01-22-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - The streak of consecutive wins at the Benton Invitational Tournament has reached 29.

The 29th win was anything but easy.

Getting out worked and out hustled for most of the contest – the Panthers found a way to get the game into overtime and then took over with a 13-1 advantage in the extra session to stay undefeated in the 37th Annual BIT.

Coach Bob Waggoner saw his team struggle with the young Carlyle Indians’ club but his seniors leaders stepped forward to help send his squad into the final day with a chance to win its sixth straight title in this long running event.

Nathan Morton scored 19-points for the 14-3 Panthers which included six markers in the overtime session.

Jake Bathon and Shay Kellerman netted 12-points each as Pinckneyville won despite 18-turnovers and a slew of mental errors that plagued the tournament favorites.

“Give Carlyle credit tonight. Coach Palmer’s team came out ready to play and had much more energy than we did,” said Coach Waggoner. “They pressured our guards tonight and no one had really did that since we lost our two senior guards and leaders (Drew Dudek and Landon Chandler) to suspensions a few games ago. Carlyle did an excellent job tonight.”

For the Carlyle crew – head coach Andy Palmer saw his kids play hard and aggressively and were all set to take home a well deserved victory but couldn’t close the deal by allowing the Panthers to even the score late in regulation.

Sophomore guard Jordan Smith topped the balanced scoring for Carlyle with 10-points while Cody Huels and Scott Huels pitched in nine points apiece.

“This was a tough loss because I thought our effort tonight was tremendous and we learned tonight that we can play with the good teams,” said Coach Palmer – whose young team is making strides to get better each game. “I thought our young guards handled the pressure pretty well tonight but we didn’t get any breaks at the end.”

The Indians final lead of the contest came when Cody Huels took a pass from Charles Cannon and drained a 3-pointer from the right corner for a 45-44 lead with 3:48 to play in the fourth quarter.

However Pinckneyville came up with a big defensive stop in the final minute to keep the game even heading into extra time.

Bathon made a big steal with :24.5 left and called timeout before turning the ball over.

Although Pinckneyville failed to score on its final possession – the Panthers had grabbed the momentum heading to overtime.

Coach Waggoner’s group regrouped for a big run to start the overtime and never looked back.

Scoring the overtime’s first seven points – Pinckneyville never trailed in finally putting away the Indians.

Morton and Kellerman scored on successive drives to the basket with the one by Kellerman changing the game completely.

Morton completed a conventional three-point play that resulted in the fifth personal foul for Carlyle’s Jordan Ledbetter.

Just moments later – Kellerman made a steal and headed for a fast break score while being fouled by Jared Linton.

Coach Palmer argued the call and was assessed a technical foul.

Kellerman – like a veteran senior should do in this situation – calmly nailed all three free throws to give the Panthers a commanding 53-45 advantage with 2:32 left.

The Indians managed just a single free throw in overtime from Cody Huels as Carlyle fell to 4-14 on the season and 0-3 in the tournament.

The Indians started out the game set for battle while Pinckneyville labored to find a rhythm.

C. Huels and Ledbetter each scored four points in the opening quarter as Carlyle trailed just 11-9 at the first horn.

Uncharacteristically the Panthers committed six turnovers in the quarter and didn’t look in sync.

“We were not focused and had no energy early in the game,” added Waggoner. “We talk about respecting every opponent and I know the kids probably looked at their record and knew that they had only four wins but you can’t come out and just expect to win.”

During the second quarter Pinckneyville looked a bit more focused and Bathon closed out the frame with a couple of big buckets.

His 3-pointer from the top of the arc beat the halftime buzzer for a 32-28 Pinckneyville lead.

Pinckneyville finally appeared to have gotten the sleep out of its eyes near the end of the third quarter when back-to-back baskets by Morton and Kyle Webb gave the Panthers a 42-34 lead.

Nevertheless Carlyle rallied with a pair of big scores by Ledbetter on a lob pass from Smith on a designed inbounds play and a drive in the lane by Smith to close the quarter at 42-38.

Pinckneyville allowed the Indians to stay close in the fourth quarter with five more turnovers.

But by hitting 7-of-8 free throws in the overtime – the Panthers kept the streak alive.

“We are just going to have to learn how to finish games better,” finalized Coach Palmer.

