Basketball notebook: BV’s Carter Salisbury, DePue’s Andres Moreno join the 1,000-point club

Two Bureau County seniors have joined their school’s 1,000-point club.

Storm hotshot Carter Salisbury continues to leave his mark in the Bureau Valley record book. He became the eighth player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark with 32 points in Friday’s win over St. Bede.

After games with Orion and Sherrard, Salisbury now stands eighth all-time at BV at 1,073 with a shot to move up a spot or two.

All-Stater Parker Neuhalfen is the Storm’s all-time leading scorer with 2,228 career points. He’s followed by Reuben Slock (1,771), Phil Endress (1,463), Kale Barnett (1,372), Tommy Johnston (1,253), Nate Paup (1,143) and Luke Davis (1,100).

Salisbury set BV’s single-game scoring record with 45 points against Hall on Feb. 8.

DePue senior Andres Moreno became the 21st player to join the Little Giants’ coveted 1,000-point club in Tuesday’s 70-50 win over Leland. He needed 26 and got 32, now standing at 1,006.

DePue coach Charlie Klinefelter said Moreno was trying so hard to hit the mark, he took him out after missing three shots in 30 seconds to allow him to refocus.

“I told him to settle down and let the game come to you and forget about what you need to score,” Klinefelter said. “Then he came back in the game with a 16-0 run himself and the rest was in the books.”

Moreno needs just seven points to overtake Rick Resetich (1,012) to become the No. 20 leading scorer for DePue, and could move up 2-3 more spots with a big game in Saturday’s regional against Midland.

Little Giants legend and Bureau County Hall of Famer Ron Zagar is the all-time leading scorer in Bureau County with 2,515 career points.

* Powe power: Kewanee senior Niko Powe scored 50 points against Hall to set the Boilers’ single-game record. He broke the previous record held by former All-Stater Donovan Oliver, who scored 46 points against ROWVA on Feb. 26, 2016.

Powe was ranked No. 7 all-time on the Kewanee all-time scoring charts with 1,255 career points and is closing in on No. 6 Marcus Dearing (1,328), a 1994 graduate.

* Boiling over: Kewanee clinched the Three Rivers Conference East Division championship with last week’s 83-59 win over Hall. This is only the third time in school history in which the football and boys basketball teams captured conference titles in the same year.

The Boilers also turned the double play in 1943-44 and 1985-86.

* Coaches honored: Two area veteran coaches who are retiring at the end of the season after highly successfully careers were recognized at their last home games.

Matt Winkler has been the only varsity basketball coach the 30-year-old Fieldcrest district has known. He leaves a lasting legacy, winning 19 holiday tournaments (including 12 Colmone Classics), eight conference tournaments, 14 regular-season league titles, 14 regional championships, two sectional titles and making two IHSA Elite Eight appearances.

Winkler’s teams have won 612 games against only 220 losses, a .736 winning percentage.

Rick Toloffson is stepping down after 16 years at Newark. He has compiled a 336-139 record, capped by the 2011 Class 1A state championship and 10 regional titles.

* Last second shots: Princeton’s girls finished 19-3, winning the most games in 16 years since the Sweet 16 team of 2006-07 went 24-7. The only other winning season since that team was in 2018 at 17-11. The only other season with more wins was 2005-06 with 21. ...The Tigresses went undefeated at home (11-0) during the regular season, more than likely the first PHS girls team to do so. ... Jim Perona, a veteran of 10 years on the local high school radio airwaves for WSOG, has called two Lane Tech games, where his nephew, Joseph Perona, plays. ... Fulton’s boys set a school record with their 27th win Monday. The Steamers are unbeaten in NUIC play (11-0).