03-05-08
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - In their first ever trip to the Carbondale Supersectional the Nokomis Redskins gave their long time coach something special.

A trip to the Final Four.

With the change in the tournament in which the supersectionals are now considered quarterfinal contests – the Redskins advanced further than they ever had after a convincing 56-44 win over Okawville in the SIU Arena double-header Wednesday night.

Coach Steve Kimbro had guided his program to a pair of Elite Eight appearances in his 27 years at the helm of the Redskins' tribe but had never got that initial win at the state finals.

But on this night his son Wade made sure his father would reach that elusive goal.

Kimbro – a 6-foot-3 senior forward – powered inside against the smaller Okawville frontline for a career high 28 points to improve Nokomis to 29-5 mark and more importantly two more games this weekend.

“Wow, that is awesome, 28 points in a supersectional game,” said Wade Kimbro when told of his offensive totals after the contest. “Is that right? I got high percentage shots tonight because they played us over the top. And I made my free throws most importantly.”

Making a nearly four hour trip down south didn't phase the Redskins as they took the lead for good with just under three minutes left in the opening quarter and held off Okawville – closing the Rockets campaign at 26-7.

Nokomis will take on 31-1 Warrensburg-Latham Friday afternoon in the second semifinal game at Peoria.

“We have been there before but not the Final Four. This is every coaches' dream,” said Kimbro – who is now 563-199 in his 27-year coaching career at Nokomis. “We didn't take care of the ball a few times but we hit our free throws in the last five minutes. We talk about it in practice when we shoot our free throws. We'll go to the line and win it or lose it there.”

Nokomis hit 22-of-25 free throws in the game which included 16-of-17 in the final quarter to keep Okawville from making a comeback.

Coach Jon Kraus saw his club connect on just 14-of-39 shots overall and a frigid 4-of-19 from behind the 3-point line – a place that the Redskins' 1-2-2 zone dared the Rockets to shoot from.

“Their zone defense is hard to simulate by our guys in practice and that being said they (Nokomis) did a really good job and they played a better basketball game than we did,” said Coach Kraus who took his first team to an Elite Eight in his eighth season as head coach at the school. “When you get to this time of year and that happens it's over.”

Kimbro (Wade) was just too much underneath the basket for Okawville to deal with.

He hit on 11-of-17 shots from the floor – mostly in the paint as he established himself in the first quarter and continued to punish the smaller Rockets for the entire game.

His spin move in the lane with 6:09 to go in the opening quarter not only gave the Redskins its first lead of the game but began the Okawville eventual foul problems.

He converted that bucket into a three-point play to give Nokomis a 3-2 lead.

Okawville tried different players guarding him but none slowed him down.

Okawville's top scorer – 6-foot-2 senior Brandon Brammeier - hit all four of his free throws in the first quarter with the second pair giving the Rockets a 6-5 lead.

That one point advantage didn't last long as Kimbro and 6-foot-4 junior Jon Cheek closed out the frame with a pair of scores.

Cheek put back a rebound with under a minute left to close the scoring at 9-6.

The Rockets would never regain the lead.

Okawville – against the Nokomis pressure – committed five first quarter turnovers and eight total in the first half.

Kimbro was just getting started in the first quarter and by the time the second period started – he began to dominate the lane.

He scored 11 points in the second frame.

For good measure he added another conventional three-point play.

Taking a lob pass from teammate Lukas Jachino on a set inbounds play – Kimbro hit his attempt while being fouled by Devin Clary at the 3:15 mark. His subsequent made charity pushed the Redskins lead to 18-11.

A 6-0 run with Nokomis guard and ABV First Team All-South selection Austin Bertollino scoring four points gave Nokomis its first double-digit lead.

A drive to the basket and a steal and fast break bucket got the run going.

When Kimbro also scored in transition the lead was 24-13 with with :54 remaining in the half.

Kyle Heckert closed out his career for Okawville with a team leading 15 points.

He grabbed a rebound of a Brammeier missed free throw with :19 remaining and turned the whole trip down the floor into a four-point play to cut the halftime margin to just 24-17.

