01-15-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHESTER - The Chester Yellow Jackets and head coach Brad Norman were looking for a big effort and result on Thursday night in their semifinal matchup against cross-Mississippi rival Perryville (MO.) in the 53rd annual Chester Invitational Tournament.

The effort was clearly there, however the result was no where close to what they needed to advance.

Getting off to a poor start on both ends of the floor, the Yellow Jackets fell too far behind to overcome the adversary.

Despite a second half rally against the Pirates, Chester fell into the third place game, 55-46.

Chester began hitting just 6-of-28 shots from the floor in the first two quarters against the Perryville “3-2 zone” defense.

Although they got going on the offensive end in the second half, they still managed to give the opposition too many scoring chances.

Perryville benefited from this generosity to improve their record to 10-5 while heading to the title tilt on Saturday night against Jackson (MO.) Saxony Lutheran.

Chester will face Ste. Genevieve (MO.) Valle Catholic on Saturday in the third place contest.

“We have gotten off to slow starts in our last six games and that was one thing that we wanted to concentrate on was to start well,” said Perryville Head Coach Justin Dreyer. “Our kids, after they made a run at us, kept their composure and we knocked down the free throws when we had to. We made the plays late and started rebounding better in the second half. I thought that was the biggest key to the game.”

Chester's constant on offense on Thursday night was 6-foot junior guard Jason Schwartz who netted 18-points.

Schwartz was a big contributor in the rally in the second half as he hit four 3-pointers for the Yellow Jackets.

Sophomore guard Savion Smith added 11-points for Chester while sophomore Jack Weir netted seven.

As was the case for most of the Yellow Jackets on this night, nearly all of the afore mentioned points were scored in the second half as Chester fell behind in the early going.

Perryville, who is looking for their first CIT title since 2012, got from junior guard Conner Stark in the victory.

Senior Eli Tripp netted nine points while senior Collin Stief added seven. In fact the Pirates were balanced on the night with eight different players scoring.

Coach Justin Dreyer saw his club pull away in the second quarter and then managed to stay calm during the Yellow Jackets' storm in the final two quarters to secure a spot in the finale.

Chester had early chances but hit just 3-of-15 shots coming out of the gate.

“I think it threw us off a little bit (3-2 zone) but we had good looks at the basket. We had shots and we just didn't knock them down tonight,” said Coach Norman. “We had a bunch of put-backs, 15-footers, and we had a couple of 3's that were wide-open but we just couldn't get them to fall.”

In the meantime, Perryville mustered up a 9-5 lead at the first horn by getting points from senior guard Garrett Johnson, junior guard McGwire Bartley and Tripp.

A pair of free throws by Stief gave the Pirates a four-point lead.

Schwartz nailed his first of those four long-range shots in the first quarter at the 4:26 mark.

It was the first basket by Chester after missing seven straight shots.

The difference maker in the final outcome came in the second quarter as Perryville separated themselves from the hosts with two big runs.

The first followed a conventional play by Smith as he drove the baseline while being fouled by Perryville's Ryan Noland.

His conventional three-point play cut the Pirates' lead to just 12-8.

However the next few minutes belonged to the Missouri raiders as they went forward with a 7-1 move with a 3-pointer from the left wing by Tripp being the highlight.

A steal and a fast break lay in by junior Wyatt Johnson closed the sprint for a 19-9 lead at 4:12 left.

Sophomore Jacob Golding grabbed a rebound for a Chester score but Perryville made the next big move with four-consecutive baskets.

Tripp triggered the assault with a pair of baskets on drives down the lane and also the baseline.

Teammate Stark hit a pair of shots, the second of which closed the run with a transition score for the Pirates largest lead at 27-11 with 1:06 remaining.

Weir, who had trouble getting going like the rest of his Chester teammates, hit a couple of shots to close the half and the scoring gap in the final minute.

A baseline move and later a fast break bucket ended the dismal 16-minutes at 27-15.

Despite the early offensive issues, Coach Norman's club was still within striking distance at intermission.

