03-09-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
WEST FRANKFORT - When the Breese Central Cougars stepped off the SIU Arena floor last March after a tough loss to Massac County in the 2009 Class 2A Super-Sectional – the returning players knew they wanted to get back to that game the next season.

Not only did they return to the “Elite Eight” Breese Central took the next big step. Even though the game was played at West Frankfort’s Max Morris Gymnasium instead of at Southern Illinois University – the victory was just as sweet.

Using the experience of being in big games throughout the year and a tough zone defense that allowed Murphysboro a scant 17 second half points – Coach Stan Eagleson’s team kept “moving to the right” in the state tournament bracket with a 53-42 win in front of an estimated crowd of nearly 4,000 at the venerable MMG.

“That is a very good Murphysboro team and somebody has to win and somebody has to lose and I thought we executed better than they did tonight,” added Eagleson. “We were just the better team tonight.”

Senior bookend forwards David Wiegmann and Garrett Gaffner led the Cougars to the win – the team’s 30th of the campaign – with 17 and 10 points respectively in the scoring column.

But it was the defensive effort – a stifling “1-2-2 zone” defense with long arms that seemed to reach to the ceiling – that proved to be the difference in a matchup of teams from two southern Illinois power conferences.

Murphysboro ended its fine campaign with Dre Shean Payne – a 6-foot-2 senior swingman – leading all scorers with 22-points.

Single-handily keeping the Red Devils in the contest – Payne nailed a trio of 3-pointers in the game but in the end it wasn’t enough as his teammates combined to score just five points in the final two quarters.

“That 22 (Payne) is a heck of a player and I thought one of the keys to the game was the defensive job we did on him,” said Coach Eagleson. “Scheer has been a very good defender for us in the post-season. He guarded the Schnietz kid from Metro-East Lutheran and the Ade kid from Pana but this kid (Payne) was the best of the three – I think. He (Payne) has unlimited range but I though he (Scheer) did a super job on him.”

Coach Daryl Murphy’s team finished its fine season with a 29-3 mark.

Central moves into the Final Four and will face state-ranked Peoria Manual in the semifinals on Friday.

Those Rams dispatched highly regarded Winnebago 63-53 in overtime on Tuesday night at the DeKalb Class 2A Super-Sectional.

Those two titans will hook will hook up at 6:30 pm.

“We just want to win, that is what this team’s focus is,” said Breese Central’s Garrett Gaffner. “We’re a little bit stronger this year than last year and the chemistry is there. I’ve been thinking about this (winning and going to Peoria) for so long. It is so good to finally be here.”

Murphysboro used its quickness and long range shooting to stay in the game from the opening moments to the third quarter but eventually cooled off - which allowed Breese Central to move ahead to stay.

“We just didn’t make shots and it seemed like we were getting the ball there (in the middle of the Central zone) like we knew we could but we got a little bit tight,” said Coach Murphy. “ We had some guys kind of freeze up and played a little tentative.”

Central seemed to come up with the important plays during the entire game.

The first big play happened at the end of an exciting first quarter.

Murphysboro had seized an 11-8 lead in the final moments of the frame after Payne hit his first of four trifectas on the night with 1:08 remaining.

Wiegmann – a 6-foot-7 senior forward – proved he could also score from the perimeter as he nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner to even the score.

On Murphysboro’s next possession – the Red Devils held for a final shot but misfired.

Central’s Blake Norrenberns grabbed the rebound and headed up court as the clock ticked down.

He launched a 3-pointer from behind the half-court line but as it turned out there was plenty of time for an offensive rebound.

As the Murphysboro defense relaxed for a moment thinking the clock would soon expire – Central’s Keaton Scheer swooped in to grab the rebound for a tip-in that beat the buzzer for a 13-11 lead.

Coach Daryl Murphy’s team made its best move of the night for its largest lead in the second quarter.

A 9-0 run – sparked by a Dylan Craig 3-pointer, an Eben Brooks lay in on a nice assist from Craig and 2-of-3 free throws by Payne after being fouled by Scheer with 2:44 left before the half put Murphysboro up 22-15.

The Cougars - however - got a pair of long range bombs that softened up the Red Devils zone defense that allowed Breese Central to eventually began to get its inside game going.

Scheer and 6-foot-5 sophomore Brandon Book both connected from behind the arc and then Central’s Gaffner got the ball in the low post for a spin move while being fouled by Brooks.

His conventional three-point play gave Central a 24-22 lead with :17.5 to go before intermission.

Payne put Murphysboro up at the half by stroking home a 25-footer from the top of the arc for a one-point lead after two quarters.

The Red Devils final big offensive move came to open the second half – riding the wave that ended the second quarter.