Pinckneyville shot the ball well from the floor – connecting on 19-of-36 from the field and 2-of-6 from behind the 3-point arc.

The Panthers out rebounded Carlyle 22-15.

The Indians were just 16-of-42 from the field with just 5-of-17 from long range.

Carlyle missed five of those 3-pointers in the overtime.

“This streak started a long time ago and most of these kids were in grade school when it started,” Coach Waggoner added. “We will just move on from this and take on Benton tomorrow morning and then Sesser-Valier tomorrow night.”

Carlyle (46) – C. Huels 0 2 3-4 9, McGee 0 0 1-2 1, Linton 0 1 0-0 3, Smith 2 1 3-4 10, Boehne 0 0 0-0 0, Ledbetter 3 0 1-3 7, Cannon 3 0 1-4 7, Fulton 0 0 0-0 0, S. Huels 3 1 0-0 9. 2FG-11, 3FG-5, FT-9-17, PF-22.
Pinckneyville (58) – Bathon 4 1 1-4 12, Pyatt 2 0 0-0 4, Brueggemann 2 0 2-4 6, Morton 5 0 9-15 19, Kellerman 2 1 5-5 12, Lamb 2 0 1-2 5, Hardin 0 0 0-0 0, Queen 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-18-30, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Ledbetter - Carlyle.
Technical Fouls – Caryle Bench.

BENTON 44, SESSER-VALIER 42
You won't find many tournament championship games played on Saturday morning but following the Rangers win over S-V Friday night - Coach ron Winemiller's club is on a roll having won all three of its BIT games and will face Pinckneyville in the first game of six to played on the final day of the tourney.

The Rangers took care of the Red Devils with Tyler Leffler leading the way with 13-points with teammae Caleb Suver addedin 11 in the low scoring affair.

Coach Chip Basso's S-V unit came up short after win its first two game this week and were topped by Justin Mayti with 16-points as Sesser-Valier saw its overall mark slip to 14-4 on the season.

Benton - a young team looking to improve - is now 7-12 on the year after a tough start to the season.

Sesser-Valier (42) – D. Eubanks 1 2 3-8 11, Tinsley 0 0 2-2 2, Pitchford 0 0 0-0 0, Gibson 3 0 0-0 6, Donovan 0 0 0-0 0, T.J. Eubanks 1 1 2-2 7, Matyi 5 1 3-4 16, Edwards 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-10, 3FG-4, FT-10-16, PF-14.
Benton (44) – C. Smith 0 1 1-4 4, Childers 0 0 0-0 0, Garrett 2 0 0-0 4, Leffler 1 3 2-2 13, LaBuwi 0 0 0-0 0, Caleb Suver 5 0 1-1 11, Johnston 0 1 0-0 3, K. Smith 1 0 5-8 7, Miner 1 0 0-2 2. 2FG-10, 3FG-5, FT-9-17, PF-19.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

HAMILTON COUNTY 68, OKAWVILLE 54
In a battle of winless teams in the BIT - the Foxes took care of business in improving to 1-2 in the tournament and 9-9 overall.

Justin Webb poured in 21-points for Ham Co. while Duke Griesemer added 14.

Okawville (0-3 in the BIT; 9-10 overall) received 19-points from Taylor Walton and 11-points from Jacob Frederking.

Okawville (54) – Wisneski 1 0 0-0 2, Schwankhaus 0 0 0-0 0, Weeke 2 0 3-6 7, Burrough 2 1 1-3 8, Walton 7 1 2-5 19, Buss 0 1 0-0 3, Obermeier 0 0 0-0 0, Brammeier 0 0 0-0 0, Lohman 1 0 0-1 2, Frederking 4 1 0-2 11, Ostendorf 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-18, 3FG-4, FT-6-17, PF-21.
Hamilton County (68) – Hopfinger 2 0 5-6 9, C.J. Lemmons 1 0 0-1 2, Rubenacker 0 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Irvin 0 0 0-0 0, B. Webb 0 0 0-1 0, J. Webb 6 0 9-10 21, Cravens 1 2 0-0 8, Griesemer 6 0 2-4 14, S. Lemmons 4 0 1-3 9, A. Rubenacker 1 1 0-0 5, Lueke 0 0 0-0 0, Biggerstaff 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-21, 3FG-3, FT-17-25, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Swankhaus - Okawville.
Technical Fouls – None.