Sun staff
The inaugural season of boys’ basketball in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference for Milford and Glen Este was an exercise in differentiation as the Eagles contended for the top spot with state semi-finalists Walnut Hills, while the Trojans went 0-fer in the league and 4-19 overall.
Despite the opposite season paths, both teams had individuals deserving of the postseason awards that were announced following Walnut Hills’ season-ending loss to Toledo Rogers on March 22.
Milford had a trio of players honored by the ECC, one in each category while the Trojans landed a pair of student-athletes on the All-Star team, one on the First Team and one on the Honorable Mention’s list.
The Eagles, who went 15-8 on the season and 8-4 in the ECC, were a senior-laden team featuring eight fourth year players. They were knocked out of the sectional tournament in the first round by Mason.
Brennan Farrell, a 6-foot-3, 185 lbs. senior guard, led the Eagles with 13.5 points per game, hitting just under 30-percent of his three-point attempts. He shot 42.3-percent from the field and 70.6-percent from the free throw line. Farrell tacked on 2.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 3.9 rebounds per game.
The senior had his biggest offensive output in a Dec. 11 loss to Colerain when he scored a season-high 29 points on 11-20 shooting.
Earning Second Team honors for Milford was 6-foot-9 senior Garrett Mayleben. Mayleben, a versatile power forward with the ability to stretch defenses with his jump shot, averaged 8.6 points per game and 6.3 rebounds. Mayleben is a Bowling Green University commit who played in 23 games during his senior season, hitting 46.6-percent of his field goal attempts. He scored in double figures 11 times, scoring a season-high 14 points on four separate occasions.
Rounding out the honors for Milford was 6-foot-6 senior Cy Overbeck who was named as an ECC Honorable Mention. Overbeck, who was also the quarterback of the football team, averaged 6.1 points per game for the Eagles to go along with 5.3 rebounds.
Glen Este’s pair of honorees was led by senior Austin Rieck. Rieck, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard, was the fourth-leading scorer in the conference over his senior season and tops on coach Dave Caldwell’s Glen Este squad with 17.0 per contest.
Rieck was the Trojans’ go-to scorer over the last two years scoring 651 points over his upperclassmen years as a Trojan and has solidified himself as one of the best scorers in school history.
Called upon to shoulder much of the offensive load, Rieck shot an impressive 46.8-percent from the field and 40.4-percent from beyond the arc. He also grabbed 4.4 rebounds per game and dished out 1.7 assists.
Finally, the lone junior from Clermont County to receive any accolades was GE’s Tyler Flanigan. The 6-foot-2 junior averaged 8.2 points per game, 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Flanigan shot at a 42.1-percent clip and knocked in 71.4-percent of his free throw attempts.
Flanigan will headline a roster that had six other juniors and five sophomores on the team that could return next season.