Welcome, Guest!

Boys basketball: Mike Renner breaks career-scoring record as Illineks win fifth straight

By cyoder
Published: Friday, January 18, 2008 - 2:46am
Tags:

POSTGAME COMMENTS: MIKE RENNER
Click to listen

Senior Mike Renner talks about becoming Uni's all-time leading scorer in boys basketball. He also discusses Thursday's win over LSA, which raises Uni's record to 14-5, 4-1.

Note: This is an updated version of an article originally posted Thursday night. For a breakdown of stats from this game, click here. For season results and remaining games, click here. Listen to postgame comments at right.

URBANA — There’s a new Renner atop the Uni basketball scoring list.

Senior Mike Renner set a boys basketball record for points in a career Thursday night, eclipsing the mark set by his brother Al from 2003 to 2006, as Uni defeated Decatur Lutheran School Association (LSA) 69-56 at Kenney Gym.

“When I broke it I was just glad to have it,” said Renner. “It was almost surreal, all the clapping. I just reflected back on my four years and I was just happy to be there with my teammates and break the record.”

Mike’s 15 points gave him 1,384 points in his career; his brother Al held the previous record with 1,372. Mike came into the game needing 4 points to set a new record. Al is currently a student at Notre Dame. (For more about the gifted Renners, including oldest brother Andy, click here for the 2005 Gargoyle feature story "Brothers in arms.")

“Mikey’s accomplishment is huge for him and his family, but it’s also a testament to his teammates that he’s had the last four years,” said head coach Joel Beesley. “But the overall record’s something he’ll be able to look back on he’s wanted it for a long time since he made fun of Al about it starting sophomore year and it’s something very special for him.”

Uni has now won five straight games after opening the new year with two home losses. The Illineks are 14-5 overall, 4-1 in the East Central Illinois Conference.

POSTGAME COMMENTS: JOEL BEESLEY
Click to listen

Head coach Joel Beesley talks about Mike Renner's all-time scoring record and Thursday's victory over LSA. He also discusses senior Austin Rundus, whose 3 treys helped Uni take control of the game.

The victory didn’t come easy for the Illineks. Uni had to overcome a slow start as LSA took a 13-4 lead in the first 6 minutes of play.

With Renner held scoreless, the Illineks trailed 16-7 at the quarter, and they struggled to find a rhythm offensively in the first 4 minutes of the second period. The visiting Lions increased their lead to 21-8 before Uni started to get on track.

A little past midway in the quarter Uni went on on a 12-0 run, sparked by senior point guard Chumar Williams scoring 5 points in 37 seconds to reduce LSA's lead to single digits, 21-14, and capped off by Renners' record-setting basket.

Renner netted his first points of the contest with 2:32 remaining before halftime, scoring on a layup to reach 300 for the season and 1,371 for his career.

He broke the record with another layup at the 1:31 mark, giving him 1,373 points and reducing LSA's lead to 21-20. Renner was fouled as he went up for the basket, and when it went in, the crowd came to its feet.

After play stopped 48 seconds later, a brief ceremony was held as Renner received the ball he used to score, and the crowd roared its approval.

The school's overall career record is held by 1986 graduate Sophia Neely, who scored 1,967 points before becoming a three-time All-Ivy League player for Dartmouth College (including Ivy League Player of the Year in 1989-90).

Uni went into halftime trailing 26-22. The Illineks closed the gap in the third quarter, with a 3-pointer by Austin Rundus briefly giving the Illineks their first lead of the night. A Renner layup at the buzzer sent the game into the fourth quarter tied at 36.

POSTGAME COMMENTS: AUSTIN RUNDUS
Click to listen

Senior Austin Rundus talks about record-setting teammate Mike Renner and as well as his own performance in Thursday's win over LSA.

The Illineks dominated the fourth quarter as they began an 11-2 run, including a pair of key treys by Rundus.

Ahead by a comfortable margin and taking advantage of the double-bonus, the Illineks took 16 free throws in the final 4:09, making 14 of them to seal the victory. The Illineks made 22-30 foul shots on the evening.

LSA drops to 10-9, 3-2.

“We changed defenses late in the first half, which kind of altered their offense a little bit and gave us a little spark,” said Beesley.

“We were very flat to start out [since] we were tired from Tuesday night and Paxton [PBL].

“Mikey’s accomplishment, breaking the record, that gave us a little spark going into halftime. In the second half we played more aggressive in transition, we rebounded a little better, we were able to get up and going.”

Williams led all scorers with a game-high 22 points, going 9 of 12 from the foul line. James Meers, with 17, was high scorer for the Lions.

Renner finished his record-breaking night with 15 points. The 6-foot guard/forward also had 5 steals, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Rundus added two more field goals to his 3 treys to score 13 on the night.

Frankie McFarland pulled down a team-high 5 rebounds and scored 9 points. Fellow senior Isaac Radnitzer had 4 boards and 3 assists to go with 4 points. Sophomore Dan Lilly connected on a 3-pointer and shot 2 for 2 at the line.

Last season, Uni defeated LSA twice: in a 62-56 road victory and in the final game of the season, when Renner scored a career-high 35 points, 20 of which came in a span of just 3 minutes, 16 seconds of the third quarter.

The varsity will return to the court Tuesday when Uni hosts crosstown rival and ECIC opponent Judah Christian. JV action will begin at 6 p.m., with the varsity to follow.

Uni’s JV defeated the LSA JV 45-18.

THE VARSITY SEASON SO FAR

2007-08 BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL: 14-5 overall, 4-1 ECIC
(home matches listed in bold)

Nov. 19: Shiloh (Central Illinois Turkey Tourney), W 80-32

Nov. 20: Buckley Christ Lutheran (Central Illinois Turkey Tourney), W 69-17

Nov. 23: Bement (Central Illinois Turkey Tourney), W 73-59

Nov. 24: Martinsville (Central Illinois Turkey Tourney championship game), W 74-43

Nov. 30: at Shiloh, W 72-23

Dec. 4: St. Thomas More, W 63-45

Dec. 14: at Oakwood, L 67-54

Dec. 18: Uni JV vs. BCL Varsity, W 40-23 (counts toward Uni's ECIC record only)

Dec. 27: Heritage (Hayden's Classic at Heritage), W 67-32

Dec. 27: Georgetown-Ridge Farm (Hayden's Classic at Heritage), W 63-41

Dec. 28: Salt Fork (Hayden's Classic at Heritage), L 71-64

Dec. 28: Atwood-Hammond (Hayden's Classic at Heritage), W 59-42

Dec. 29: Fisher (Hayden's Classic at Bismarck-Henning), L 60-42

Jan. 4: Decatur Christian, L 63-60 (OT)

Jan. 5: Lexington, L 51-48

Jan. 8: at Normal Calvary Baptist, W 74-51

Jan. 11: at DeLand-Weldon, W 70-25

Jan. 12: at Fisher, W 71-60

Jan. 15: Paxton-Buckley-Loda, W 71-57

Jan. 17: Decatur Lutheran School Association, W 69-56

2007-08 schedule: Click here for the Gargoyle Scoreboard, which includes remaining varsity games.

Related:
Making a name for himself: A profile of Mike Renner
Brothers in arms: Looking back at the three Renners
Q&A with Al and Mike Renner: Brotherly love and basketball

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <i> <b> <p> <br> <br />
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

Word Verification
Please verify that you are human by correctly translating the image into text.
Copy the characters (respecting upper/lower case) from the image.