Junior Louder stands tall, lifts Cougars
Coronado’s boys basketball team ran almost all of its offense through post player Brandon Glanz last season.
Glanz, who averaged 25.2 points and 16 rebounds, has moved on to Idaho State, but Michael Louder looks like a pretty good replacement inside.
The 6-foot-8-inch Louder had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 11 blocked shots on Tuesday to lead the Cougars to a 78-70 home victory over Arbor View in the season opener for both teams.
“The thing about Michael is he’s a young junior, he’s still developing and he works really hard every single day,” Coronado coach Jeff Kaufman said. “Before where he was timid, now he’s going after blocking shots. He’s not afraid to make contact with people, and he’s attacking the bucket.
“He’s going to be a big force for us.”
Coronado players found Louder wide open behind the Arbor View press several times, and the rail-thin junior delivered four dunks.
“When he starts throwing down those dunks, the other team, they don’t want to see that,” Kaufman said. “Nobody wants to get broken down.”
Louder had a big second half after senior forward Adam Schmitt went to the bench with his fourth foul with 4:50 to go in the third quarter. Schmitt had 12 points and 12 rebounds at the time.
Louder scored 16 points from that point, 14 in the fourth quarter. In the second half he compiled 19 points, seven rebounds and seven blocked shots.
“With Schmitt sitting down because of fouls, we needed somebody to step up,” Kaufman said. “All in all, our big three guys came through strong.”
DeAndrea Johnson hit two free throws after Schmitt’s fourth foul to lift Arbor View within 48-45, but Louder answered with a dunk against full-court pressure, and the Aggies never got closer than three points the rest of the way.
Schmitt had 14 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots, and point guard Austin Nelson had 19 points, six rebounds and eight assists.
Johnson led Arbor View with 18 points. Chase Ealy added 14 points and nine rebounds, and teammate Blake Claxton scored 12 for the Aggies.
