CENTRAL HEAD COACH TODD FERGOT TALKS EARLY SEASON SUCCESS, JOHNNY DAVIS, AND KOBE KING

By: Aaron Morse 12/08/21

The Central RiverHawks Boys Basketball team, led by Head Coach Todd Fergot, has enjoyed some early season success. They are off to a 3-0 start with an average margin of victory of nearly 15 points. It has been the defense leading the way early on as the RiverHawks have allowed less than 36 points per game. The offense is still coming along, but they have some very capable scorers, including Seniors Devon Fielding (13.6 ppg) and Porter Pretasky (10.3 ppg). Juniors Nic Williams (8.7 ppg up from 2.7 ppg last season) and Bennett Fried (6.3 ppg) are also part of an experienced scoring bunch.
While Fielding, Pretasky, and Fried’s scoring numbers are down from last year’s season averages, the offense is not everything, as proved by their defensive numbers so far.
For Fried, he is only getting better- and still growing- according to Coach Fergot:

Devon Fielding is the leader of the RiverHawks and he is an all-around player that is only growing into the ceiling he has, says Coach Fergot:

The Central program has had really good success over the years and especially recently with players like Johnny and Jordan Davis and Terrance Thompson. Six of the players on the roster this season- Fielding, Pretasky, Fried, Noah Compan, Quinn Servais, and Colin Adams- were on the team in 2019-2020 when Central won the Section Championship before Covid-19 ended the season early. The experience of making it that far in the season, as well as playing with high-caliber players like the Davis twins and Thompson is huge for the current team, explains Coach Fergot:

One of those former players, Johnny Davis, has burst onto the scene this season for the Wisconsin Badgers. He was not really on any NBA draft boards to begin the season, but with his torrid start to the season, he has been catapulting up the projections. A week ago he was on the “lookout for these guys” lists. Just a few days later, some analysts have him going late in the first round. Johnny should only continue to rise his draft stock throughout the season and Coach Fergot will only continue to get more questions about Johnny. Fergot laid out the questions he gets on a daily basis and says that he expects Johnny to be an NBA guy sooner rather than later:

Another former player of Fergot’s, Kobe King, is back out on the court after not playing for nearly two years. After transferring from Wisconsin to Nebraska and not playing for the Cornhuskers because of Covid-19, King decomitted from Nebraska. After taking a few months off, he decided to get back into basketball. He hired an agent and entered the G-League draft, but was not drafted. So, he decided to look at the college ranks. He chose Valparaiso because Head Coach Matt Lottich recruited him out of high school and Trevor Anderson and Joe Hedstrom played there, two of his former Badger teammates. Fergot talked a little bit about King and who he is:

Central has had a lot of great players over the years and while they may not have that big name guy on the roster like they have in years past, they have a team that plays all-around basketball and will win plenty of games this season because of it. The defense has led the way during their 3-0 start to the season, but once they get that offense clicking, they could find themselves at the top of the tough Mississippi Valley Conference. Central will take on Minnesota’s Benilde-St. Margaret’s on Saturday at 3 pm at Hiawatha Collegiate High School.

To listen to the entire 13 minutes with Coach Todd Fergot, CLICK HERE.