Payne hit a pair of free throws after forcing Book to commit his third personal foul with 6:56 to go.

Then Payne turned into a “pain” on the defensive end as he made a steal and his fast break score forced Coach Eagleson to use a timeout at 29-24 with 5:36 left.

Breese Central went on its Super-Sectional championship run to close out the quarter and eventually the contest from that point on.

Book, Wiegmann and Scheer would all play a role in getting Central a 36-33 lead heading to the final countdown.

Wiegmann gathered in an offensive rebound for a bucket while being fouled by Payne at the 3:28 mark.

His subsequent free throw tied the game at 29-apiece.

“We had a situation where we have a five point lead and we have three straight possessions where we don’t get a shot off,” said Coach Murphy. “That was big.”

Another turning point in the contest came in the final minute as a Red Devil’s player lost his cool for a brief moment.

After a personal foul was called on a Breese Central player – Murphysboro’s Brooks was whistled for a technical foul by throwing an elbow.

By rule – any foul called in that dead-ball situation is a technical.

Wiegmann hit 1-of-2 charities but more importantly the ball went back to Central since the Cougars – who committed the initial foul – were not over seven fouls for the half.

Central held the ball for a final shot and Scheer nailed his second 3-pointer in the game – swinging the lead back to the Cougars for good with :04 left.

“A lot of teams have went triangle-and-two on us and he (Scheer) is capable of hitting that shot (3-pointer) but he doesn’t shoot it a lot,” Eagleson explained. “It isn’t a pretty shot but it goes in at a high rate and tonight those were definitely big shots.”

Sensing the deflation on the part of Murphysboro from the third quarter ending sequence – Breese Central moved in for the kill.

Six-straight points to open the fourth quarter – on a pair of baskets by Book and Wiegmann sandwiched around a pair of Wiegmann free throws pushed the lead to 42-33.

The importance of the Wiegmann charities – with 5:44 to play – was that the foul by Murphysboro’s Jerrod Gaston was the teams’ seventh.

“We wanted to be patient against it (Murphysboro’s zone) and I thought we were but we wanted to get the ball inside more,” Eagleson added. “I thought we did a better job getting the ball inside in the second half.”

This put Breese Central in the bonus for the remainder of the game.

The Cougars took advantage of the situation – sort of.

Breese Central was 16-of-25 from the free throw line for the contest and were just 11-of-18 in the final stanza.

It was the defensive end of the floor – nevertheless – that gave Central its fourth Peoria appearance since 2003 with this time a guaranteed trophy.

Coach Stan Eagleson’s squad suffocated the Red Devils by holding them scoreless for 3:04.

Even though the Cougars managed to hit just 4-of-10 free throws in that time frame – Central was in no danger of coughing up the lead.

Murphysboro missed 10 fourth quarter attempts from the floor and could get no closer than eight points in the final minute.

Payne closed out his career with a 3-pointer that cut the scored down to 48-40 with :52 left.

Central secured the victory with 5-of-6 free throws in the final :48.3.

Following Wiegmann and Gaffner in the scoring for Breese Central was Nick Grapperhaus with nine points and eight points each from Scheer and Book.

After Payne there were no other Murphysboro players in double-figures as the next in line was Gaston with seven.

While Central struggled a bit from the foul line – they were very efficient from the field in hitting half of their collective field goal attempts (16-of-32) while hitting 5-of-10 from behind the 3-point arc.

The Red Devils weren’t nearly as good connecting on just 13-of-44 overall - 4-of-18 from 19’9” and beyond.

Payne did lead all scorers with 22 but he was just 5-of-18 overall.

Murphysboro held a 21-20 rebounding edge.

“Going into the season I thought that it (our defense) was our biggest question mark,” said Coach Eagleson. “One of the preseason questions was what did we have to improve on and I said our defense. And we weren’t very good defensively early in the year but we have gotten better and Keaton (Scheer) has been a part of that.”

Breese Central (53) – Grapperhaus 1 1 4-4 9, Wiegmann 4 1 6-7 17, Norrenberns 0 0 1-2 1, Scheer 1 2 0-1 8, Book 2 1 1-2 8, Gaffner 3 0 4-9 10.
2FG-11, 3FG-5, FT-16-25, PF-13.
Murphysboro (42) – House 2 0 0-0 4, Craig 0 1 2-2 5, Gaston 3 0 1-4 7, Payne 2 3 9-11 22, Jarrett 0 0 0-0 0, Brooks 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-9, 3FG-4, FT-12-17, PF-22.
Fouled Out – Craig - Murphysboro.
Technical Fouls – Jarrett - Murphysboro.