03-10-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - The Woodlawn Cardinals are Supersectional champs!!!

But they aren’t headed to Disney World – they are bound for Carver Arena in Peoria to represent Southern Illinois in the Class 1A finals.

Thanks to their usual second half dominant performance another victim was found on Tuesday night at SIU-Arena.

A short-handed Okawville Rockets team was no match for the Cardinals for a third time this season.

Six-foot-three senior forward Jase Green led a second half charge with 13-points including a pair of huge 3-point shots.

Sophomore point guard Dawson Verhines added 11-points and pulled down a team-best seven rebounds while brother Bronson chipped in eight.

Casey Hammond canned a big 3-pointer to end the third quarter – just like he did in the sectional title win at Red Hill on Friday night.

Add up all of these numbers and it is another Cardinals’ conquest.

Without a panicked moment in the game – Woodlawn overcame a shaky first half to roll past the Rockets 47-30 to advance to the Final Four for the first time in the program’s history.

Breaking a 17-all tie with a 13-1 scoring blitz in the third quarter - Woodlawn doomed Okawville (18-16) as head coach Jon Kraus’ squad fell for the second consecutive year at the Carbondale Class 1A Supersectional.

Green’s conventional three-point play on a great assist from Dawson Verhines gave Woodlawn the lead for good with 6:03 left in the third quarter.

Green added a 3-pointer from the left corner and a dribble drive in traffic for a basket for a nine-point stanza.

Okawville pulled to within 30-20 late in the third quarter on a rebound score from Jacob Frederking with a just over a minute left.

But on an inbounds play that went haywire – Hammond found himself with the ball behind the arc on the right wing with no one to pass to. This 6-foot-3 junior calmly buried a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to stretch the lead to 13 heading into the final quarter.

“Jase Green hit some tremendously big shots when we needed some in both the third and fourth quarters. Casey Hammond hit a big three right at the end of the third quarter and he did that in the sectional. It wasn’t exactly the shot we were looking for but Casey has a knack of hitting big ones when you need them. He doesn’t think about missed shots. He has no fear. That is what makes him as good as he is.”

The quarter (20-7 Woodlawn) put the Cardinals in control.

Okawville stayed in contention for a half by being deliberate on offense and producing a strong defensive effort.

With just eleven total points scored in the second quarter – the Rockets had the pace in place to pull the upset and led 11-9 following a 3-pointer by Bryan Leadendecker with 2:21 left.

But the Cardinals turned up the defensive heat in an already boiling SIU Arena and forced Okawville into 14-turnovers overall (11 in the second half) and will now face Lewistown in the first quarterfinal game at Peoria on Friday afternoon.

“We just wanted to stay patient and continued to pressure on defense. That is kind of what we have done this year,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel. “We’ve pressured the ball and ran people in and out with our bench and that has had an effect on teams in the second half. I felt like we played pretty well in the first half. We just didn’t make any shots.”

The Cardinals big second half (12-of-18 from the floor in the final 16 minutes) turned a 13-all tie at intermission into a 17-point triumph.

“We tried to make them shoot it and in the first half we made them jump shooters,” said Okawville head coach Jon Kraus. “I think that when you play in this arena and Nokomis kind of did that to us last year and that was pretty effective. But we let them get their dribble penetration going in the second half and once we got behind we had to come out and pressure them a bit more than we wanted to. All five of their kids on the floor can handle it (the ball) and pass it and that is very difficult to defend.”

The Rockets – playing without starting guard and leader Clark Weeke because of illness – were just 12-of-34 from the field and just 2-of-10 from behind the 3-point line.

Of the 14 Rockets turnovers – Woodlawn was credited with nine steals with Bronson Verhines grabbing four of the thief’s.

In the big third quarter run – the Cards were energized by a defensive stand the forced the Rockets into a 3-of-11 shooting frame while forcing four mistakes.

“I felt like our defensive intensity started to take a little bit of a toll and we were able to get some points off of our pressure,” added Witzel. “We talked at halftime about really being stronger with the basketball because we were being pushed around and we weren’t being very physical. I felt like their physicality was giving us problems. In the second half we did a better job of that.”

Dawson Verhines was given credit for four assists and he fed senior Kyle Boldt for an easy score in the lane to open the fourth quarter.

Green nailed an additional 3-pointer and the thrashing was on at 38-22.

Verhines picked up his fourth foul on the offensive end while posting up an Okawville defender at 4:19 of the final quarter and sat on the bench for a trip down the floor.

