12-27-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
PINCKNEYVILLE - Coach Scott Burzynski and his Carterville Lions have been building towards a very special season and the club took a big step on Saturday night.

Or perhaps one giant leap for Lion kind.

Carterville, coming off of a regional championship a year ago and with talent returning, was looking for something shinny to put in the trophy case in the finale at Pinckneyville.

They picked up a nice award on Saturday night.

Riding the hot-hand of tournament Most Valuable Player Will Galik and using a defensive effort to force Waterloo Gibault into a very poor shooting night from the 3-point line, the Lions got a quick lead in overtime and held off the Hawks, 65-61, to win the Pinckneyville “Duster Thomas Classic” championship.

Coach Burzynski's club, who have intentionally beefed up an already tough SIRR Mississippi Division schedule this season, improved to 10-2 overall and went 4-0 in this two-day showdown of twelve teams.

Galik came up big on Saturday night for the Lions, hitting for 22-points to lead the way.

Guard Austin Swalls added 18-points for Carterville and Matt Galik tossed in 13.

In a defensive battle in which neither team shot the ball well, it was the Lions who made all the key shots late in the contest to decide the outcome.

“It (the tournament) is a tough stretch and it is taxing on our guys but it is the same as everyone up here playing those four games. The kids really responded and they executed our game plan and the scouting reports,” said Coach Burzynski. “I'm just really happy for our guys. Coming up here and winning this tournament. There were a lot of really good teams here.”

Coach Dennis Rueter and his Hawks had opportunities for the win, in fact many second chance chances.

The Hawks held a 37-25 rebounding margin while grabbing 18-offensive rebounds.

“We needed to do a better job rebounding,” said Coach Burzynski. “We got a bit spread out in our half-court trap and they (Gibault) did a really good job crashing the boards.”

However the other edge of that sword was that Gibault finished just 26-of-66 from the floor and a woeful 1-of-18 from beyond the arc.

The top scorer on the night in the contest was Trevor Davis, a 6-foot-3 sophomore forward, who scored 24-points while grabbing 12-rebounds as Gibault clearly had an edge underneath the basket.

Six-foot-four junior center Brain Deterding also had a double-double, added 20-points and 12-rebounds for Coach Rueter's squad.

But other than that, everyone wearing the white uniforms with cardinal red trim had issues offensively.

The other Hawks finished 8-of-37 from the field (21.6 percent) in the loss as Gibault finished the first half of the season at 8-4 overall and 3-1 on the weekend.

Carterville hit 24-of-52 overall (46.2 percent) and of that total the Lions ended up 8-of-26 (30.8 percent) from downtown.

“They (Carterville) made some shots and we knew they would, they are good shooters. But we turned it over a few more times then we would like,” said Coach Rueter. “We knew if we could string some passes together we could probably get the shot we wanted and we did, we just didn't make enough of them.”

This game featured eight lead changes and five ties and was just as close as the score indicated.

Each team had its share of runs but the Lions took full advantage of its last one, jumping out to a lead in overtime to secure the victory.

However it was the Hawks that forced the issue in the early going.

Falling behind 4-0 in the first minute, Gibault took advantage of six Carterville first quarter turnovers and led 17-11 at the first horn.

Davis, who finished his strong night hitting 10-16 from the field, scored three consecutive baskets.

Included in that run of seven points was a 3-pointer from the top of the circle for a six-point lead.

After a basket to open the second quarter by the Hawks' Zach Rueter, Carterville rallied with a 9-0 burst.

Both Galik brothers added baskets and Swalls hit a pair of shots with the second one coming on a fast break dunk on a pass from Will Galik after a steal for a 20-19 Lions lead with 4:30 until intermission.

The game went into see-saw mode for the remainder of the half as the Galik's traded baskets with Davis and Deterding.

At the end of the quarter, Carterville held the ball nearly a minute for a last shot and Swalls made a cut to the basket for a lay up and a 31-28 lead at the break for the Lions.

Carterville looked like they were finally going to shake loose from the Hawks in the third quarter.

Back-to-back treys by Swalls and 5-foot-11 senior guard Blake Watson gave Carterville a 43-36 advantage.

But Davis grabbed a rebound and went the length of the court for a dunk just before the buzzer to cut the lead to just five points heading to the fourth quarter.

Using its offensive rebounding advantage in the fourth quarter, the Hawks got back the lead late in regulation.

In fact three of the baskets in the next eight minutes were on the boards.

Deterding grabbed two of the rebounds for put-back buckets and when Jacob Rueter tipped in a missed shot with 1:11 left, Gibault had tied the game at 49-all.

After a pair of made free throws by Carterville senior Gavin James, the Hawks scored the next five points to take a 54-51 lead.

A conventional three-point play by Zach Rueter and another steal an fast break lay in by Davis had the Lions in trouble with :51.3 remaining.

Davis failed to convert his opportunity for a three-point play as he was fouled by Swalls.

Will Galik, with the championship in the balance, canned a 3-pointer to even the game at 54-apiece.

The Hawks had a chance for the win but Davis' 3-point attempt from the left wing misfired at the horn to send both teams to the extra session.

The Lions got off to a good start in the overtime with Swalls and Matt Galik each hitting 3-point shots.

Gibault had chances again with Deterding hitting 3-of-4 free throws in two different possessions as the Hawks got to within 60-59 with just over a minute left.

But Carterville hit its free throws when it counted the most (5-of-6) in the final 1:08 to seal the championship.

It was fitting that MVP Galik hit the final two with :04.0 remaining as the Lions were awarded the title of the 8th annual tournament.

“We ran some good sets tonight when we needed a big bucket we got couple of 3's when we needed it,” said Coach Burzynski. “We executed down the stretch and made the free throws when we needed to. We will take this win and I'm really happy for my guys.”

Davis, Deterding and Jacob Rueter joined both Galik brothers on the all-tournament team.

Also on the 10-member squad were Adam Banach and Nolan Luke of Pinckneyville, Jake Varble and Luke Shively of Jerseyville and Brendan Bernhardt of Wesclin.

Carterville, who had played in the first three years of this event (2007-09) without much success (2-10), returned this year and captured the championship.

After topping both Roxana and Olney East Richland to win Pool C of the four-pool set up, the Lions needed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to top Jerseyville, 60-57 to advance to the title tilt.

Gibault edged the host Panthers in the other Gold Bracket semifinal, 41-39.

“This was a good tournament for us. Coming in to the year I thought that we had a pretty good team but we haven't played quite the way I had hope. But we got a little closer in this tournament,” said Coach Rueter.