11-26-04
BY JACK BULLOCK
GRAYVILLE - If you are going to lead in a high school basketball game for only :04, it should be the last four ticks of the clock.

In a battle of teams in Pool A of the 8th Annual Grayville Thanksgiving Tournament, Carmi-White County trailed New Harmony, Indiana for the first 31:56 of the 32-minute contest.

But despite trailing from the outset, due mainly to a cold shooting 3-of-22 first half, coach Wade Thomas' Bulldogs made a tremendous comeback, rallying past an overwhelmed Rappites' squad, 39-38 Friday night.

Keegan Dennis, one of the cold shooters in the first half for CWC, turned his offense game around in the second half.

With the clock winding down in the fourth quarter with the Bulldogs trailing 38-37, Dennis found himself with the ball in the left corner.

Instinctively he made a baseline move to the basket.

As he had scored earlier in the final quarter on nearly the same move in the lane, the 6-foot-2 junior forward made it past a pair of New Harmony defenders for a reverse lay up.

When the ball fell through the net, Carmi had completed its comeback to improve it's season and tournament record to 3-0.

"I told the kids that if a team can shoot 16 or 17 percent from the field and still find a way to win a ballgame, it is a sign of team work and hard nosed defense," said Carmi-White County head coach Wade Thomas. "We shot horrendously in the first half and they packed it (a zone defense) against us and made us shoot it from the outside. We've got kids that can 'put it in the hole' but we couldn't find the range in the first half. We got impatient in the first half and we struggled."

Dennis, who led all scorers with 14-points, scored 10 of those points in the final quarter as the Bulldogs outscored the Rappites 20-8 to earn the win.

He nailed a pair of 3-pointers to start the comeback in the final stanza.

His first one from the left wing with 7:31 left whittled the New Harmony lead to 32-22.

Two Tyler Choate free throws, another Dennis short shot in the lane and a steal and fast break lay in by Jake Higginson capped a 9-2 Carmi run which forced a New Harmony timeout with 3:44 to go at 34-28.

"That steal and 'run out' on a fast break was as big a play of any that we made tonight," added Coach Thomas.

If the Rappites and head coach Brian Cardin want to point to a key to the NH collapse, it can look to a pair of untimely technical fouls on players Shane Espenlaub and Cort Alsop.

After the New Harmony timeout, in a pressing situation, a jump ball was called in which Espenlaub said something to the referee and was charged with the technical.

Choate made both charities to make it 34-30 New Harmony.

After two free throws by the Rappites Chad Weery, the Bulldogs struck again with Chase Kittinger scoring on a back door lay up and then, after a NH turnover, Dennis canned his second 3-pointer of the quarter and suddenly it was 36-35 with just under two minutes left.

It appeared as if New Harmony had put the Bulldogs away with a score on an inbounds play by Espenlaub and then a Dennis miss on the next Bulldog possession.

However the second technical foul called on New Harmony's Alsop swung the tide, as he picked up a personal foul to go along with his technical.

Choate was the one fouled on the play and, although he missed his one-and-bonus attempt, he made both of the technical foul shots to pull Carmi within a single point with :24 seconds left.

More importantly, Carmi had the ball after a New Harmony timeout, setting up Dennis' game winner.

The Rappites had one last chance after yet another timeout, but a half-court shot by Drew Mathews hit high off of the backboard as the buzzer sounded.

The way the contest started, the Bulldogs seemed destined to back their way into the championship game.

Since New Harmony had already suffered a Pool-Play loss, the only way that the Rappites could reach the final game would be to win the game by 32-points to take the tie-breaker of total margin of victory for the tournament.

With Carmi missing its first 11 shots from the field, New Harmony sprinted out to a 10-3 first quarter lead.

Alsop had five of those points, with a 3-pointer and a score in the paint on a pass from teammate Trent Creek.

The New Harmony lead ballooned to its largest of the night when Espenlaub drilled home a 3-pointer from the top of the arc for a commanding 15-3 lead with 7:12 to go in the second quarter.

But a two consecutive scores in the paint by reserve Carmi forward Mark Healy seemed to light a fire under the Bulldogs.

"He (Healy) played well for us tonight off the bench," Thomas said. "We got some kids that can come off the bench and help us. We think we can go eight or nine deep and not be hurt much. He played well on both ends of the court."

Carmi finished strong in the second half, hitting 10-of-17 shots in the final two quarters (13-for-39 (28 percent) on the night) which was a strong comeback considering the cold start.

The Bulldogs, after Dennis' 14 points, got eight points from Choate who hit 6-of-7 free throws, while Keaton Bradshaw, despite spending most of the first half on the Bulldog bench in foul trouble, added six points on a pair of key third quarter 3-pointers.

New Harmony (1-2) placed two players in double figures with Weery and Mathews scoring 11 and 10 points per game respectively.

The Bulldogs will face Cisne on Saturday night as the Lions look for their third-straight Grayville Thanksgiving Tournament title.

Cisne took care of Galatia 55-48 in Friday night's nightcap to finish 3-0 in Pool B.

New Harmony falls into the fifth place game against NCOE while Clay City and Galatia will play for third place.

The host Bison and Edwards County will compete in the seventh place contest.

Edwards County (52) - Roosevelt 1 0 1-2 3, Schuh 0 1 2-3 5, Heidinger 1 1 0-0 5, Longbons 0 1 1-2 4, Lewis 0 1 3-3 6, Schilb 2 0 1-3 5, Snidle 10 0 4-5 24.
2FG-14, 3FG-4, FT-12-18, PF-19
Norris City-Omaha-Enfield (60) - Mitchell 3 0 1-2 7, Laughard 5 3 7-8 23, Simmons 2 0 2-2 6, Daugherty 0 0 1-2 1, Moore 2 0 0-0 4, Turrentine 3 2 3-5 15, Capps 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-15, 3FG-5, FT-15-21, PF-18.
Fouled Out - Longbons - Edwards County.
Technical Fouls - None.