Transferring back into the Cleveland basketball program this season after a 5-year hiatus, Brennan Kortuem was instrumental in upping the Clippers’ record from1-25 a year ago to 11-15 this season.
The junior led the Clippers in points (501), three-point baskets (86) and free throws (97).
For his efforts, the Clippers chose him as the team’s Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year while Valley Conference coaches named him as one of their 15 All-Conference selections.
Kortuem and the rest of the Clippers were honored at an awards banquet, held in the commons on April 4.
“I don’t think I speak for the rest of the Valley Conference when I say we are pretty happy he transferred back to us,” said head coach Mike Meyer, who presided over the ceremony.
Meyer, who knew Kortuem as a kid and followed his career when his family moved from the Cleveland district to Blackduck, said the transition back was a smooth one.
“Five years is a long time, but from the coaches’ point of view, it was as if he had never left. I am incredibly proud of how this team took him (and his sophomore brother Alex Kortuem) in right from the start. Brennan didn’t come in and try to steal the limelight. He just came in ready to work, be coached and contribute however he could. He can take over games at times and forces teams to play an entirely different defense than they are used to. He is a great fit with the culture here.”
Junior Blake Lyons took home the Defensive Player of the Year award. Always at full throttle from the opening tipoff to the final buzzer, Lyons was second on the team in steals (37) and blocks (8) and third in rebounding (149).
Meyer said that it did not matter if Lyons was at guard or post, he was always ready to play at top level.
“You’ve all seen a player have an off night offensively. No matter how hard they are working, the hoop might just have a lid on it. But defense is different. It’s pretty tough to have an off night defensively unless you aren’t trying. Blake was ready to play defense every night. If there was a matchup this year that we gave him that he was nervous about, he did a pretty good job of not showing it. He plays so physically and just worked so hard. He is so much fun to watch.”
Voted on by Clipper players only, the Player’s Choice award, a new one this year, also went to Lyons.
“We simply told the guys to vote for someone who they considered a great teammate and mentor, someone they felt they could lean on and go to for advice, someone they looked up to,” Meyer said.
Indicating the leadership strength of the team, Meyer said many others received votes, but Lyons received the majority, and it was well deserved.
“He has been the heartbeat of this team for a couple of years now. He is a two-year captain and does a phenomenal job leading the team. He never shies away from the moment and came up pretty big for us on several occasions.”
Edging out his brother Carson Lyons by a fraction, Lyons also had the best three-point shooting percentage (33.8), made the team’s most assists (75) and was third in total points (257). For his effort, he was chosen as one of the Valley’s 14 All-Conference Honorable Mentions.
All over the stat sheet, freshman Carson Lyons won the Mr. All-Around award. Among the Clippers, he was second in total points (268), second in three-point baskets (28), second in rebounds (177), second in assists (74), first in assist-to-turnovers (1.09), first in steals (48) and had the highest free throw percentage (78 percent).
But even with those heady numbers, stats don’t always tell the full tale, Meyer said, and Carson Lyons’ contribution went far beyond what could be assigned a number. For example, in the playoff loss at NUC, he statistically played his worst game of the season, but that didn’t reflect what he showed on the court.
“He plays with such control and confidence and really helped set the tone for us that night and kept us in it at times. The stat sheet doesn’t show how many points he allowed. We don’t have a stat for forced turnovers or how many times he stepped in big to stop a drive or how many times he sealed his man so somebody would be free to grab a rebound. I often forget he’s a freshman.”
Conference coaches also chose Lyons as an All-Conference Honorable Mention, and, as picked by prephoops.com several days after the banquet, he was also chosen as Freshman of the Year in Class A Section 2 and made the third Freshman All-State team.
The Most Improved Player award went to senior Jorden Rossow. He put in 25 three-point baskets and totaled 112 points. He also had 34 steals and 69 assists, the third most for the Clippers.
“Jorden showed signs of his capabilities and leadership last season, but he really took form this year,” Meyer said. “His confidence on the floor was night-and-day difference with way less hesitation to shoot the ball, and he even caught us off guard a few times with some of his dribble attack moves that we didn’t even know he had.”
Meyer said Rossow’s support of underclassman and a great attitude also contributed to the program.
“He understood the importance of his role as a senior and showed his grit as he played through a couple of aliments that would have kept him off the floor last year, and that was just one of the ways his leadership showed though, but the biggest improvement we coaches saw Jorden was his attitude and maturity. He made a point to cheer on his younger teammates during the C and B games. He took criticism in stride. He practiced hard, and he was fun to be around.”
This year, the Clippers had some depth to work with for the first time in a few years, and that made for a big part of their success. Since he was typically the first player off the bench, junior Kyle Connor earned the Sixth Man award.
“Kyle is one of the smartest if not the smartest players we have,” Meyer said. “He has a gift for understanding basketball. He knows where he needs to be in order to be the most effective, but we often see him directing others on either side of the floor as well. He also has great insight on what we could be doing as a team to put us in a position to be successful.