“We went brain-dead on that free throw at the end of the half,” added Coach Kimbro. “That took an eleven point lead down to seven.”

For the game Nokomis capitalized on the Okawville mistakes by scoring 20 points on the turnovers.

Okawville – despite all of its offensive problems – made a pair of scoring sprints (one in the third quarter and another early in the fourth) to cut into the lead.

Unfortunately each jab was countered by the Redskins.

Brammeier – who also closed out his prep career on this night – got the first run (6-0) going with a steal and transition score with 4:19 left.

Back-to-back buckets by Heckert and Clary cut the Okawville deficit to just 28-23.

However Nokomis matched that 6-0 run with one of its own with Kimbro adding four more points on a basket and a pair of free throws.

Kimbro and Jachino began what turned out to be be a phenomenal free throw run that kept Okawville at arms length.

Between the end of the third quarter and the end of the fourth quarter – Nokomis made 17 consecutive free throws.

Okawville's final chance came on the end of an 8-0 run that cut the Redskins lead to just 37-35 with 3:47 to go.

Clark Weeke hit a trio of 3-pointers in the final quarter and finished with four on the game which accounted for all of his 14 points.

Heckert and Weeke score all eight of the points in the march with a Weeke 3-pointer and five points from Heckert on 3-of-4 from the foul line and a drive to the basket.

That was the last salvo for the Rockets as Nokomis took care of business from the foul line the remainder of the game.

Bertolino hit nine of the free throws in that outstanding run while Okawville missed five 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter.

Bertolino got loose for a fast break score in the final seconds to close out the historic victory in the first 1A supersectional played at SIU.

“All the things we needed to do to win we did tonight,” finalized Coach Kimbro.

Nokomis was 17-of-41 from the floor in the game and didn't make a 3-pointer (0-3) but the free throw line accuracy told the tale of this win.

Nokomis commanded the rebounding totals with a 33-20 edge by limiting Okawville to just eight offensive rebounds and with just one of those coming in the fourth quarter.

Following Kimbro's outstanding totals Bertolino added 14 points with Jachino and Cheek chipping in six points each.

Brammeier closed out his senior season with 11 points to follow Heckert's 15 and Weeke's 12.

“I'm so proud of the way that the kids played,” added Kraus. “We played awfully hard tonight. We just had to get a lead and we just never got that lead on them.”

Nokomis (56) - Jachinio 0 0 6-6 6, Bertolino 3 0 8-10 14, Spears 0 0 0-0 0, Cheek 3 0 0-0 6, W. Kimbro 11 0 6-7 28, Wood 0 0 2-2 2, T. Kimbro 0 0 0-0 0, Brady 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-0, FT-22-25, PF-15.
Okawville (44) - Weeke 0 4 0-0 12, Leadendecker 1 0 0-0 2, Heckert 4 0 7-10 15, Brammeier 3 0 5-8 11, Segelhorst 1 0 0-0 2, Kuhlengel 0 0 0-0 0, Recker 0 0 0-0 0, Clary 1 0 0-0 2, Streuter 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-4, FT-12-18, PF-21.
Fouled Out - Leadendecker, Okawville.
Technical Fouls - None.

PINCKNEYVILLE 56, TRENTON-WESCLIN 39
The magical string of comebacks that the Wesclin Warriors had produced during the 2007-08 ended on Wednesday night in the second supersectional game at SIU Arena.

The Pinckneyville Panthers pulled away from Wesclin in the second quarter and never let the Warriors into any offensive flow to run away for the win and yet another trip to the state finals.

Behind 24 points from ABV First Team selection Kyle Cassity and a stingy defensive effort - especially in the backcourt – the Panthers advanced to take on Chicago North Lawndale this Friday night at Carver Arena.

Ryan Rushing – Pinckneyville's defensive stopper – put the clamps on Wesclin's top outside gun Casey Ainslie.

The 6-foot-3 Ainslie who averaged 12.7 points a night during his previous 31 games – scored just nine points on three 3-pointers.

After opening the game with a trey from the right wing – Ainslie didn't score again until the fourth quarter.

