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20.3 PPG, 4.9 Rebounds, 1.8 Assists, 1.6 Steals
With star center Austin Parks moving on to Ohio State, St. Marys turned to two senior forwards, Evan Angstmann and Jace Turner.
It was Angstmann who became the engine of the Roughriders' offense, resetting program records for 3-pointers in a game and a season and surpassing 1,000 points as St. Marys came five minutes from a regional tournament berth and a trip to Bowling Green.
For all those achievements, Angstmann is the Daily Standard's boys basketball Player of the Year.
"I wasn't aiming for any of that," he said of his individual accomplishments. "I was just trying to get back to BG and win games. But in the end, yeah, it's cool to see all the records that I broke. Really I was just trying to be a team player this year."
Angstmann averaged 11.5 points per game in his junior campaign, which ended when the Roughriders were knocked out in the district semifinals on a buzzer-beater against Van Wert.
This year, he said St. Marys coach Dan Hegemier pushed him to attack the basket more, and with Parks no longer ruling over the paint, he got plenty of opportunities to drive inside.
"That's with Coach harping on me about getting to the rim instead of staying out, shooting the ball like I did the first three years," Angstmann said. "This year, I had to attack more, because they weren't going to let me shoot on the outside the whole time. I had to find other ways to score."
It was his 3-point shooting that saw the most noticeable jump. After hitting 25 treys as a sophomore and 37 as a junior, he went all the way up to 74 this year, although his shooting percentage dipped a few points as he took 115 more shots from outside.
"The past few years, we had to get it in a lot more," he said. "I had the green light the whole year this year. I knew that if we wanted to win a lot of games, I'd have to shoot a lot of shots."
Angstmann opened the year with three straight 20-plus point games, culminating with a 34-point outing against New Bremen that included five 3-pointers.
He exceeded 20 points six more times in the first two months of the season and was held below 10 just once, in a loss to Dublin Jerome at Fort Loramie in the MLK Classic. Even then, he still made one of the key plays, firing a pass to Turner for a layup in the final seconds to force overtime.
With both in their third full season on varsity, Angstmann said that he and Turner have developed a strong connection.
"I've always had Jace on the court with me, at all times," he said. "We just have chemistry, where we basically know where the other person is going. Just throw it inside to him, and you know it's going to be a bucket most of the time. He knows where you're at on the court. It's great playing with a guy like him."
His season-high came against Indian Lake on Jan. 27, when he scored 36 points and the Roughriders rallied down the stretch to pull out a win. He also broke Carter Ballweg's school record with nine triples, having tied it with eight against Western Buckeye League champion Ottawa-Glandorf two weeks before.
"That just gave me a lot of confidence," he said of that game. "Especially because the night before, we played Shawnee, I played horrible. So it helped me a lot with confidence."
Even in that Shawnee game, a 69-57 road loss, Angstmann put up 22 points.
Angstmann added 22 points against Minster and 33 against St. Henry in February. In the regular season finale against Celina, he was held to nine points, the second and last game he scored less than 10.
Around then, Angstmann and Turner were both limited by the flu at different times, but both recovered fully by the start of the tournament. After rolling past Kenton, the Roughriders beat Elida 65-51 in the district semifinals in what Angstmann called their best game of the year.
"Towards the end of the season, our chemistry got a lot better," he said. "It was a little shaky towards the middle, but the last few games were really good, especially the Elida game. Felt like we all played our role, and everything just felt right."
In the district final against Shawnee, Angstmann went over 1,000 career points late in the first quarter, and St. Marys played even until a slump in the final minutes allowed the Indians to pull away.
Angstmann said the late slowdown had less to do with the outcome than first-half shooting, for which he took the blame.
"The first half, I missed some easy mid-range shots that I don't usually miss," he said. "I probably missed about five of those. If we had those, I think that fourth quarter would've been ours."
After the season, Angstmann was named to the All-WBL and All-District first teams. He is considering his options for college, hoping to find a spot on a Division II or NAIA program.
Regardless, he leaves a mark on the St. Marys program, with his name etched in Roughriders history.
"I was just blessed to be a part of the St. Marys basketball team, with all my coaches and teammates," he said. "It was a fun ride. Being able to be teammates with those guys was fun."
