01-24-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
WEST FRANKFORT - The Carterville Lions defended their West Frankfort Mid-Winter Classic title on Saturday night by playing perhaps their most complete game of the season.

Coach Scott Burzynski's club needed a supreme effort from this club to oust the host Red Birds and they got it with a 73-64 win at Max Morris Gymnasium in front of a large crowd in the 28th annual event.

Taking the best shot from West Frankfort and returning the fire, the Lions scored from all over the court and were exceptional in each category as the Lions improved to 16-4 overall on the season with perhaps its biggest win of the campaign.

Tournament MVP 6-foot-4 senior Will Galik and twin brother Matt were keys to the win by scoring 21 and 19-points respectively.

But the best performance, arguably, on the night was the play of junior guard Austin Swalls.

This 6-foot-2 wingman netted 21-points as well as he and the twins were deadly from long distance.

Those three combined to make 10 of the teams 11 3-point shots in an outside onslaught.

On top of the shooting performance from the field, the Lions were dead-eyes from the foul line.

With the hosts racking up personal fouls, Carterville made them pay with a 24-of-26 effort, with Matt Galik hitting 12-of-12, including eight-consecutive in the fourth quarter to quash the final West Frankfort rally.

“Down the stretch, especially in a game like this, it is a simple concept when you put it on paper. You make free throws and you rebound. I thought we did a good job keeping their big guys off the glass,” said Coach Burzynski. “We made our free throws and we hit some big shots when we needed to. And we took care of the ball when we needed to. We knew the challenges we had in front of us. They (West Frankfort) have some big wins this year and have beaten some good teams so we knew they would make runs.”

For Coach Dan DeWerff and his Red Birds, they received 21-points from senior Hunter Johnson and 20-points from senior Christian Dunning.

And it wasn't like the Red Birds played a bad game.

They hit 21-of-47 from the floor and were even in rebounds with Carterville at 20-each.

However the Red Birds needed to use its size advantage to produce more on the boards and defensively and they didn't get that accomplished.

“In the first half I think we were surprised how well they could shoot the three. Sometimes we would have a hand in their face and they would still hit shots. We had too many lapses on defense and you can't do that against good teams,” said Coach DeWerff. “We talked about how every possession matters and we took a few of them off tonight. You can't do that against these type teams because they (Carterville) are the type of team that will make you pay for your mistakes.”

As it turned out there were some intangibles that swung the advantage to the Lions.

The biggest one was that Carterville didn't allow West Frankfort a single offensive rebound in the fourth quarter, as the Lions corralled all seven on the rebounds on the seven misfires by the hosts.

West Frankfort also struggled against the Lions zone, hitting just 7-of-22 from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Birds fell to 14-4 on the season as they could do little to stop the Carterville offense.

The Lions finished 19-of-38 from the floor and a resounding 55 percent from beyond the arc.

“We've got some guys who can shoot it and they all have confidence. That is the way we want it. We want them shooting with confidence,” said Coach Burzynski. “We hit big shots and we got the big stops when we needed them.”

This was the third tournament title of the season for Carterville as they also won the Pinckneyville “Duster Thomas Classic” and tied for the Murphysboro "Ernie Bozarth" Memorial Tournament title.

After coming out in the early going cold (missing their first four 3-point attempts) Carterville got rolling.

Will Galik hit two of his five 3-pointers in the first quarter and he closed a 10-2 Lions prowl with a trifecta from the right wing to close the frame at 23-15 Carterville.

“Will does a great job for us. This is his second MVP this season (Pinckneyville Tournament) and he has played well,” said Coach Burzynski about Will Galik. “When he is open he hits some big shots for us. What I was really happy about was he stepped up and defended and rebounded well for us tonight.”

West Frankfort made runs on this night and the first big one came in the beginning of the second quarter.

Senior guard Braxston Koehl scored nine points on the night for WF and his first of three 3-point shots found the mark to begin the second quarter and start a rally for the Red Birds.