Senior Luke Simmons stepped off the bench and got credit for an assist in finding Green for a wide-open fast break bucket and a 40-24 advantage.

“That is why we pulled him (Dawson) out of the game for a possession. We’ve got people that are capable of handling the basketball. He is a very intelligent player and he understands the situation,” added Coach Witzel.

Okawville would get no closer than 15 the remainder of the contest.

Woodlawn forced seven Rocket turnovers in the final eight minutes and nailed home 5-of-6 free throws in the last 1:33 to head to Peoria at 29-1.

“Our kids are pretty excited. We’re not real good about celebrating but we have kind of figured it out this year,” added Witzel. “They are getting pretty good at it.”

After hitting just 6-of-18 first half shots – Woodlawn finished at 18-of-36 (50 percent) for the night.

“Okawville plays very well defensively and they are very efficient on offense and it was important for us in this game to get quality possessions and get as many shots as we could possible get because we knew we weren’t going to get a lot of opportunities in this game with the tempo that it was played at,” Witzel added. “I was pleased with our poise tonight. Before the game is the hardest part. Once we got into the flow of the game I felt like we executed well and shot the basketball as good as I could hope down here.”

Once the game turned into an up-tempo contest – Woodlawn had the edge.

“That was the one concern that we had was to keep the game half-court,” said Okawville head coach Jon Kraus. “Even though most of the season we tried to play a little bit up tempo at times we were one short tonight and they have such a deep bench. All of their (Woodlawn) kids can play and score. I think over time we just got tired. I think we were worn out at halftime. We needed to be up four or six at half.”

Six-foot-seven sophomore Josh Wiggs added six points off the Woodlawn bench while Hammond finished with five in the low scoring win.

“We talked about not being surprised that we are here. We talked about becoming a really good basketball team,” Witzel explained. “We just wanted to keep progressing and play the best basketball that we could because you want to be playing the best basketball at the end of the season. We felt like we had the personnel to do it. I’m just really happy for our players. They are great kids and deserve this.”

Okawville saw its season end with the loss with no player reaching double-figures in scoring.

Leadendecker paced the Rockets with eight points while Nick Frederking and Devin Clary added seven and six points.

“Somebody asked me about their schedule but they played some good teams this year and last year they had Nokomis down 14 or 16 at Nokomis in the sectional and that tells you how talented they are,” added Kraus when talking about Woodlawn. “I don’t know about the teams they will play up there but I know they will represent southern Illinois very well.”

Okawville (30) – Clary 3 0 0-0 6, Brammeier 0 1 0-0 3, Barkau 0 0 0-0 0, Leadendecker 2 1 1-3 8, Frederking 3 0 1-2 7, Wisneski 0 0 0-0 0, Buss 0 0 0-0 0, Z. Brammeier 0 0 0-0 0, Lohman 0 0 0-0 0, J. Frederking 2 0 2-2 6, Wagner 0 0 0-0 0, Ostendorf 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-2, FT-4-7, PF-11.
Woodlawn (47) – Green 3 2 1-1 13, B. Verhines 3 0 2-3 8, D. Verhines 3 1 2-2 11, Hammond 0 1 2-4 5, Boldt 1 0 0-0 2, Dunbar 0 0 0-0 0, Hart 0 0 0-0 0, McNeil 0 0 0-0 0, Simmons 1 0 0-0 2, Wehrheim 0 0 0-0 0, Wiggs 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-14, 3FG-4, FT-7-10, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

MASSAC COUNTY 62, BREESE CENTRAL 59
There might not be a real Superman living in Metropolis but there is a player named Byron Bailey that came up super in the Class 2A Carbondale Supersectional.

The 6-foot-5 inch Bailey scored 19-points and hauled down 10-rebounds as the Patriots will make their second Peoria trip in six years with the three-point win.

Disguised as mild-mannered Clark Kent – Bailey came up big when the game was tight and with help from long-range bomber Dustin Korte – the Patriots improved to a sparkling 32-1 on the season and will face Marshall in the Class 2A semifinals Friday night.

“He (Bailey) is the best player in southern Illinois. I just think he is. He is so unselfish. He has to handle the ball and he has to post up. He has to defend. He has to do it all,” said Massac County head coach Hosman when talking about Bailey. “We added some things offensively for this game to get him the ball in the paint.”

A very young Breese Central squad saw its season come to a close with four players in double figures led by David Wiegmann with 20-points.