Chester got three 3-point bombs to find the mark in the third quarter as they inched closer to the Pirates.

Schwartz hit two of them while senior Hunter Howie claimed the other prize.

When Schwartz hit his second trifecta from the right wing, Chester had pulled to within five at 35-30 with 2:45 left in the third.

It was the Yellow Jackets' best shooting frame (7-of-11) and they trailed just 39-32 heading to the fourth.

Senior guard Luke Schlichting scored six points for the Bucs, with all six coming on three made field goals in the third quarter to help his club sustain the advantage.

Perryville forced Chester into some foul trouble early on in the final stanza which sent two of the Jackets to the pine.

Six-foot-six junior Jordan Berner and Smith each picked up their third and fourth personal fouls respectively in an :11 span as both went to the bench.

But behind Schwartz, who Coach Norman finds to be his most consistent player, the Yellow Jackets made one final scoring move.

The junior guard picked up a steal near mid-court, passed the ball to teammate Howie who fed the ball back to Schwartz for a fast-break bucket to start an 11-2 run.

Schwartz added hist final 3-pointer in the the spurt, and when he made a key steal near mid-court on an inbounds sideline pass by Perryville, Schwartz took the ball the distance for a lay in with 1:33 left.

His score cut the lead to 47-45.

“Schwartz played a big game for us, but he does that every night,” said Coach Norman. “He is our point guard and I wouldn't take anyone for him (trade).”

That turned out to be the final field goal by Chester.

The Pirates finished off their river heist by converting 8-of-12 free throws down the stretch.

Smith was called for an intentional foul during the free throw parade.

Chester missed its final four shots and committed two more turnovers as Perryville took advantage to get to the championship contest.

The Yellow Jackets, after that slow start, finished the night 19-of-53 overall (35.8 percent) while committing 15-turnovers.

The guests from across the big water were 19-of-42 (45.2 percent) and they played a lot cleaner game offensively as they committed just four turnovers.

Chester held a 30-22 rebounding edge, with 16 of the boards coming on the offensive end as they gathered up several of their own missed shots.

This will be the third time that Perryville and Saxony Lutheran have tangled in a title game at the CIT with the Pirates winning it all four years ago and Saxony taking home the title in 2006.

The loss by Chester ended a three-year string of tournament title game appearances by the hosts, as the Yellow Jackets finished second in the event the last three January's.

Valle Catholic will be looking for their second-straight CIT crown on Saturday night.

“Overall Perryville played pretty tough defensively in both halves and I thought that was the big difference,” said Coach Norman. “Our transition defense wasn't very good, it was an issue tonight. We just let them get up the floor and we weren't getting back like we should. We have to learn from this and get better. Overall I just think they (Perryville) were just a little bit better tonight.”

SHAWNEE 57, MARISSA-COULTERVILLE 56
Daniel Parris hit a shot in the lane with :02.1 remaining to lift the Redskins into the consolation title game on Saturday with a come-from-behind win over the Meteors on Thursday night.

Shawnee will face New Athens in the consy title tilt.

Parris led his club with 17-points on the night as the team improved to 5-7 on the year.

Junior Lucas Matlock added 14-points for Shawnee.

The Meteors were led by 20-points from Kyle Smith and Ryan Howie with 13.

The game was tied at 43-all heading into the final quarter.

Perryville (MO.) (55) – Moran 1 0 3-4 5, Stark 4 1 5-6 16, Schlichting 3 0 0-0 6, G. Johnson 2 0 1-2 5, Strief 1 0 5-8 7, Tripp 3 1 0-2 9, W. Johnson 2 0 1-3 5, Noland 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-15-25, PF-14.
Chester (46) - Stahlieber 0 0 0-0 0, Howie 0 1 0-0 3, Schwartz 3 4 0-0 18, Martin 1 0 0-0 2, Smith 5 0 1-3 11, Berner 1 0 2-2 4, Weir 3 0 1-3 7, Golding 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-14, 3FG-5, FT-4-8, PF-21.
Fouled Out – Smith - Chester.
Technical Fouls – None.