A steal and a fast break lay in from junior guard Keegan Easley, a bucket by 6-foot-11 senior Aaron Twist and another trey by Koehl forced a Carterville timeout at 29-25 with 4:56 to go before halftime.

Carterville kept its composure and Swalls stepped up and nailed a pair of 20-footers to give the Lions their first double-digit lead of the contest.

His second one from the left wing pushed the Lions to a 35-25 advantage.

Dunning, a 6-foot-4 senior, scored seven consecutive points for the Red Birds on a long 3-pointer from the left wing, a rebound basket in which he followed his own missed 3-pointer for a stick back and then two free throws that cut the Lions lead to just 35-32.

However the Lions scored the last points of the half as Matt Galik took a pass from reserve sophomore Darien Miller (after a steal) for a fast break lay in while being fouled by Koehl.

His made free throw sent the teams to the locker rooms at 38-32 Lions.

Johnson helped get the Red Birds going and back into the final tie of the game in the third quarter.

The 6-foot-6 senior forward scored five points in the early part of the second half on a steal and fast break and then on a three-point play while being fouled by Carterville's Gavin James.

Trailing 45-39, West Frankfort scored six-consecutive points to even the score.

Twist, senior forward Logan Hartley and Dunning all had points.

When Dunning finished the brief scoring move with two free throws, the game was tied at 45-all with 3:31 left in the third.

But as it turned out Carterville was ready for another flourish.

A 9-0 run capped by a steal and fast break lay in by Swalls and another 3-pointer by Will Galik forced another WF timeout at 54-45.

Koehl answered the run but in the final seconds of fourth quarter Johnson, while diving for a loose ball, was called for his fourth personal foul.

The Lions smelled blood and went in for the kill in the fourth quarter.

The final 3-pointer of the night by Matt Galik gave the Lions a 59-48 lead.

The last hurrah by West Frankfort, four-straight points by Johnson on a pair of baskets got the Red Birds to within five.

He took a pass from Koehl for a fast-break lay in and then scored in the lane to make it 59-54 with 4:16 to play.

Carterville's Swalls sent the dagger through the heart of the Red Birds' chances with another 3-point bomb from the top of the arc.

From this point further, the Lions did their growling from the free throw line.

Carterville converted 11-of-12 in a 2:27 to seal the championship.

“This is a big win for our program. Winning two-in-a-row here and also at Pinckneyville, I'm happy for the kids,” said Coach Burzynski. “I'm happy for them. They come to practice, work hard and compete.”

West Frankfort was just 5-of-12 from the field in the fourth quarter when they needed points and Carterville grabbed all seven of the missed shots on the defensive end.

“It (the loss) is something we can work to get better and we could get another shot at them in the regional,” said Coach DeWerff. “We are not going to make those same mistakes. We needed to be more aggressive against their zone tonight. We didn't attack enough and look to score and it is something we have to get better at.”

Carterville survived five turnovers in the fourth quarter and 11 for the game.

Coach Burzynski and his club now have momentum of a 4-0 week to get them going towards hopefully a long postseason journey.

In a bit of irony the postseason for Carterville will be just like this week as five of the teams in this tournament, including the host Red Birds, will return to Max Morris Gym in February for the 2A West Frankfort Regional.

Anna-Jonesboro, Vienna and Johnston City along with the title game combatants will be back to this historic venue again February 23-27. Benton is the sixth team in the regional.

“Defensively is where I thought we won the ballgame. We shot the ball well throughout the game but our zone was really good. We guarded the 3-point line and tried to keep the ball out of the lane,” said Coach Burzynski. “This was just a big win for us. We are going to take this and this is two-in-a-row. You don't win too many tournaments back-to-back. I'm just really happy for the guys.”

Coach Mike Chamness saw his club jump out to a 16-0 lead and led 20-1 before Vienna got going.

A-J got 16-points from Dakota Earnhart and 15 from Noah Fuller in the win.

Coach Cory Waters saw his Eagles rally to get a brief fourth quarter lead but fell to fourth place.

Zach Moore paced Vienna with 16-points while Quinton Bent added 12.