Lanphier’s Holman and Williamsville’s Saling take on challenges

On By Vaseline

The State Journal-Register boys basketball players of the year had a similar theme for their junior seasons: the need to take their game to the next level.

For Williamsville’s Brayden Saling, the Bullets needed someone to step up after leading scorer Blake Shoufler’s season-ending injury in December.

Lanphier’s JaiQuan Holman, already a star for the Lions before the 2023-24 season started, had to find a way to have more impact on both ends of the field.

Both players exceeded their coaches’ expectations.

Saling, SJ-R’s small school boys basketball player of the yearand Holman, the newspaper’s Large School Boys Basketball Player of the Year, helped their teams improve throughout the season.

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Saling steps up

If Williamsville had dreams of making the Class 2A state tournament during its 8-0 start, it’s understandable that those were seemingly lost when Shoufler broke his ankle in the Bullets’ final game before the Christmas break. At the time, he averaged 15.9 points per game.

It wasn’t just Saling who took his game to the next level. It was a team-wide effort. Seniors Brecken Thomas and Carson Kohler, Saling and fellow junior Reid Bodine and sophomore Garrett Timm eventually coalesced into a stable – and winning – starting five.

“This must be my time,” Saling thought after Shoufler’s injury. “I have to step up, I have to be that guy. I just went out there and played my game, and we were successful.”

Williamsville coach Nick Beard said there is no overnight formula for success, just a series of trial and error. But ultimately, Saling was the player who handled the ball more, finishing with averages of 13.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

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In his first nine games, he scored fewer than 10 points four times. In his last 28 games he has only scored fewer than 10 four times.

“He went from just being a catch-and-shoot, three-point guy — that’s what a lot of people thought he was coming into this season,” Beard said. “His game has improved and evolved so much over the season, more than any player I’ve ever had.

“He started to handle the ball a bit, he was a great defender, he finished at the bottom of our 1-3-1 (defense) and he rebounded the ball well for his size. He was the guy on the scouting report that everyone revolved around.

The Bullets lost to Calvary in the Williamsville Holiday Tournament title game and dropped a Sangamon County Tournament semifinal to eventual runner-up New Berlin. Even a three-game losing streak in February – to Pleasant Plains, Fairbury Prairie Central and Maroa-Forsyth – didn’t seem to indicate what was on the horizon.

In the Class 2A Athens regional title game, the Bullets got some measure of revenge for the Jan. 19 loss to Riverton by winning 59-42. Five days later, Williamsville again got revenge for a late regular season loss to Auburn by winning the Beardstown Sectional semifinal over the Trojans 53-40. On March 1, Williamsville outlasted Alton Marquette 48-47.

The coup was a comeback victory over Macomb, winning the Springfield Supersectional 36-32 to advance to the state tournament semifinals for the first time since 1991. He scored 43 points in the two state tournament games as the Bullets finished fourth.

“We all just played well in the postseason,” Saling said. “We played as a team. There aren’t many teams that play with the same chemistry; like we all knew our strengths and weaknesses, and we all play really well together.

Next season will be filled with even greater expectations now that Saling has become a star and with Shoufler’s return to health, plus the natural maturation of players who were asked to do even more in Shoufler’s absence.

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Holman wraps up

Driving into the paint is no easy task when most opponents are bigger, stronger and stubbornly protect the basket at all costs.

Lanphier coach Blake Turner remembers that a younger Holman shunned contact. The biggest leap Holman made between his sophomore and junior years was knowing he could get back up off the floor after a collision.

“I thought he got stronger, he finished a lot better through contact,” Turner said. “I thought he improved his shooting selection, which in turn improved his percentage and I think the game was slower for him so he could pick his points and get there when he wanted to.”

Making contact allowed Holman to go from 36.9% overall (133-of-360) as a sophomore to 42.4% (177-of-417) as a junior, despite a drop in 3-point percentage (34.9% – 32.9%).

“I missed easy layups that I know I can make,” Holman said. “All I had to do was go to the gym because I found myself coming to screens more and more to take me out of my game – little things that can be fixed. That offseason I stayed in the weight room.

Holman also found his voice during the season.

“I became more of a leader and just like the people around me – the coaches, my teammates – they (saw) that I was aware and wanted more,” Holman said.

Jessie Bates III, Lanphier’s senior captain for the 2023-2024 season, said he saw plenty of evidence the Lions will be in good hands under Holman next season.

“From his leadership standpoint and his defensive standpoint, he’s really grown,” Bates said. “Without me in charge next year, I feel like he’ll be a better leader for the team and he’ll push them to where they need to be.”

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Holman also expanded his range on his 3-point range, even pulling up from beyond the volleyball line.

“He would shoot volleyball line 3s (in practice) and I would stop and say, ‘That’s not a good shot … and shoot five,’” Turner said. “He made the first three or two of the first three and I said, ‘Okay man.’”

Holman was disappointed in the loss to Sacred Heart-Griffin in the Class 3A Lanphier Regional title game. Next season he wants to return to the Lions’ mantra of ‘chasing titles’.

“I have a feeling next year is going to be a lot of fun,” Holman said. “Everything we wanted last year, I think we’ll get it next year. I think everyone is on the same page and we know what we have to do to win big games like this.”

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, [email protected]Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.