Published on January 21, 2026 10:36 am
Last Updated on January 21, 2026 10:37 am
#2 ST. ANTHONY BULLDOGS
Coach: Cody Rincker
Record at Seeding: 12-7, 5-0 NTC
by DUSTIN WHITE
If you were the incurious sort, you might point to St. Anthony’s 12-7 overall record and the plethora of varsity experience the Bulldogs graduated from last year’s state tournament qualifier and say: “See? I told you they’d be a little down this year.”
Nobody’s here to compare this year’s St. Anthony club to last season’s special group just yet, but make no mistake: just like a year ago – and pretty much every year in recent history – Coach Cody Rincker’s squad has everything it takes to walk out of Altamont High School and the 90th Annual National Trail Conference boys basketball tournament with championship hardware in tow.
St. Anthony secured the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will be looking for a third consecutive title, seventh in nine seasons and 26th overall.
True … the Bulldogs did get off to an 0-4 start, dropping games at its own Thanksgiving tournament to Edwardsville, Chicago Leo, and Effingham before falling to Salem by two points on Dec. 2. The counterpoint is: those first two are 3A schools having great years while the second two have proven themselves difficult teams to play in their own right.
And since then, the Northsiders finished fifth in the always challenging Effingham/Teutopolis Christmas Classic with back-to-back nail-biting victories over Oregon and Lutheran North (the former involving a frenzied double-digit comeback in the final few minutes, the latter involving two overtimes) and their only non-tournament losses have been on a buzzer-beater against Bloomington Central Catholic and more recently on the road at Nashville against one of the best 2A teams in the state.
“We’re a young team that has shown a lot of growth and potential this season,” said Rincker, now St. Anthony’s longest-tenured boys basketball coach in his 13th year on the job.
Intense defense has always been a hallmark of Rincker’s teams, but that aspect of this year’s Bulldogs team is even more vital. Rincker has plenty of athletes, but only a couple seniors and precious few varsity minutes from anyone not named Keenan Griffith. His youngsters are getting on-the-job training and many times defense can develop faster than offense.
“Overall, their strength is in their versatility on the defensive side of the ball,” said Rincker of his players. “We have demonstrated the ability to guard teams in a variety of ways and adapt to what the game calls for and turn defense into offense.
“Offensively our strength has been in our ability to share the ball; we have several good passers and when we are able to move the ball, keep it simple, and attack the hoop, good things have happened.”
Griffith scores 11.6 points per game for St. Anthony and continues to run point after doing so all the way to Assembly Hall as a junior. His scoring has ticked up – it simply wasn’t his job to put up a ton of shots last year – but that doesn’t even begin to explain what he means to the team as he turns it over fewer than once per game despite doing the vast majority of St. Anthony’s ballhandling.
“His leadership skills have shown in some very crucial moments for this young Bulldog team,” said Rincker, adding that Griffith averages three assists and a couple steals per game.
Griffith’s only classmate on the St. Anthony roster is Aiden Lauritzen, who sat out a year ago with some lingering baseball injuries and has been a tone-setter for the kind of intensity it takes to excel on a Cody Rincker team.
“Aiden is our physical leader on the team,” says Rincker. “He plays extremely hard and is always willing to sacrifice his body by taking charges, diving on the floor and guarding the other team’s best player.”
Essentially 10 points per game don’t hurt from Lauritzen either, while junior Miles Waldhoff has taken perhaps the largest step forward in the St. Anthony program to go from key reserve minutes as a sophomore to being Rincker’s leading scorer at nearly 14 points per outing.
“Miles does a great job of being a spark offensively with runouts, three-point shooting, and being aggressive towards the hoop,” said Rincker. “Jonny Gannaway and Freddie Jansen help solidify the paint. Both players have good size and length and have good anticipation skills on the defensive end.
“They are still learning how and where their scoring will come from but have each had multiple games in double figures this season.”
Gannaway and Jansen are both sophomores who have emerged as young starters for St. Anthony over the course of the season. Gannaway missed some of those earliest games recovering from a finger injury and likely would’ve started from Day One had he been available. Additional depth comes from freshman Blake Verdeyen playing with a confidence beyond his years along with juniors Will Bierman and Gabe Looman; Bierman can run the point and Looman, at 6-foot-7, doesn’t have many peers in the conference when it comes to frame.
St. Anthony’s biggest NTC test so far came in another double-OT game, a 67-60 win at third-seeded Dieterich on Dec. 19 after already securing a home win against fellow contender North Clay on Dec. 5. The composure shown in those triumphs, along with subsequent tough victories, is what Rincker says he’ll need to see from his boys if they want to pull off an NTC tournament three-peat.
“We’ll need to be disciplined both offensively and defensively,” said Rincker. “We will need to execute effectively on defense to help our offense, and then execute offensively to create more easy baskets than we give up.”