12-01-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
DU QUOIN - In the Hamilton County Foxes win on Monday night, although it wasn't a great offensive performance, the club managed to do just enough right.

Despite committing 19-turnovers against the Cairo Pilots pressure defense, the Foxes weren't pulled into a “up-and-down” game.

Getting good looks at the basket and taking advantage of the Pilots offensive issues, Hamilton County made the plays in the fourth quarter when they counted.

Head coach Keith Welch saw his club weather the storm and pick up a 52-45 win to open their season 1-0 with the win in the first game of the 17th annual Du Quoin Tip-Off Classic.

Led by senior Jake Scattone with 16-points and nine-points from senior Tucker Braden; the Foxes opened their season with a victory.

Hamilton County also got seven points from Austin Cravens off the bench and six-points each from Oakley Dial, Branden Craddock and Tyler Kelly.

“We have a nice post presence with Cravens and Braden and we preach communication and one-shot on offense (rebounding),” added Coach Welch. “Last year when we played them here we gave them offensive rebound after offensive rebound but they didn't have too many tonight.”

For the Cairo Pilots the free throw line proved to be their collective Waterloo as head coach Brian Brandtner saw his club struggle from the stripe.

Cairo was just 4-of-17 from the line.

When the game was on the line in the final minutes, Hamilton County took advantage of some key mistakes by Cairo to secure the victory.

“That was atrocious. And that is something that as a coach that is a struggle because you depend on your players to work on things like free throw shooting on their own time and we haven't worked on that a lot in practice but obviously we are going to have to change that a little bit,” said Coach Brandtner. “Maybe if we had made a few more free throws then we have a lead and then they (Hamilton County) wouldn't be able to be so patient.”

The Pilots had went the entire fourth quarter with no turnovers and were down just 47-45 with 1:21 remaining.

But on a key possession Cairo had a missed shot go out of bounds.

After the call, a technical foul was issued on the Pilots' bench.

Hamilton County's Scattone hit just 1-of-2 of the charity shots, but getting the ball back after the technical the Foxes capitalized with a rebound bucket by Craddock to put his club up 50-45 with :48 to go.

Hamilton County closed out the game with two more free throws from Kelly to ice the game after two turnovers in the final moments by the Pilots.

The Foxes took an early lead on Cairo by hitting shots from the outside while also getting the ball in the paint.

Outside shots by Kelly and Dial and in close buckets by Braden and Craddock gave Hamilton County a 9-5 advantage at the end of one.

For the Pilots, they hit just 2-of-11 shots in the first eight minutes and the percentage never got very high.

Cairo made some runs at the Foxes, with the first coming to begin the second quarter.

Scores by Demareon Garvin and Melvin Duncan catapulted the Pilots into the lead.

Garvin, a 6-foot-1 freshman, score three straight times inside on a pair of rebounds and a score after an assist by Duncan.

When Garvin grabbed an offensive rebound for a score, the Pilots led 13-11 with 5:26 left before halftime.

Braden got loose a couple of times in close to the basket for scores and his conventional three-point play along with a lay in gave Hamilton County a 22-17 lead.

Duncan, who topped the Pilots with 18-points, scored with just under a minute to go on a 3-pointer from the left wing as both teams headed to the intermission with it 22-20 Foxes.

Dave Taylor, a 6-foot sophomore and returning starter for Cairo, finished with 14-points and his steal and fast break lay in gave the Pilots a brief 28-27 lead in the third quarter.

By the time the two teams reached the fourth quarter, the problems that the Pilots had with the foul line were magnified.

Cairo missed eight free throws in the frame, which in part kept Coach Brandtner's team from pulling away from the Foxes.

Duncan scored on a fast break lay in and Taylor added 1-of-2 free throws for a 45-43 lead with 2:23 remaining.

Cairo wouldn't score another point as they fell to 0-3 on the season, having dropped a couple of games last weekend at the New Madrid (MO.) Central “Riverbend Classic” on Friday and Saturday.

Hamilton County closed out the game with baskets by Scattone and Braden before the technical foul sealed the Pilots fate.

“We talked about that all week (pace of the game) if we don't have an initial lay up (beating the press) then don't settle for a jumper. Bring the ball back out and set up the offensive,” said Coach Welch. “We wanted to control the tempo and I felt like we did that for the most part.”

The Foxes ended up 19-of-48 from the field (39.5 percent) while hitting just 4-of-11 from the 3-point arc.

Hamilton County survived 19-turnovers while holding a slight 33-30 rebounding edge.

The Pilots were 18-of-54 overall (33.3 percent) and they committed just 10-turnovers.

However the foul line issues were just too much for this young team to overcome.

“Not making the free throws kept us from setting up our press, which hurt us,” added Coach Brandtner. “We are young and we have a long way to go. We are not very good right now but I think that we will be. We have a lot to learn. Hat's off to Hamilton County. They played well and they beat us.”

Cairo will head back to Du Quoin to face the hosts on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm while Hamilton County will play next on Friday night against Du Quoin, also at 7:30 pm.

The Cairo kids have played three games with much on their minds.

They lost a teammate and friend before Thanksgiving as junior guard Myron Jordan was killed in a shooting in Mounds, Illinois.

The team has rallied around each other as they mourn the loss of their friend.

Cairo (45) – Garvin 3 0 1-2 7, Woodson 0 0 0-0 0, De. Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Lewis 0 0 0-0 0, duncan 4 3 1-5 18, Da. Taylor 5 1 1-6 14, Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Brown 1 0 1-4 3, Jackson 0 1 0-0 3, Harris 0 0 0-0 0, Hollis 0 0 0-0 0, Nelson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-5, FT-4-17, PF-17.
Hamilton County (52) – Kelly 2 0 2-2 6, Vaughn 1 0 0-1 2, Scattone 4 2 2-5 16, Braden 4 0 1-2 9, Craddock 2 0 2-2 6, Cravens 2 0 3-6 7, Lueke 0 0 0-0 0, Dodson 0 0 0-0 0, Dial 0 2 0-0 6.
2FG-15, 3FG-4, FT-10-18, PF-15.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Cairo Bench.

Carmi-White County (61) – Large 2 0 2-3 6, Matz 2 0 2-4 6, C. Vaught 1 0 0-2 2, Gray 5 0 6-10 16, Z. Vaught 2 2 5-8 15, Barbre 1 0 7-14 9, Rice 0 1 0-0 3, Lucas 0 1 0-0 3, Potter 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-13, 3FG-4, FT-23-43, PF-23.
Du Quoin (59) – Hopkins 0 0 0-0 0, Bullar 1 2 0-0 8, Smith 1 1 0-0 5, Vogel 4 0 4-9 12, Showalter 2 0 6-8 10, Carson 0 0 0-2 0, Thomas 5 0 10-10 20, Brening 0 0 0-0 0, Kuhnert 1 0 2-2 4.
2FG-14, 3FG-3, FT-22-31, PF-29.
Fouled Out – Smith, Kuhnert - Du Quoin.
Technical Fouls – None.