Not only did the Panthers' shut down Ainslie but the rest of the lineup had difficulty getting the ball to their top player – ABV Carbondale Supersectional Area "Player of the Year" Sean Rakers.

The 6-foot-7 Rakers scored 16 points and grabbed a game best 17 rebounds.

However he got very few offensive chances because of the passing lanes were closed for the most part by Pinckneyville's defensive blanket.

“This was a team effort and these kids are just so coachable,” said Pinckneyville head coach Bob Waggoner – who will take his first team to the state finals in his first season as head coach for the Panthers. “The credit goes to our kids. Coaching is easy when you have great players. They listen to you.”

There were multiple contributors for the Panthers offensively as they jumped out to a 14-6 lead early in the contest.

Brandon Hardin hit a big 3-pointer to close an 8-1 run with 3:09 left.

Rakers scored seven points in the first quarter but it was clear that nothing on this night was going to come easy.

His drive to the basket and a quarter ending pair of free throws ended the first stanza at 18-15 Panthers.

But the second quarter belonged to Cassity who netted 11 points - which included a backbreaking four-point play in the final seconds.

Taking a pass at the top of the arc – Cassity faked defender Nate Fuhler into the air and then canned a leaning 3-pointer while being fouled.

His made free throw gave the Panthers a 35-23 lead at intermission and closed a 12-0 scoring march.

“The run that they (Pinckneyville) made at the end of the half was huge,” said Wesclin head coach Brent Brede who took his second team to the supersectional round but his first team to an Elite Eight this season. “The shot that Cassity hit at the end of the quarter really hurt us. You could see it drained our kids.”

While in previous championship contests the Warriors were able to rally – Pinckneyville was going to have no heroics by the team in Orange and Black.

Rakers scored six points in the third quarter and took a lob pass from Tyler Shaw for an in close score with 1:16 left.

It would be his last prep basket.

Pinckneyville closed out the quarter by outscoring the Warriors 12-5 to push the lead to 50-32 heading into the final quarter.

“We told them in the regional championship and in the sectional championship we were down at the half and came back but we came out in the third quarter and we didn't execute that well either," added Brede. "We didn't get the ball into the post and we didn't hit any shots early and it just snowballed from there.”

The Panthers controlled the ball and the tempo in the fourth quarter to close out the triumph.

Ainslie and Shaw closed out their careers with a pair of 3-pointers before the benches cleared.

Wesclin shot just 13-of-34 from the floor for the contest and just 4-of-12 from behind the arc.

Rakers hit 6-of-11 shots from the field but the rest of the group struggled.

Ainslie's nine points was second on the club with Shaw finishing with seven.

Wesclin (behind Rakers) held a 30-24 rebounding edge but committed 23 turnovers which led to 25 Panther points.

Cassity hit on 10-of-13 shots from the field for his 24 markers which led all scorers.

Hardin chipped in nine points while Hayden Hicks and Collin Woodside each pitch home seven.

“I think this group has been dedicated (to get to state) and they got it done,” added Waggoner. “If you have the belief and the talent then you have a chance.”

Trenton-Wesclin (39) - Shaw 2 1 0-1 7, Ainslie 0 3 0-0 9, Fuhler 0 0 2-2 2, Bair 1 0 3-3 5, Rakers 6 0 4-8 17, Klein 0 0 0-0 0, West 0 0 0-0 0, Kirkland 0 0 0-0 0, Mastromatteo 0 0 0-0 0, Kunz 0 0 0-0 0, Emig 0 0 0-0 0, Haselhorst 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-9, 3FG-4, FT-9-14, PF-14.
PInckneyville (56) - Hicks 2 0 3-5 7, Cassity 9 1 3-5 24, Woodside 2 0 3-4 7, Rushing 1 0 0-0 2, Priebe 1 0 0-0 2, Steele 0 0 0-0 0, Choate 0 0 0-0 0, Winter 0 0 0-0 0, Winter 0 0 0-0 0, Logan 1 1 0-0 5, Hardin 1 1 4-6 9, Sims 0 0 0-0 0, Kellerman 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Malinski 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-3, FT-13-20, PF-18.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.