2001-02 Centralia High School Basketball Team
The Centralia Sports Hall of Fame
2011 Team Award Winner

   The Centralia High School Orphan basketball team of 2001-2002 brought home the first state tournament hardware in thirty-nine years by capturing the third place trophy in the 2002 IHSA class 2A finals.  The season began at the Quincy Thanksgiving tournament that included the four winningest high school basketball programs in the country.  The Orphans defeated Kingsport, TN (Dobyns-Bennett), Collinsville, and Quincy to take the title.  Lance Marcum was named MVP of the tourney.

   Centralia fell to Peoria (Richwoods) in the championship game of the Centralia Holiday Tourney in overtime 53-58.  This completed Richwoods' unprecedented third consecutive third consecutive championship.  Lance Marcum was named tourney MVP and he, along with Matt Shaw, the leading rebounder in the tourney, received first team all-tourney honors.

   The Orphans played in Springfield, MO Bass Pro Tournament.  While they lost two games and won one against teams from Florida, Texas, and Missouri, they gained valuable experience that helped on the tournament trail later in the year.  Marcum was named to the 10-man all-tourney team.

   The Orphans were South-Seven Conference champions with Lance Marcum being named the league MVP.  Shaw and Jon Smith were first-team all-conference selections and Caleb Edson and Brian Dinkelman were named to the honorable mention list.

   On the state tournament trail Centralia almost stumbled in their Sectional game with Belleville (East).  After jumping out to a big double-digit lead early in the game, the Orphans had to come from behind as Marcum canned a three-point shot with just seconds to go, to send the game into overtime where the Orphans prevailed 59-53.  

   In the Sectional championship Centralia downed Belleville (West) and then defeated East St. Louis in the Super-Sectional.  At the state quarterfinals in Peoria, Moline was the next victim, and then the Orphans fell to Springfield (Lanphier) by four points, before beating Winnetka (New Trier) for the third place trophy.  Matt Shaw was named to the first-team all-state tourney squad and Marcum was a second-team selection.

   Leading a balanced scoring attack for the 27-6 Orphans was Shaw with 471 points, followed by Marcum with 449, Smith with 397, and Edson with 276.  Marcum received second-team all-state recognition from the IBCA and Smith was an honorable mention selection from the Associated Press.