Part of the savvy Connor has is due to asking questions, Meyer said, something high school players don’t do a lot.
“He asks question not just to understand what he needs to do, but he is trying to understand what we are trying to achieve with certain offenses or defenses so he can help implement them or find flaws in them.”
The Rookie of the Year award went to Bode Bartell. The sophomore had 126 points, 60 of them put up from three-point range. Against Mayer Lutheran he had a career high 19 points. He made 21 steals and 52 assists.
“We see Bode every day in practice and know what he is capable of offensively, and his teammates have been waiting all season for him to have that breakout game,” Meyer said. “He started a few games for us and was often one of the first off the bench. Although he can be a huge factor offensively, he earned his playing time with his work on defense.”
Carter Barto took home the Double-Double Award. After suffering season-ending ACL tears during the Clippers’ ninth game last year and during their second game when he was a sophomore, the senior had six points-rebounds double-doubles and 10 other games where he was one away from a double-double. Overall, he averaged 11 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game.
Barto’s medical crew initially told him after the second injury that his high school career was over, but he was cleared to play in the Clippers second game this season.
“I think we can almost guarantee that he would’ve averaged a double-double if it weren’t for us restricting playing time at the start of the season,” Meyer said. “The whole team was so thankful to get him back, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t putting too much on him too quickly, because as much as he wanted to be on the floor, and all of us wanted that as well, I just really wanted to see this kid play through a full season of varsity basketball and make the memories that come along with it.”
Also a new honor this year, the Together Award went to junior Kale Kelley.
Their motto, the Clippers break every huddle with the word “together,” and Meyer said that it signifies that the Clippers don’t want to be only the five players on the court but encompass and all-inclusive mentality with the team, the boys basketball program and the Cleveland community.
For players, that means hard work and respecting teammates, and Kelley is a sublime example, Meyer said, especially with his effort raising money for the Coaches Against Cancer free throw fundraiser and his volunteering at youth basketball camps.
But Kelley is also selfless on the court, Meyer said. He asked for time on the B squad so he could improve his game. He also has made sacrifices to help his teammates be successful.
“Kale is an incredible kid. What is great about him is that he understands the position he is in. What stood out to me most this year happened during warmups of one of our home games. Kale is a captain, and he could easily stand around and shoot during our warmups and nobody would think twice, but Carter (assistant coach Carter Kopet) and I were watching him and he was not shooting at all. Instead, he was grabbing rebounds and throwing them out for Bode to shoot. Midway through this season he asked if he could stay after our home game and work on some stuff, and then it became a ritual for him after each home game for him to work on his skills. He was giving up his time in warm-ups to make his teammates better and then giving up his time after the games to make himself better. That is exactly what we are trying to achieve with this program, and that is the “together” mentality.”
Besides the award winners, earning a letter was junior Alex Johnson.
Braeden Smith earned a special award, Dunk of the Year, for a dunk he made during a C-squad game. It was the first dunk by a Cleveland player in the new gym and was a bellwether for the freshman’s basketball future.
With a GPA of over 3.5 during the season, Connor, Barto, Kelley and the Lyons brothers earned All-Conference academic awards.
The team raised $24,000, $6000 more than last year, for its Coaches Against Cancer free throw fundraiser.
This summer, along with the annual trip to the Wisconsin Dells, the Clippers will participate in the Bethany tournament, up to six one-day tournaments and practices.
Meyer thanked school food administrator Monica Manzey for catering the banquet, Greg Davis for keeping book, assistant coaches Andy Schmidt, Travis Mons and Kopet for all their work building the program, the coaches’ wives and fiancée: Kylee Myer, Jenny Schmidt, Katie Mons and Katelyn McCabe. He thanked parents for raising “terrific kids,” parent Candance Lyons for organizing off-season activities and this author.
Note. Other than points and free throw percentage, the stats listed here do not include the game against Sleepy Eye.
Above: Top award winners Kale Kelley, Blake Lyons, Kyle Connor, Jorden Rossow, Carter Barto, Brennan Kortuem, Braeden Smith, Carson Lyons and Bode Bartell.
Conference award winners Carson Lyons, Blake Lyons and Brennan Kortuem.
Letter winners: Blake Lyons, Bode Bartell, Carter Barto, Jorden Rossow, Kyle Connor, Kale Kelley, Brennan Kortuem and Carson Lyons. Missing is Alex Johnson.
Earning Academic All-Conference awards were Carter Barto, Kyle Connor, Blake Lyons, Kale Kelley and Carson Lyons.
Coach Mike Meyer presents senior Jorden Rossow with the MIP award. In back are coaches Travis Mons, Andy Schmidt and Carter Kopet.
Coach Mike Meyer presents senior Carter Barto with the Double-Double award.