01-23-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - When you play in big games, it helps if you have players that have big game experience.

On Friday night in front of a big crowd with a potential tournament championship on the line, the Sesser-Valier Red Devils turned to a senior who has been in a lot of big games in his career.

Nick Marlo, a 5-foot-10 senior guard, who was on last season's 1A “Final Four” team came up huge in front of a large crowd at Rich Herrin Gymnasium.

Playing against the host Rangers with a lot at stake, Marlo led all scorers with 24-points, including some clutch free throws in the fourth quarter as the Red Devils kept their title hopes alive with a 43-34 win.

For Coach Shane Garner's team, the win kept them in the hunt at 2-1 with two games coming up on Saturday against Hamilton County and Meridian.

With the outcome on the line late in the fourth quarter, Marlo delivered from the foul line.

He finished 8-of-9 overall from the stripe and he closed the door on the host Rangers by hitting 5-of-5 in the final minutes.

Seniors Luke Thompson (6) and Jacob Vanwey (5) weighed in with points for S-V as Marlo finished with over half of the Red Devils' points on Friday night.

“Those kids have played in some really big games and this atmosphere is right down their alley,” said Coach Garner. “We weathered the storm there in the fourth quarter.”

For Benton and head coach Ron Winemiller's offense, it was a long night.

Turnovers and missed shots kept the young Rangers' squad from making the kind of late run it needed to get a win.

Benton finished just 13-of-40 from the field, which isn't the sort of percentage a team needs to shoot on its home floor in a tournament atmosphere.

They were trying for some success from long range but they ended up just 2-of-19 from the arc.

With just one senior on the roster the Rangers are trying to build toward the future with lesson's to be learned.

One was taught to them on Friday night.

“Our main thing coming in tonight was to get after them defensively. We really wanted to force them off of the 3-point line,” said Coach Garner. “We didn't want them to be able to shoot set shots. I thought our guards did a great job of forcing the ball in one-direction and getting them out of a rhythm.”

Taking care of the ball is tantamount to success at any level of this sport and the Rangers didn't do a good enough job of that against a veteran team.

The Rangers committed 15-turnovers, with five of them coming in the fourth quarter that helped squash a potential rally which allowed Sesser-Valier to escape with a victory.

“I think that this can't be understated; they (Sesser-Valier) had a lot of seniors on the floor and seniors know how to handle games like this. They controlled the pace and controlled the tempo,” said Coach Winemiller. “Every time we would make a run it seemed like they would do something, usually by Marlo, to keep us at arm's length.”

Six-foot-three junior forward Brendan Ritchason led Coach Winemiller's team with 13-points and he helped get the crowd excited about a potential fourth quarter rally.

Trailing 33-21 heading into the final stanza, the Rangers worked the ball to Ritcheson on the left side of the basket on consecutive possessions and the lefty power forward scored two straight baskets.

This began a 9-3 mini-run which ended up with Ritchason scoring six of the points.

When his third basket down low was successful along with 3-of-4 free throws on two separate trips to the line by sophomore teammate Derek Oxford, the Rangers were in business down just 36-30 with 2:46 remaining.

But as with most teams led by veterans of basketball battles, the Red Devils didn't panic.

Just eight seconds after the Oxford free throws, Vanwey nailed a 3-point bomb from the right wing for a 39-30 backbreaking lead.

Benton got a made free throw by junior Marc Torres and a steal and fast break by sophomore Timmy Henson resulted in a 3-pointer from Henson from the right wing with 1:19 remaining.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, those were the final points for the hosts.

Sesser-Valier got the ball to Marlo in the final minute and the senior closed the game with four-straight made free throws.

Benton began the game with the large crowd still charged up by a ceremony that honored former Benton Rangers' standout JoJo Johnson with the retiring of his #24 jersey.

Six-foot junior Kruz Hayes and Henson each scored in the early going.

Hayes nailed a 3-pointer to open the scoring and Henson followed that up with a shot from the right corner that sandwiched around a Thompson 3-pointer for Sesser-Valier as the Rangers held a brief 5-3 lead with 3:20 left in the opening quarter.

At this point, Marlo put on his hard hat and went to work for the Red Devils.

He drove to the basket for a conventional three-point play and then a minute later nailed his first of two 3-pointers on the night.

His bomb pushed the Red Devils to a 9-5 advantage after one.

Those final six points of the first period turned into a 12-0 run as the second quarter began.

Marlo added two more baskets on a rebound and a drive to the bucket on the left side of the lane and Vanwey added a rebound score for a 15-5 lead.

Benton scored five-straight points to get within five with Ritchason and Oxford getting points but a drive to the basket by sophomore Jamie Lance and a fast break by sophomore Zane Wilson pushed Sesser-Valier to a 19-14 halftime advantage.

A mental error by one of the Benton players during a play away from the ball was costly.

Thompson nailed his second 3-pointer of the night from the left wing with 3:08 remaining in the third quarter.

Underneath the basket a foul was whistled on Benton's Hayes.

Marlo stepped forward and hit 1-of-2 technical charities with the Red Devils getting the ball back.

Then Marlo got the ball at the top of the arc coming off of a screen and his 20-footer found the mark, a shot which capped a seven-point offensive trip for a 29-18 lead with 2:56 left in the third quarter.

