well as anybody in the state,” Gnatzig said. “That’s a lost art. Everyone wants to shoot the threes, instead of working on the twos.”

Hookstead, who was a standout at wide receiver and in the defensive line for the Whippets’ football team, now will what and where he wants to play in college.

While Hookstead was among the elite players, Edgerton senior Bryan Gregory has been named Player of the Year in the North Division, and Orfordville Parkview junior Nick Melton has gained the same honor in the South.

Different competitors and an addition of a geographic direction didn’t affect Gregory’s play.

Gregory accomplished the daily double in Player-of-the-Year voting, earning his second straight Rock Valley honor. In addition, he has earned all-conference first-team honors for the fourth straight season and AP All-State honorable mention the last two years.

Gregory, a 6-foot-4 center, led both divisions in scoring with 352 points in conference action. Gregory finished with 487 total points (21.1 ppg) and grabbed 117 rebounds (5.0 rpg). Gregory shot 64 percent from the field and 68 percent from the line this season, while becoming the school’s all-time career scoring leader with 1,496 points.

But there’s more to his story than scoring.

“His leadership is one of the bigger strengths,” Edgerton coach Mark Wanless said. “Plus, he played with a lot of composure. Whether he was double- or triple-teamed, when he caught the ball, he was able to finish.”

Melton, a 6-1 guard who also earned All-Rock Valley first-team honors as a sophomore, finished second among South Division players in conference scoring with 253 points.

Melton had impressive numbers throughout the statistic sheet, averaging 17.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.6 blocks.

“He was very special on our team,” said Parkview coach Paul Saevre. “One of the best things about Nick is he’s always working to improve. He has goals and things that he’s working on this offseason.

“In our last six or seven games, he continued to get stronger.”

Meanwhile, East Troy’s Darin Lottig earned Coach-of-the-Year honors in North Division, after his Trojans celebrated their first season in the conference by winning the championship with a 15-1 record

Brodhead’s Brian Kammerer also is a Coach of the Year, honoring his team’s championship in the South.

Seven of the 10 first-team North Division players are seniors, including Evansville’s Andrew Keister as a third-time selection. They are joined by three juniors.

The South is more youth-orientated, with only four seniors. Five are juniors, joined by one sophomore.

East Troy, Brodhead and Big Foot each have three players on their respective first teams.

North Division

Whitewater junior Tony Bilderback joins Hookstead on the first team.

Bilderback averaged 16.7 points and three assists a game. He shot 35 percent from three-point range and 50.4 percent overall.

Gnatzig said that, after a great freshman season, Bilderback thought his performance slipped last year as sophomore.

“He came back and had a fantastic junior year,” Gnatzig said. “There weren’t many people who could guard him. He’s one of the best slashers in the area.”

Junior Scott Beckwith and seniors Danny Douglas and Mitch Windle are East Troy’s contributions to the North first team. Beckwith had 97 assists in league play and 130 total. He shot 51 percent on field goals, 78 percent from the line and had a 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

“Scotty was great in finding people on our break,” Lottigsaid.

Douglas had with 215 points, averaging more than three three-point goals a game. He shot 41 percent from three-point range and 62 percent overall.

“Danny was deadly from three-point range,” Lottig said. “And he was always guarding one of the team’s better players.”

The 6-foot-3 Windle provided East Troy with an inside presence, grabbing an average of 8.1 rebounds a game, while averaginf 17 points.

“He is pretty tough to stop inside,” Lottig said. “Plus, he could step up from 15 feet and hit that.”

Jesse Deininger joins Keister as second-place Evansville’s first-team selections. Keister averaged 14.9 points, and Deininger, a 6-foot junior, averaged 9.3.

Jefferson’s Trevor Probst, a 6-1 senior, and McFarland’s Lucas Schmitz, a 6-3 senior, compete the first team. Probst was the division’s third-leading scorer with an 18.9-point average. Schmitz was fourth at 16.8.

South Division

Brodhead’s division title run was sparked by first-team selections Jacob Cole, Ryan Miller and J.J. Panoske.

Cole, a 5-8 junior guard, averaged 10.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists in league games.

“He was the quarterback of our team,” said Kammerer. “He really did a nice job of running our offense and providing leadership.

Miller, a 6-foot senior, averaged 14.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists.

“That kid really led by example,” Kammerer said of Miller. “He gave us a full effort and had a knack for being around the ball.”

Panoske, the only sophomore on either first team, averaged 16.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and had 102 blocked shots.

“He really came on this year,” Kammerer said of the 6-9 Panoske. “He was able to alter shots and was really valuable for us.”

Big Foot, which finished one game behind Brodhead in the South, has Alec McGreevy, Michael Spadoni and Nathan Nagel on the first team.

McGreevy, a 6-4 junior, scored 254 points, had 65 rebounds and 22 assists this season, including 173 points and 47 rebounds in conference action.

Spadoni, a 6-5 senior, scored 206 points, grabbed 107 rebounds and had seven assists, including 159 points and 84 rebounds in league games.

Nagel, a 6-1 junior, had 174 points, 145 rebounds, 52 assists and 27 steals. In 15 conference games, Nagel had 153 points, 111 rebounds, 32 assists and 23 steals.

Mike Jacobs and Aaron Jones helped first-year Beloit Turner coach Ken Watkins turn the Trojans’ into South Division contenders. They finished third with an 8-8 record, while all three earned first-team all-conference honors.

Jones, a 6-3 junior, averaged 13.5 rebounds and six rebounds a game, which led the Trojans in both categories.

“He’s really a difficult matchup,” Watkins said. “He led our team with 28 threes, but he can also beat you down low.”

Jacobs averaged 10.5 points and just less than three assists and three rebounds a game.

“Mike was really the glue that held our team together,” Watkins said. “He was the only player who played in every single game this season. Being in my first year, I’d say we’re about a year ahead of schedule to where we want to go, and Mike had a lot to do with that.”

Austin DeLong of Clinton also has gained a first-team spot. The 6-3 senior averaged 12.1 points a game and 5.7 rebounds.

“Austin is just a great kid,” said Clinton coach Denny Morris. “He’s everything a coach wants out of a player.

“I played him at all five positions through the season,” Morris said. “He would sometimes guard a 6-8 kid, and later in the game or the next game, he would help us bring the ball up the floor. He was extremely versatile.”