01/21/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE - This past Wednesday the Nashville Hornets were voted #1 in the most recent Associated Press Class 2A poll while they remain the top team in the weekly ABV Rankings.

As it is well known in the world of sports, the top teams will always get the opposition's “A-Game” anytime they take to the floor.

Friday night's game at the 38th annual Nashville Invitational Tournament was no exception.

The Hornets' rivals from the north came to Washington County ready to play.

Breese Mater Dei led nearly the entire game and, when they finally trailed in the final seconds, they got a clutch game-winning basket from senior Cameron Haag with :08.2 remaining.

The Knights survived a couple of missed shots by Nashville in the final seconds after Haag couldn't convert a three-point play.

Nashville senior guard Isaac Turner got the rebound off of the Haag missed foul shot and navigated down the court and put up a shot that missed.

Turner managed to grab his own rebound for a desperation second chance shot that wasn't any better than the first one.

A moment later the horn sounded on the Knights' 37-36 victory in the final game of Pool Play in the tournament.

In spite of the defeat, Nashville advanced to the championship game.

The Hornets won the three-way tie-breaker between the two teams and Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran so the Hornets will play Breese Central Saturday night for the title.

Mater Dei (13-8) will hook up with Mascoutah for third place.

Coach Cory Arentsen, a former Mater Dei standout, took over the helm of BMD this season and his team had struggled earlier in the campaign in finding wins against a strong schedule.

However with the victory this mentor is starting to see signs of things to come.

“We were 12-8 coming in and we've had so many games within 10 (points) so I've never questioned their toughness. We play hard, every game. It can be ugly but as long as we can make one more play in the end than we can win some of these games. They (Nashville) are talented but we are going to come to play 32 minutes,” said Coach Arentsen.

Mater Dei got 11-points from senior guard Jayce Napovanice to lead the Knights' attack along with eight-points from 6-4 junior Dalton Markus.

Senior Jacob Patton (seven), and 6-4 junior Jacob Hustedde (five) also added points in the low scoring slugfest that is typical of battles between these two basketball programs.

As it turned out Haag came up with a pair of big shots in the fourth quarter and an early score for six-points to round out the Mater Dei scoring.

The Hornets had their 16-game winning streak snapped on Friday night as their overall mark dropped to 18-3.

Coach Patrick Weathers' crew was led by 6-7 senior forward Saxton Hoepker with 16-points along with Turner (13) as these two were the only double-figure scorers in the low-scoring battle.

Junior guard Carter Schoenherr (three) along with senior Nolan Heggemeier (two) and senior Kolten Gajewski (two) were the other point producers in the loss.

Mater Dei avenged a 33-23 defeat to Nashville on December 27th at the 60th annual Mater Dei Holiday Tournament.

The Knights turned the table on the Hornets on Friday night by getting off to a good lead and defensively doing what was needed to hold on late.

“I was worried about them (Mater Dei) with their athleticism and tonight they played so much harder than we did,” said Coach Weathers. “They deserved to win that game, 10 times over. Offensively and defensively we just came out flat. That has happened to us the last few games and I said (to the team) 'Guys this is going to catch up to us'. We can't play from behind, especially against good athletic teams like that.”

Five different BMD players scored in the first quarter as they jumped out to a 12-5 first quarter lead on Nashville.

One of the problems that the Hornets had defensively on Friday night was keeping the Knights from getting to the basket on dribble penetration.

Napovanice scored twice in the opening quarter on drives to the basket with his first one opening the game's scoring.

Haag, Patton and Markus also scored inside as the Knights didn't attempt a 3-point shot in the first frame.

A Napovanice bucket and a rebound score by Markus with 4:06 left gave Mater Dei a 12-3 lead that forced a Nashville timeout.

The Hornets got the final points of the quarter on a fast break lay in by Schoenherr as the 'rough and tumble' first quarter closed at 12-5.

“Our kids have a lot of heart and I didn't take our backcourt out the entire game. We normally we play eight-to-nine players but tonight we played six. Jayce (Napovanice) has a motor on him. He rises to the occasion,” said Coach Arentsen.

Nashville got points in the second quarter early from Hoepker and Heggemeier as Mater Dei went cold in the second quarter.

However the two shots that the Knights made in the second frame were huge.

Consecutive 3-point bombs by Patton and Huetedde were big-time pressure shots as Mater Dei led by its largest margin, 18-9 with just under five minutes left before halftime.

Turner closed the first half scoring with a conventional three-point play while being fouled by BMD senior Landon Albers.

The Turner made free throw with 4:03 left turned out to be the final points of the half.

