03/01/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARTERVILLE - Tuesday night's 2A sectional semifinal game at Carterville was summed up by one sentence by Massac County head coach Joe Hosman after the contest.

“They (Breese Central) just took us out of everything we wanted to do tonight.”

The Cougars broke open a close game early in the second quarter with a half ending 19-1 run to turn a 12-11 advantage into eventually a 35-14 lead at intermission.

And for the Patriots that result was as bad as it sounded.

During a six minute stretch Breese Central forced six turnovers with all of them turning into points as they game turned quickly into a rout.

Central 6-4 senior Brady Moore led all scorers with 22-points while 6-4 senior Luke Strubhart added 14.

While Moore did most of his damage from the outside, Strubhart was dominant in the paint for Coach Jeremy Shubert.

“Brady Moore stepped out and hit some big shots for us tonight,” said Coach Shubert. “And Strubhart is our rim protector. We have three point guards out there and they defend. In our losses this year we've turned the ball over too much and when you don't turn it over in the postseason you're going to give yourself a chance to win.”

Massac County, a mostly young squad, was taught another lesson on Tuesday night from an experience team as the Patriots' season ended at 21-12.

No player for Coach Hosman reached double-figures in scoring as they were held to just 10 points in the second half while also going nearly six minutes without a field goal to end the second quarter.

By the time the contest reached halftime, the harm had been administered.

Six-four senior Ian Higgerson, one of the few upperclassman on the team, finished his career with eight-points to lead the Massac County offense.

Junior forward Brady Cissell added five-points while junior guard Brody Smallman added a 3-pointer for his points.

Sophomore point guard Isaac Hosman was held to just two free throws for two-points while sophomore Will Harmon, senior Reed McCuan and junior Tyrus Riley each scored two-points.

Central never trailed in the contest as Moore nailed down the game's first shot, a 3-pointer from the right corner in the first minute.

It was one of six made 3's in the game for the Cougars.

Moore and Strubhart each added points on drives to the basket in the quarter.

Smallman hit his only shot, a 3-pointer from the left win and Higgerson scored on the inside and also had a pair of early free throws as Massac County trailed just 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.

After a drive down the baseline by McCuan and a bucket by Central reserve Mason Hamon on a backdoor cut, Higgerson added his second inside score for his club as they were down just 12-11 with 6:50 left in the half.

Central dominated the rest of the half.

The next two Central scores came off of Patriots' turnovers with Moore and Strubhart each scoring.

Harmon's only score with 5:04 left was the final bucket for Massac in the second quarter.

The Cougars drained shots the rest of the half as an avalanche of points fell on Massac County.

Moore netted ten of the points on a pair of 3-pointers and and a nice drive in the lane with a spin move finish for a basket.

Four combined free throws by junior guard Cody Dickshot and Moore was followed up with consecutive scores by senior guard Dalton Boruff.

Boruff hit a nice driving bank shot and then canned a 3-pointer from the right corner, made it 33-14 with :59 left.

After yet another Massac County turnover, Boruff assisted on a lob pass to Strubhart who closed the half with a resounding exclamation point of a two-handed dunk as Central was in charge at 35-14 at halftime.

The Patriots were only 4-of-17 from the field in the first 16-minutes and committed eight-turnovers against a strong defensive performance by Central.

The wind was clearly out of the sails for Massac County in the second half as Central extended it's advantage to the point of a mercy rule continuous clock in the final frame.

Another big run by the Cougars put the finishing touches on the semifinal win.

A long 3-pointer by sophomore guard Mason Shubert started a 14-2 sprint.

Moore scored on a fast break and Strubhart got his second dunk of the game on an assist from Shubert.

Moore added a driving lay up and Strubhart drove the lane for a score while being fouled.

His made free throw pushed the Cougars' lead to 49-18 with 3:15 left

Dickshot ended the third quarter scoring on yet another drive to the basket as Central triggered the mercy rule heading to the fourth quarter leading 53-20.

Reserves played most of the final minutes for both teams in the semifinal win for Breese Central, who will face the winner of Wednesday night's other semifinal between Nashville and Murphysboro.

“The kids have been really focused. We got off to a bad start in February. We had such a great January and we had some injuries and some sickness. We had two losses (Mater Dei, Columbia) to start February and those kids, we've had really good practices since then,” said Coach Shubert. “All of our guys come to practice and work hard and I can't say enough about them. They are locked in right now.”

The Cougars' stats showed how dominant a performance this was.

Central was 22-of-45 overall from the field, 6-of-12 from the arc.

However the reserve unit represented 2-of-7 from the floor during the fourth quarter.

Coach Shubert got a 27-20 rebounding edge, which included holding Massac County without an offensive rebound after the first quarter.

Patriots got three second chance boards early.

Breese Central committed just four turnovers, two late in the game after it was already in the bag.

Coach Hosman's club was just 9-of-34 overall, 1-of-9 from the 3-point line and committed 10 turnovers, six of which were game changing miscues that fueled the Central second quarter demolition.

“I give them (Central) credit. They were a lot more physical than we were. They shot the ball really well and we got to within 12-11 and they went on a big run,” said Coach Hosman. “You're not going to comeback on a veteran team like that. Every time we tried to make a run they answered it. Hopefully we will learn from this. We have five kids back next year from this team and we've got some work to do.”

Massac County (24) – Harmon 1 0 0-0 2, Smallman 0 1 0-0 3, Hosman 0 0 2-2 2, Cissell 2 0 1-2 5, Higgerson 3 0 2-2 8, McCuan 1 0 0-0 2, Breamer 0 0 0-0 0, Garnett 0 0 0-0 0, Maurer 0 0 0-0 0, Riley 1 0 0-0 2, Martin 0 0 0-0 0, Lee 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-8, 3FG-1, FT-5-6, PF-14.
Breese Central (59) – Dickshot 2 0 2-2 6, Hamon 1 0 0-0 2, Shubert 0 1 1-2 4, Sample 0 0 0-0 0, Boruff 1 1 0-0 5, Revermann 0 0 0-0 0, Behman 0 0 0-0 0, Strubhart 6 0 2-3 14, Moore 5 3 3-4 22, Kueper 0 0 0-0 0, Lewis 0 0 0-0 0, Arnold 0 0 0-0 0, Kampwerth 1 1 1-1 6. 2FG-16, 3FG-6, FT-9-12, PF-9.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Alton Marquette (33) – Macias 0 3 0-0 9, Kline 1 2 0-0 8, Lavender 1 0 2-2 4, Williams 3 1 1-1 10, Hendricks 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-6, 3FG-6, FT-3-3, PF-14.
Teutopolis (41) – B. Niebrugge 0 1 4-4 7, M. Niebrugge 1 2 0-1 8, Althoff 1 0 0-3 2, Pruemer 1 1 2-4 7, J. Niebrugge 5 0 1-1 11, Graddis 0 0 0-0 0, Siemer 2 0 2-2 6.
2FG-10, 3FG-4, FT-9-15, PF-8.
Fouled Out – Lavender
Technical Fouls – None.