Ramsey Owens and the rest of Manteno’s sophomores have always been winners.
They went to state as eighth graders and now are part of the varsity rotation for a team with a bright future.
Owens scored 18 points and displayed a nice touch from beyond the arc on Dec. 28 when the Panthers fell 65-52 to Christ the King in the Blue Division final at the 75th Kankakee Holiday Tournament.
Senior Braden Campbell, who scored 13, and Owens made the all-tourney team for Manteno (7-6), which was playing in its third straight Blue final.
Owens, one of five sophomores who are in Manteno’s rotation, shot 4-for-6 from 3-point range. That was part of a 9-for-17 showing that kept the Panthers within striking distance till the final four minutes.
“Shots were falling in warmups,” Owens said. “The key is just being confident shooting. Just no matter what, just keep shooting, next shot mentality always.”
Manteno coach Zack Myers isn’t surprised by the 6-2 guard’s productivity.
“He put up some big numbers as a freshman on the JV last year, so we knew he could score,” Myers said. “He had some parts of his game that we talked to him about and he’s really put in the work. And he can fill up a score sheet.
“I think in the second half of the season, we’ll keep seeing those strides made and he’ll keep putting up those numbers.”
The more games Owens plays, the more comfortable he’ll be with the demands of varsity basketball.
“I mean, it’s always gonna be tough,” he said. “Going against older, stronger people. The physicality is a lot tougher, but yeah, obviously you’ve just got to adapt.”
This was a game against a perennial Class 2A power that can only help the Panthers down the road, Myers believes.
“(We’re) going through some growing pains and stuff,” he said. “But I feel like when we play these tough games and we play this competition, it helps us grow.
“… You’re going to have these tough moments. … But … if you take it and learn from it — we’re definitely getting better. We are improving in a lot of areas. In particular, I think our defense has been pretty solid lately and (it’s) something we can build on going into the second half of the season.”
The Panthers tried a new wrinkle on defense against Christ the King (8-2).
“That zone, that’s the first time we’ve ever thrown that out,” Myers said. “I thought the guys did a pretty good job. … That was something we went to every game last year and we … brought it out this morning, worked on it a little bit. It wasn’t too bad.”
So what’s the ceiling for this team?
A regional title is a goal, according to Owens, and could be a springboard to even bigger and better things.
“Especially with such a young team, definitely junior and senior year we can (also) go far,” he said.