03-05-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – Heading into this sectional there is a familiarity like no other sectional in the Deep South.
All four of these teams have played against their semifinal opposition this season and with three of the teams residing in the same league.

Pinckneyville, Benton and Olney have all matched up against each other in tournaments while Harrisburg has done the same with with Olney while playing a pair of SIRR Ohio Division games against Benton.
In other words there won't be many secrets revealed this week at Eldorado.

Pinckneyville is one of those surprise teams that wasn't highly regarded coming into this season but the Panthers have gotten the job done (25-4) by working hard on the defensive end of the floor.

Coach Bob Waggoner has his team in this position after the Panthers posted an emotional 50-45 win over Trico and former Panther alum and Pioneers' head coach Shane Hawkins last Friday night.

Hunter Queen is the top scorer for a club that is averaging 53.9 points per game while surrendering just 41.4 points a night. Queen is a 5-foot-10 senior guard and play-maker, notching 12.3 points a contest.

Dylan Hardin is another of the top point-men for Coach Waggoner, hitting for 10.2 p.p.g. Hardin came up big in the Trico win, lighting up the Pioneers with 25-points as the Panthers took home Regional Title number 49, a state-record total.

Queen and Hardin will key any advancement by the Panthers this week at Eldorado.

This coach has other weapons,with Payton Nippe, a 6-foot-2 senior, averaging 9.6 points per game and 4.1 rebounds while 5-foot-8 senior guard Bryant Shute can also “shoot it” as this vet pops in 7.1 points a contest.

The Panthers have some size up front with 6-foot-3 Dylan Priebe averaging 5.9 points a game.
Pinckneyville won the Benton Invitational Tournament and finished third in their own Duster Thomas Classic. They also won the SIRR Mississippi Division with a pair of wins over always tough Nashville.

Teutopolis is one of their four losses, as they fell to the Wooden Shoes who were the eventual champs at the DTC.

Olney East Richland also has a pair of tournament titles this season, winning the Lawrence County Capital Classic (over Teutopolis) and the Carmi-White County Invitational Tournament.

Head coach Rob Flanagan brings his team to the fray on the heels of a 45-40 win over Flora to capture the Fairfield Regional crown.

Michael Fehrenbacher is the top scorer on the 27-4 club 16-points a game while grabbing eight rebounds. Fehrenbacher just went over the 1,000-point mark for his career at Olney.

The second scorer on the list is Brook Pampe, a 6-foot senior guard who is 12-points shy of 1,000-points for his prep stay. Pampe is averaging just over 15-points a night.

Joel Eagleson is a 5-foot-10 senior guard and assist man for Coach Flanagan. Eagleson averages 10-points and four assists a contest. Joel is the nephew of Breese Central mentor Stan Eagleson.

The other two starters contribute. Tyler Epperheimer is a 6-foot-3 forward who chips in 2.5 points and five rebounds a night for the Tigers.

Alec St. Pierre is a 5-foot-10 forward that plays bigger than his height, averaging 4.5 p.p.g.

Olney lost to Pinckneyville in their fourth game in two days at the Duster Thomas Classic and also dropped a contest to Benton after blowing a big lead at Pinckneyville. The other two losses came in Apollo Conference play to Effingham and Robinson. The Tigers claimed the Apollo crown outright in their final season in the league, finishing 12-2.

Olney also downed Harrisburg to finish 5-0 at the CWCIT back in January.

Those Harrisburg Bulldogs have taken some lumps in playing arguably the toughest schedule in this group. Coach Randy Smithpeters had a plan to get his junior laden club ready for the postseason and they have the bruises to prove it. They have lost to ABV and stat-number one Breese Central, state-ranked Teutopolis and have won two-of-three matchups with 3A Herrin this season.

They held a lead in the fourth quarter of the Olney game only to see the Tigers regroup for a 48-45 win.
Tyler Smithpeters and Capel Henshaw have impressed this season, as these two classmates have led the Bulldogs to a 26-5 mark.

Another of the young guns in Harrisburg purple and white is Eli Taborn-Scott, a 6-foot-4 matchup nightmare for a lot of teams. Scott is a versatile forward who can score in and around the paint.

Smithpeters (16.2 p.p.g., 6.0 a.p.g.) and Henshaw (15.8 p.p.g., 8.1 r.p.g.) can drive and dish while Scott (11.5 p.p.g., 7.1 r.p.g.) can finish around the basket as well.

Six-foot-two junior Ryne Roper is a is just under double-figures in scoring and has made 41 3-pointers this season.

All four of those players are on a two-year mission to make a major postseason impact.

Harrisburg also has a couple of standout seniors that contribute. Kasmere Barners is a 5-foot-8 senior guard, whose last second shot in the Eldorado Holiday Tournament title game won the championship for the Dawgs.

Caleb Goldman is a 6-foot-3 senior forward who is a veteran for Coach Smithpeters.

The team with everything to gain and nothing to lose this week is the Benton Rangers as head coach Ron Winemiller's squad won its own regional with a 52-34 shellacking of Du Quoin in the Friday night finale.

The Rangers are topped in scoring by 6-foot-2 senior guard Trey Garrett (14.4 p.p.g.).

One thing very noticeable when looking at the Benton stat sheet is that four of the starters are efficient from behind the 3-point arc.

Including Garrett, Benton has 6-foot-1 senior Jared Johnston averaging 9.2 points a game.
Tyler Leffler, a 6-foot-3 senior guard/forward, addes 7.4 points a game while 5-foot-10 senior guard Cody Smith averages 6.3 points per night.

All four of those Rangers and rear up and fire away from 20-feet plus, with all hittting over 30 percent from deep, which is a very good percentage at the high school level. Mason Childers is a 6-foot-2 forward (8.4 points, 5.2 rebounds) who does most of his damage around the basket.

The Rangers are 19-12 on the season and have some good wins over Olney, Murphysboro, Herrin, Cairo, Sesser-Valier and Du Quoin (twice).

ABV Projected Sectional Champion – Olney East Richland.