Marlo added another score on a drive to the goal.

After Ritchason converted a three-point play after being fouled by Thompson, Sesser-Valier worked their offense and got a great backdoor cut to the basket by senior Johnathon Galloway on a nice bounce pass from Vanwey to make it 33-21 at the end of the third.

Sesser-Valier was a bit better on the stat sheet on this night as Coach Garner's club ended up 15-of-38 from the floor and committed 12-turnovers, with eight coming in the first half.

The Rangers held a slight rebounding edge (26-23) but they managed just one offensive rebound in the fourth quarter when they needed second chances.

Sesser-Valier saw its record improve to 12-8 while Benton dropped to 11-9.

There will be no rest for the weary as both teams must get ready for two more games on Saturday.

While the Red Devils face Hamilton County and Meridian, Benton will play Meridian on Saturday morning at 11 am and then will face defending tournament champs Pinckneyville in the events' final game Saturday night at 9 pm.

“I think we didn't get Ritch (Ritchason) the ball enough early. We thought that they would have a hard time guarding him but we just weren't patient enough in the first half to try to get the ball into him. We sped ourselves up and took some quick shots and as a result it made them not have to guard him. Hopefully we will learn from this and be ready to go again Saturday morning.”

Sesser-Valier (43) – Barrett 0 0 0-0 0, Vanwey 1 1 0-0 5, Marlo 5 2 8-9 24, Galloway 1 0 0-0 2, Thompson 0 2 0-0 6, Lance 1 0 0-1 2, Wilson 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-10, 3FG-5, FT-8-11, PF-14.
Benton (34) – Richardson 0 0 0-0 0, Owens 0 0 0-0 0, Torres 0 0 2-4 2, Willis 0 0 0-0 0, Henson 1 1 0-0 5, Oxford 3 0 3-4 9, Hayes 1 1 0-2 5, Ritcheson 6 0 1-2 13.
2FG-11, 3FG-2, FT-6-12, PF-15.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

MERIDIAN 69, CARLYLE 57
The Bobcats, in their first appearance at the BIT, improved to 2-1 with a win over the Indians in the Friday night opener.

Coach Erik Griffin got 23-points from David Davis and 20-points from Tyrone Nesby in the victory for the 16-4 club.

Andy Palmer's Carlyle club was paced by 6-foot-4 sophomore Connor Toennies as the Indians fell to 0-3 in the BIT, 5-15 overall.

Meridian (69) – Ballard 0 0 0-0 0, Davis 6 3 2-4 23, Edmonds 1 1 2-4 7, Moore 0 0 0-0 0, T. Nesby 4 3 3-4 20, Weldon 3 0 0-0 6, White 1 0 0-0 2, Wyate 0 0 0-0 0, Sims 0 0 0-0 0, Valentine 0 0 0-0 0, B. Neby 2 1 0-0 7, Patrick 0 0 0-0 0, Lowe 0 0 0-0 0, Nicholson 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-19, 3FG-8, FT-7-12 PF-14.
Carlyle (57) – Becker 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Cohoon 1 1 0-0 5, Cox 0 0 0-0 0, Bretz 1 1 2-2 7, Peebles 4 0 0-2 8, Velazquez 0 0 0-0 0, Nettles 0 0 0-0 0, Michael 0 0 2-2 2, Siever 0 0 0-0 0, Foot 0 0 0-0 0, Diekemper 1 0 0-0 2, B. Johnson 5 0 4-6 14, Toennies 9 0 1-3 19, D. Johnson 0 0 0-=0 0.
2FG-21, 3FG-2, FT-9-15, PF-9.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

PINCKNEYVILLE 60, HAMILTON COUNTY 19
The Panthers went to work and finished off the Foxes early, jumping out to a 22-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and cruising to their third win in the event.

Coach Bob Waggoner's club got 12-players in the scoring column, led by 14-points from Tyler Rulevish with 14 and Nolan Luke with 11.

Hamilton County (0-3) saw its overall mark slip to 6-12 as Coach Keith Welch's club got five points from Eli Lueke as the top scorer.

Pinckneyville (60) – Jausel 2 0 0-0 4, Taylor 1 0 0-0 2, Brand 1 0 0-0 2, Lazenby 2 0 1-2 5, Luke 2 2 1-5 11, Rulevish 5 0 4-4 14, Fisher 1 1 0-0 5, Howard 0 0 1-4 1, Carter 2 0 0-0 4, Banach 3 0 0-2 6, Moll 0 0 2-2 2, Bauersachs 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-21, 3FG-3, FT-9-19, PF-17.
Hamilton County (19) – Vaughn 0 0 0-0 0, S. Lueke 0 0 0-0 0, Dodson 1 0 0-2 2, Barnard 0 0 0-0 0, E. Lueke 2 0 1-3 5, Dial 0 0 0-0 0, Scattone 0 0 1-2 1, Kelly 0 0 0-0 0, Dedrick 0 0 1-2 1, Rexing 0 0 0-0 0, Cravens 0 0 0-0 0, Craddock 2 0 0-0 4, Rapp 1 0 1-2 3, Potter 0 0 0-0 0, Whipple 1 0 1-3 3.
2FG-7, 3FG-0, FT-5-14, PF-19.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.