02-24-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHRISTOPHER –

That is the battle hymn of postseason basketball.

On Monday night in the opening round of the Christopher 1A Regional, the host Bearcats overcame some foul trouble by forcing 18-turnovers in a 66-32 win over Webber Township.

The Number Three seeded hosts used a big second quarter push to improve to 14-11 overall and keep their hopes alive of winning a regional title in boy’s basketball for the first time since 1991-92.

Coach Eric Stallman's club won despite parading the Trojans to the charity stripe 29-times.

Coach Brad Beaty’s team made 21-0f-29 from the line but nearly nothing else went right for a scrappy team that didn’t taste victory in 2013-14.

Christopher was led in scoring with 10-points by 6-foot-2 sophomore Josh Calloni while four other teammates; Maurice Brown, Jacob Towers, Kaleb Pedigo and Luke Saeger added eight points each.

In total, 12 Bearcats produced points in a win as they advanced to play Number Two seed Sesser-Valier Wednesday night.

On the same night, Top-Seed Woodlawn will play Waltonville, a 39-31 winner over Wayne City in Monday night’s opener.

Christopher took full advantage of its depth advantage and went on several scoring jaunts in the triumph.

The first came midway through the second quarter as the Bearcats scored 10-consecutive points.

Leading just 12-8, Christopher used its half-court trapping defense to force seven second quarter turnovers by Webber.

Towers and sophomore guard Hunter Wheeler got the run going with scores.

Wheeler’s bucket off a steal and fast break lay in made it 16-8 with 5:18 before intermission.

Towers scored again on a drive to the basket, which was followed by two consecutive steals and fast break scores for a 22-8 lead and a timeout by Webber.

Christopher closed the period and put an exclamation point on the win with a pair of in close baskets by Calloni.

When his shot found the mark with just over a minute remaining, Christopher led 32-13 at the break.

The bright spot for the Trojans was that they got to the foul line.

Junior Brandon Raymer scored eight points to lead Webber Township (0-22) and he hit 4-of-8 free throws.

“Our freshman’s and sophomore’s are the ones we are going to depend on next season as we try to get this turned around,” said Coach Beaty, talking about improving next year. “The first game of next season we come back down here (Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament). “I’m proud of them (the kids) and I know it is tough as a coach to go through this (winless season). I’ve been on a lot of teams that were successful but as a coach I was miserable. They just weren’t fun years. I’ve had fun this year. I’m glad to be at Webber and I plan on being here a while. We are going to make some changes and get this thing (program) fixed.”

Senior Jordan Wheeler hit 5-of-6 from the line and added a bucket for seven points.

Freshman Jaxon Helm added six points for Coach Beaty’s club.

Christopher didn’t let off the throttle, starting the third quarter with a 9-3 sprint.

Senior Ethan Conner got in on the fun with three points on a basket and a free throw and when Calloni added a pair of charities, the Bearcats led 41-17 with 5:40 remaining.

Garrett Nikolich, a 6-foot senior, jumped into the scoring party with a pair of buckets on drives to the basket.

When his second shot fell with 1:33 left, Christopher led 49-21.

Showing its depth, the Bearcats didn’t miss a beat by playing youngsters in the fourth quarter.

Pedigo, a 5-foot-9 freshman, netted four consecutive baskets for his eight points.

All four of the baskets were from Webber Township turnovers.

When his final shot found the bottom of the net, Christopher had its biggest lead at 66-30.

Despite hitting just 1-of-8 shots from behind the 3-point line, the Bearcats were 29-of-50 from the floor (58 percent) while holding a 25-14 rebounding edge.

Christopher took care of the ball, committing just eight turnovers.

Webber Township didn’t attempt many shots in their limited possessions due to the turnover bug.

The Trojans were 5-of-23 overall (21.7 percent).

The Bearcats will tangle with the Red Devils on Wednesday. The two teams split games in the regular season.

Christopher won 52-49 at home on December 20 while Sesser-Valier won at home 58-57 on February 18.

Webber Township (32) – Austin 0 0 3-4 3, Girvan 0 0 2-2 2, Helm 0 1 3-4 6, Ganieany 0 0 0-0 0, Raymer 2 0 4-8 8, Moser 0 0 2-3 2, Bush 2 0 2-2 4, Long 0 0 0-0 0, Wheeler 1 0 5-6 7, Karch 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-4, 3FG-1, FT-21-29, PF-9.
Christopher (66) – M. Brown 4 0 0-2 8, T. Brown 1 0 0-0 2, Towers 4 0 0-0 8, Pedigo 4 0 0-0 8, Wheeler 2 0 0-0 4, McPhail 0 0 0-0 0, Schimpf 0 1 0-0 3, Saeger 2 0 4-4 8, Nikolich 2 0 0-0 4, Calloni 4 0 2-2 10, Conner 3 0 1-2 7, Hammonds 0 0 0-0 0, Williams 1 0 0-0 2, Winget 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-28, 3FG-1, FT-7-10, PF-23.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

WALTONVILLE 39, WAYNE CITY 31
The Spartans lost their last regular season game to the Indians on Friday night but reversed the curse on Monday with an opening round win.

Getting 12-points each from Hunter Coggins and Dylan Miller, Coach Brian Gamber saw his club improve to 10-15 overall with the victory over fellow Midland Trail Conference foe Wayne City.

The Indians (9-13) were led by senior Billy Irwin with 16-points.

The big stat of the game was Wayne City not being able to find the mark from the foul line.

Coach Russ Gerlach’s squad was just 6-of-19 from the stripe.

Waltonville was 15-of-29 from the foul line in the win, which sends them into a rematch with long-time Jefferson County rival Woodlawn, who took care of the Spartans 49-39 at Waltonville back on December 20.  

Waltonville (39) – Miller 3 1 3-7 12, Winchester 0 2 4-7 10, Banach 1 0 1-2 3, H. Coggins 2 1 5-8 12, Majewski 0 0 2-5 2, Zahm 0 0 0-0 0, Lewis 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-6, 3FG-4, FT-15-29, PF-18.
Wayne City (31) – Downen 0 1 0-0 3, Gammon 0 0 1-2 1, Kunce 0 0 0-0 0, Clark 1 0 0-0 2, Irwin 2 3 3-7 16, Haile 0 1 1-8 4, Mayberry 2 0 1-2 5.
2FG-5, 3FG-5, FT-6-19, PF-23.
Fouled Out – Zahm - Waltonville.
Technical Fouls – None.