A special season could be shaping up for unbeaten Indian Creek, but don’t expect Cooper Larsen to get ahead of himself.
Not after what happened last season.
A third-year varsity starter averaging 18 points and 10.1 rebounds for the Timberwolves (13-0), Larsen remembers last season all too well. Third-seeded Indian Creek was upset by seventh-seeded Winnebago in the first round of its Class 2A regional and finished 20-10.
The team may be dropping back down to Class 1A for the playoffs this season, but Larsen is taking nothing for granted.
“Honestly, I didn’t even look at the record as we’ve been going along,” Larsen said. “As we keep playing games, I’ve been thinking, ‘One at a time, one at a time.’ But after we won the Marseilles (holiday) tournament, I was like, ‘Whoa, we’re 12-0.’ “
It was the second tourney title for Indian Creek, which also won in its first appearance at Aurora Christian’s Burney Wilkie Tournament, as coach Joe Piekarz decided to upgrade his team’s schedule.
On Jan. 25, the Timberwolves will play the fourth-ranked team in Iowa’s Class 2A at a shootout in Fulton, Illinois, and on Feb. 15 they’ll meet a strong Chicago Hope team at a shootout they host.
Larsen, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, scored 23 points in a 73-57 win over Oregon on Saturday. That effort made him the fifth 1,000-point scorer in program history since Shabbona and Waterman merged in 1993 to form Indian Creek. His career total stands at 1,021.
“He’s interested in playing at the next level and has several Division III schools looking at him,” Piekarz said. “Cooper can play inside and outside. He’s so versatile. He’s a National Honor Society kid, great team leader and well-rounded player. Everybody feeds off it.”
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With six of his top eight players back, including four juniors, Piekarz had high hopes for this season, but this is his team’s best start in his 14th year. He’s had just one losing season at Indian Creek.
“They’ve all taken a huge step forward and put in a tremendous amount of work,” Piekarz said. “They love being in the gym, and we had 17 participate in our summer program.”
There’s good balance, with junior guards Drew Gaston, Michael Lampson and Cam Russell averaging 13.4 points, 12.5 and 8.3, respectively. Junior forward Brennen McNally also starts.
“Lampson was 5-10 last year and is now 6-3,” Piekarz said. “Cam Russell was 5-7 last year and is now 5-11. From sophomore year to junior is such a big jump, but they’ve all gotten stronger too.”
Senior Tyler Swanson, an Aurora University baseball commit, is the sixth man, with juniors Davis Stryker and Jordan Wortman giving Piekarz a formidable top eight.
Larsen said the team is defined by its defense and uptempo style on offense.
“We want to keep pushing and take other teams out of what they want to do,” he said.
Looming the first week of February is the Little Ten Tournament. Indian Creek, which has lost to Newark in the title game four straight years, should join Somonauk and the Norsemen as top contenders again this year.
Let’s get technical: Plainfield East and West Aurora had unique starts to the first two quarters of their game Tuesday.
The Bengals opened the game with two free-throw attempts, making one, after the Blackhawks were called for a technical foul for a player hanging on the rim in a pregame dunk with the officials on the floor.
West Aurora then received two free throws to start the second quarter after a Plainfield East player who wasn’t entered in their score book entered the game.
Noteworthy: Batavia senior Jayden Johnson was named to the all-tournament team at York.