Garrett Gaffner added 19 while Keaton Scheer and freshman Brandon Book added 10-points each.

The good news is all of those players will return next season to help make Breese Central one of the favorites to get to Peoria.

The bad news is that their season ends at 29-3.

“For them (Massac County) two players came up big,” said Breese Central head coach Stan Eagleson whose team made its fourth trip to the Elite Eight. “Korte and Bailey came up big and we lost Korte two times in the first half in the zone. We knew he was their perimeter shooter and we just lost him. Bailey is just tough. He creates and gets to the rim. If he misses he gets his own rebound.”

Korte scored 18-points in the game and he nailed 4-of-6 3-pointers in the game including two in the first half that put the Patriots in charge.

His first trey ended the first quarter scoring as he drilled home a 20-footer from the left corner to make it 15-10 Massac at the end of one.

Korte’s next two shots put the Pats up for good.

He stroked one home from the 17-feet and followed that up with another trifecta that made it 21-16 Massac with 4:04 left before halftime.

This Korte explosion started a 9-0 run that pushed the Breese Central deficit to 25-17.

Keaton Scheer converted a conventional three-point play to end the half but the Cougars had defensive issues heading to the lockerroom down five.

Following another Korte bomb – Bailey made perhaps the play of the night to energize the Massac County fanbase.

He made a steal in the Cougars offensive end and outraced the defense for a two-handed slam-dunk while being fouled by Brandon Book.

Even though he missed the subsequent free throw – Massac had its first double-digit lead at 32-22 with 5:22 left.

“He is so tough because not only is he quick but he is 6-3 or 6-4 and it is a tough matchup for us,” Eagleson explained. “Our bigger kids aren’t that quick.”

The Cougars made some inroads into the Massac County lead but never got closer to the eventual final count.

A 7-1 scoring surge brought Central to within 47-42 but the Patriots had the answers for each run.

Book – a 6-foot-5 freshman - made a pair of 3-pointers late in the contest but Massac kept control by making just enough free throws.

Coach Joe Hosman’s club was 16-of-27 from the foul line and made 5-of-8 in the last 1:01.

“We made runs at them but then they would go down and make two free throws,” added Coach Eagleson. “You give them (Massac) credit. The did enough things better than we did to win the ballgame.”

Book’s final 3-pointer hit the mark with under four seconds left but Bailey held the ball out of bounds as time expired.

Massac County finished the contest 21-of-40 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the 3-point line with Korte making all four.

The Patriots controlled the glass – out rebounding the taller Cougars 27-22.

Bailey picked up his fourth foul with 4:47 but kept his composure and remained in the game the rest of the way.

“We knew that if we could get them out of their zone that they would have trouble guarding us,” added Hosman. “We didn’t get the ball enough to Dustin (Korte) when they were fouling us. He hit some big shots for us in the first half. Overall when we got them out of their zone we liked our chances better.”

Breese Central shot the ball well also (25-of-46 overall) but was outscored 16-to-6 from the free throw line.

“It hurts a lot tonight,” finalized Coach Eagleson. “The old cliché that after the dust settles and the kids look back it has been a great season but these guys really wanted to take that next step and tonight they are really disappointed that they didn’t do it.”

Coach Hosman heads to Peoria with a team that was the preseason number one ranked team in the ABV Class 2A Carbondale Supersectional Area and has the best record in the program’s history.

“This is a good group of kids that has represented out community in a good way all year long,” said Coach Hosman – who will get a trophy this weekend as part of the Class 2A Final Four. “It takes talent and these kids have got some basketball talent and then they play together so well. We play good defense and we rebound a bit better than our size. These kids don’t care who scores and we have had numerous kids in double-figures and they just believe in each other. We’ve had some better performances but we will take this one tonight.”

Massac County (62) – Kester 1 0 0-3 2, Lang 0 0 0-0 0, Bailey 7 0 5-9 19, Ayala 3 0 5-7 11, Johnson 4 0 4-6 12, Korte 2 4 2-2 18, Maxie 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-17, 3FG-4, FT-16-27, PF-13.
Breese Central (59) – Book 2 2 0-0 10, Gaffner 8 0 3-5 19, Wiegmann 9 0 2-3 20, Imming 0 0 0-0 0, Scheer 3 1 1-2 10, Rakers 0 0 0-0 0, Richter 0 0 0-0 0, Grapperhaus 0 0 0-0 0, Norrenberns 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-22, 3FG-3, FT-6-10, PF-20.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.