Coaches named for Muddy River Showcase set for June 21 at JWCC’s Student Activity Center

QUINCY — The fourth annual Muddy River Showcase on Saturday, June 21, will pit the top seniors from Illinois and Missouri in a basketball all-star setting. The girls game begins at 2 p.m. with the boys game to follow at 4 p.m. at John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center.

Before the players are named, here are the coaches who will direct each squad for the Showcase.

Illinois Boys: Jeff Dahl, West Hancock

Assistants: Paxton Harmon, Jamie Cousins, Brandon Gronewald

Dahl will occupy the same sideline normally reserved for his son. The father of John Wood Community College men’s basketball coach Jonny Dahl, Jeff Dahl guided the West Hancock boys to 28 victories last season before a loss to Pleasant Plains in the Class 2A regional championship game for the second straight year. The Titans posted a 9-0 West Central Conference record and eclipsed 20 victories for the third consecutive season.

Dahl returned to Warsaw to coach West Hancock in 2020, two decades after a seven-year stint at Warsaw High School during which he won three regional championships and a state title in 1997. He won a national championship as an assistant at Southeastern Community College (Iowa) in 2000. He then went on to be the boys basketball head coach at Keokuk (Iowa) High School, where he coached his two sons, Jonny and David. After taking a break from coaching to watch Jonny play college basketball, Jeff Dahl got back into coaching as an assistant for David at Iowa Wesleyan and Culver-Stockton before taking the West Hancock job.

Jeff Dahl has won more than 300 games in his coaching career, reaching the 300-win plateau on Dec. 2, 2023.

Illinois Girls: Matt Long, Central-Southeastern

Assistants: Jordan Harris, Chad Passley

One of the most accomplished coaches in the area will sing one last swan song before going into retirement. In 32 seasons in Camp Point, Long won 641 games, 15 regional titles and five sectional championships. He guided CSE to a 30-4 record and an appearance in the Class 2A Vandalia Super-Sectional last season, in which the Panthers lost to eventual state champion Nashville.

Long decided before the 2024-25 season that it would be his last. The Panthers won regional titles in each of Long’s final three seasons and reached a super-sectional in the last two. The Panthers reached final fours in 2016 and 2017 with a best finish of third in 2016. Long was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2019.

Missouri Boys: Dalton Armontrout, Canton

Assistants: Doug Wilson, Andy Anderson

The architect of the best state finish in Canton boys basketball history will man the sideline for the Missouri boys. Armontrout captained the Tigers to a second-place finish in Class 2 last season. The Tigers knocked off the No. 6 team in Class 2, Harrisburg, in the state quarterfinals and the No. 4 team, Puxico, in the state semifinals before taking on Eugene, the state’s top-ranked squad. Canton led Eugene 49-45 entering the fourth quarter of that state championship game, but a 4-minute, 34-second scoring drought in the final stanza was too much for the Tigers to overcome in a 72-61 loss.

Last year’s Canton squad also featured Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Class 2 Player of the Year Preston Brewer, who will begin playing at Quincy University next season. Brewer averaged 25.4 points and 11.5 rebounds and became the program’s all-time leading scorer.

Armontrout, a Centralia graduate, took the Canton job before the 2022-23 season to replace Ron Curtis after a two-year stint at South Shelby. Armontrout has compiled a 62-27 record in three seasons since, increasing the Tigers’ win total by five each season.

Missouri Girls: Kelsey Stuart, Palmyra

Assistant: Nicole Kroeger

When firing on all cylinders, the Palmyra girls basketball team was one of the most electrifying in the area, and the captain of that ship will coach the Missouri girls.

In her second season in the Flower City, Stuart piloted the Panthers to a 15-12 record and an appearance in the Class 3 District 6 semifinals, in which they bowed out to eventual district champion South Shelby, their second consecutive season-ending loss to South Shelby. The Lady Birds beat the Panthers in the 2024 district title game.  The Panthers and Lady Birds also squared off in the championship game of the 100th annual Monroe City Tournament on Dec. 14, 2024, which the Lady Birds won 58-57 on a Callie McWilliams free throw in the final seconds of overtime.

Last season was the final at Palmyra for the Panthers’ “dynamic duo” of point guard Clare Williams and forward Sydney Compton. Both will be playing at the college level next season, Williams at Ottawa University (Kan.) and Compton at Quincy University.

Stuart has compiled a 34-19 record in her two seasons at Palmyra. She took the Palmyra gig after two years at Lafayette County High School.