Although they only hit 2-of-10 shots from the floor in the second quarter, Mater Dei was up 18-12 at intermission.

Most folks in attendance at the Assembly Hall knew (or hoped) that the host would have a run in them.

Nashville got a scoring move to begin the third quarter when Turner got his club going.

After closing the first half with the “And-One” the 6-4 senior knocked down his first shot to begin the second half scoring.

Turner added a couple of nice drives in the lane and, following a pair of free throws by Hoepker, he cashed in on a 3-pointer from the top of the circle that closed the BMD lead to just 22-21 with 3:28 remaining in the quarter.

Patton answered with a score and Gajewski hit his only shot of the game on an assist in the lane from Schoenherr as the two combatants headed to the final quarter at 24-23 Knights.

Markus opened the final countdown with a baseline move for a reverse lay while Haag also added an early quarter score.

Hoepker answered with a basket and a pair of free throws as neither team could break away.

A Hoepker bucket on a spin move in the paint finally got the Hornets even at 30-30 with just over four minutes remaining.

Coach Weathers' club finally got the lead with another bucket down low by Hoepker.

His score in the lane got the Hornets' faithful going as Nashville was up 34-32 nearing what would be in pro football 'the two minute warning'.

As had happened for the entire game, Mater Dei came right back with points after any sort of run by the hosts.

Napovanice canned a 3-pointer from the left wing to put his club up again, 35-34.

Turner answered with another drive to the basket.

Following a missed shot by Napovanice, Gajewski had a chance to extend the Hornets lead at the foul line with :17.0 left.

However the senior missed the free throw and Hustedde grabbed the rebound, setting up the final play by Haag.

The 6-0 senior got into the lane as was fouled on his shot attempt by Gajewski.

The shot banked home to put his club up by one.

Although the free throw was no good, Mater Dei survived.

Turner made a mad dash up the floor and had two open shots that would have won the game.

However both misfired as the Hornets' winning streak came to a close.

This contest, the best overall game of the ABV year so far, was nearly 'mirror-like' statistically.

Both Nashville and Breese Mater Dei ended up 12-of-23 from the floor.

The lone difference is that Mater Dei was better from the arc; hitting 3-of-9 compared to 1-of-9 for the Hornets.

Nashville made up for that 3-pointer deficit by hitting 9-of-12 from the foul line, compared to 4-of-6 for the Knights.

“When you play teams like Nashville and Central every possession is important. These games are always knock down, drag out games in the 30's,” said Coach Arentsen, who was part of some of those battles during his prep career.

Both teams ended up with exactly 19 rebounds (11 defensive, eight offensive for Nashville; 13 defensive, six offensive for BMD) on this hardwood battleground.

Nashville committed just seven turnovers compared to nine for the Knights.

“We got a bull's eye on our back (being number one) and teams we're going to play are going to come in with nothing to lose against us,” said Coach Weathers. “If you play hard good things go your way and they (Mater Dei) did that tonight. They were able to finish around the basket and we couldn't get much going offensively. Hat's off to them. They guarded us tonight and played a well rounded game to win.”

Nashville (36) – Hammer 0 0 0-0 0, Schoenherr 1 0 1-2 3, Heggemeier 1 0 0-0 2, Hoepker 5 0 6-6 16, Knepp 0 0 0-0 0, Gajewski 1 0 0-1 2, Turner 4 1 2-3 13. 2FG-12, 3FG-1, FT-9-12, PF-12.
Breese Mater Dei (37) – Haag 3 0 0-1 3, Napovanice 3 1 2-3 11, Albers 0 0 0-0 0, Markus 3 0 2-2 8, Hustedde 1 1 0-0 5, Patton 2 1 0-0 7. 2FG-12, 3FG-3, FT-4-6, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

BREESE CENTRAL 57, MASCOUTAH 44
The Cougars took care of business this week, winning Pool A (2-0) with a convincing win of 3A Mascoutah in the opening game of the Friday night session at the NIT.

Mascoutah (44) – Singleton 2 1 0-0 7, Plab 0 1 2-2 5, King 5 0 0-1 10, Seibert 7 0 2-4 16, Hall 1 0 2-2 4, McCoo 0 0 0-0 0, Bibb 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-6-9, PF-16.
Breese Central (57) – Dickshot 3 0 2-2 5, Hamon 0 0 0-0 0, Shubert 5 0 7-10, Boruff 2 1 6-6 13, Strubhart 1 0 0-0 2, Moore 7 0 3-4 17, Lewis 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-18, 3FG-1, FT-18-20, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.