The 2025-2026 Boys Basketball Season was a year that saw a lot of new faces take the court and continue the high expectations of the Bulldog Basketball Program. This year’s Varsity team was made up of only 2 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 5 Sophomores, and 2 Freshmen. There was a lot of learning and development that was needed and took place over the course of the year to meet several of those high expectations.
The season started as usual with the St. Anthony Turkey Tournament, which for the first time in recent memory saw the final day cancelled due to an early snowstorm. The bulldogs struggled out of the gate showing their youth and inexperience, beginning with an 0-3 start in the tournament. Keenan Griffith was named to the Turkey Tournament All-Tournament Team.
Following the tournament they continued to struggle, dropping to 0-4 after losing to a solid Salem team on the road. This bulldog group was willing to learn and meet challenges and soon started to show their talent and potential over the next month. They earned their first win against a veteran and quality North Clay Cardinals team, and then proceeded to win their next 5 games heading into the EHS/TTown Christmas Classic with a 6-4 record.
During the Christmas Classic, the team continued to play well earning wins over Chicago Brooks by 25 points, competing all the way with a good Champaign Centennial team, winning in comeback fashion versus Oregon and Luther North to earn 5th place in this year’s Christmas Classic. Heading into the second half of the season, the Bulldogs were 9-5 and showing their improvements. Keenan Griffith again was named to the Christmas Classic All-Tournament Team.
In January, the team continued to play well, but stumbled a few times against some very good competition. They beat Robinson on the road, lost to a state-ranked Bloomington Central Catholic team in OT, beat Neoga and WSS to remain undefeated in conference play. They also beat a very good Breese Mater Dei team for the 4th straight season, but dropped a game on the road to the 4th-ranked Nashville Hornets.
The team headed into the NTC tournament with a record of 14-7, and as the 2 seed after they lost on a coin flip to the number 1-seeded Cumberland Pirates. In the tournament, they took care of South Central in the opening round, defeated the 3-seeded Dieterich Maroons by 25 in the semifinal game, a team that they beat in double overtime in December, and then won the championship versus Altamont, the host school, on a buzzer-beater 3pt shot made by senior Keenan Griffith. Keenan Griffith was also named to the All-Tournament Team, and Miles Waldhoff, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer on the season and scoring a game high 19 points in the championship, was named MVP of the tournament.
After the NTC tournament, the team headed into February with a 17-7 record. The schedule didn’t get any easier as they headed to play a very good Casey-Westfield team on the road and played host to the number 1 state-ranked and cross the creek rival TTown Wooden Shoes. They dropped both those games before beating South Central on the road and the Flora Wolves at home. They finished the season with their final 2 conference opponents, Altamont and Cumberland. The team was currently undefeated in the Conference and was ready to make a push for another NTC season title. On Senior night, the Bulldogs unfortunately saw their 23-game conference winning streak and 11-year home conference winning streak come to an end with a loss to Altamont. But, they learned and bounced back with a road win over the Cumberland Pirates on the final day of the season to earn the NTC season title outright with an 8-1 record. This marked the first time in 43 years that a team won the conference title outright, even though they suffered a loss.
The Bulldogs ended the regular season with a 20-10 record, 8-1 conference record, taking both the NTC Tournament Championship and the NTC Season Championship. However, in the postseason, they saw their season come to an end too early. They took on the host school Vandalia, in the semi-final game after earning a first-round bye. They led nearly the entire game, but on a controversial buzzer-beater shot at the end of the game that was counted, the Bulldogs lost by the score of 50-48. They ended their season with a 20-11 record.
This team says their “goodbyes” to two outstanding seniors in Keenan Griffith and Aiden Laurtizen. Both Keenan and Aiden demonstrated great leadership and work ethic during their careers as Bulldog Basketball players. They were great competitors and extremely coachable young men. Their work ethic and character will serve them well in their future, and we know they will be successful in whatever their future holds.
The Bulldogs will return many key players and several underclassmen who will look to build and improve on a successful 2025-26 season. They have a lot of length, speed, and potential that has the Bulldogs excited about a bright future for the program.
