12-19-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - The Wayne City Indians captured their 15th Conrad Allen Wayne City Holiday Tournament title with an overtime win over Wayne County rival Cisne in the 62nd edition of the event.

Coach Don Kueper, in his first season running the Tribe, saw his junior trio of leaders step up big in the title tilt, nabbing their championship while being victorious in five-consecutive games in the week.

In the 53-49 win, Wayne City made good use of its inside game in the second half with 6-foot-3 junior forward Clayten Tubbs hitting for a game-best 14-points while 6-foot-4 forward Chad Dickey added 13-points in the low scoring affair.

Junior Eric Green added nine-points for Wayne City, who finished the week 5-0 in winning its own tournament for the first time since 2010.

All three of the Indians made the 12-player all-tournament team.

Dickey came up with a pair of big offensive plays in the fourth quarter in helping the Indians get into the overtime.

“Chad (Dickey) came up with some big rebounds. I thought him and Clayten Tubbs played really well down the stretch,” added Coach Kueper. “Jaxon King, for a sophomore, played a big game and helped force a lot of turnovers.”

For Cisne head coach Adam Ellis was witness to his club being out of sync for most of the night while still managing to force the extra session.

Four of the Lions netted double-digits with Jared Taylor, a 6-foot junior, ending up with 13-points.

Collin Klingler and Jayden Hatcher netted 11-points each.

Taylor and Hatcher were also named all-tournament.

Six-foot-senior Seth Mayes notched 10-points, with none of them bigger than the final two baskets of the fourth quarter for Cisne that forced extra play.

On consecutive trips down the floor, Mayes scored on a drive to the basket and also on a lay in on an assist from Taylor to even the score at 44-all with :18 remaining.

The Lions had a chance to win the contest in the final moments of regulation.

Following the Mayes basket, Wayne City turned the ball back over and the Lions (following a timeout) got off a pair of shots that didn't find the mark.

Junior Derek Thomason had a pretty good look at a 3-point shot just before the horn but the attempt misfired as the clock hit :00.

In the overtime Wayne City's 6-foot-10 senior Taylor Owens converted a three-point play while being fouled by Hatcher.

Dickey also scored on a drive in the middle of the paint and the Indians closed out the win by hitting 4-of-6 free throws in the final :33.5.

The Lions had an opportunity to tie the score in the final seconds but Thomason missed a 3-pointer and Dickey grabbed the rebound.

He was immediately fouled by Thomason and his 1-of-2 trip iced the championship at :03.3 left.

Wayne City got off to the best start of the two teams, leading 11-7 at the first horn.

Owens scored the game's first bucket inside and Tubbs delivered on a drive to the basket for a 4-0 early advantage.

But Owens, who finished with just five-points, picked up a couple of early fouls and went to the bench with 4:05 left.

Junior guard Eric Green nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner and teammate Nick Downen scored on a fast break before Dickey closed the frame with another transition score.

Four Cisne turnovers fueled the transition points for Wayne City in the first eight minutes.

A steal and fast break by sophomore Jaxon King for the Indians pushed Wayne City to a six-point spread early in the second.

However Cisne closed the quarter with an 8-0 push with a three-point play from Hatcher, a mid-range shot from Taylor and a 3-point bomb from Klingler to give the Lions a 15-13 halftime lead.

Despite 11-turnovers in the opening half, Cisne had a slim two-point advantage at intermission, due in part to Wayne City hitting just 1-of-7 attempts from the floor in the stanza.

“We made a lot of silly mistakes tonight, things we hadn't done all week,” said Coach Ellis. “Any turnover creates a non-field goal attempt. When you turn it over it is one less shot we get to take. In the first half especially we played “their” game. Even though we were up two and halftime we never got into our element. The kids battled and played hard and I'm proud of this week. We finished 4-1 for the week and we learned to play in some big games.”

Coach Kueper watched his team finally get going offensively with a 9-2 crusade.

A drive to the bucket by Green, another conventional three-point play by Dickey, a Tubbs score in the lane and two free throws by King made it 27-24 Tribe with 1:50 remaining in the third.

There were five separate tie-scores in the fourth quarter, including the end of 32-minutes.

Cisne's Taylor scored nine of his points in the fourth, and his 3-pointer from the right wing followed by two free throws less than a minute later evened things at 37-each.

Dickey and Downen each scored to give Wayne City a four-point spread before the scores by Mayes sent the championship game into overtime.

“We changed some lineups this week, we brought Dickey and Green off the bench and we defended better,” added Coach Kueper. “We usually start games better but now we are finishing them.”

Both teams, when they weren't turning the ball over, shot the ball well.

Wayne City (7-4) hit 19-of-37 overall (51.3 percent) but were just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc.

The Lions (9-4) were 16-of-34 (47 percent) and 4-of-11 from 3-point land.

Both teams combined for 35-turnovers with Cisne committing 19.

“I thought that we should have won the game earlier. We would get up four points and then we would turn the ball over,” said Coach Kueper. “We should have taken care of the ball a little better. We hit big baskets when we needed them. But we kept turning the ball over. I'm sure we will play again in the conference tournament and it could be a totally different game.”

Cisne (49) - Hatcher 3 0 5-5 11, Taylor 3 1 4-4 13, Klingler 1 3 0-0 11, Mayes 4 0 2-2 10, Hillard 0 0 0-0 0, Walker 0 0 0-0 0, Thomason 1 0 2-3 4, Hosick 0 0 0-0 0, Stopher 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-4, FT-13-14, PF-21.
Wayne City (53) – Downen 1 0 2-2 4, Green 1 2 1-3 9, King 1 0 4-4 6, Caudle 0 0 0-0 0, Greenwalt 1 0 0-0 2, Tubbs 6 0 2-4 14, Owens 2 0 1-1 5, Dickey 5 0 3-4 13.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-13-18, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Thomason, Klingler - Cisne.
Technical Fouls – None.

Edwards County took home the third place honors in the tournament with an 11-point win over Little Illini Conference rivals Red Hill on Saturday night.

Edwards County (58) – Schnicker 1 1 4-8 9, Clodfelter 0 0 0-0 0, Brake 2 0 0-0 4, Wallace 0 2 1-2 7, Mosson 5 0 1-3 11, Troyer 0 1 3-4 6, Kelsey 2 0 1-2 5, N. Schmittler 6 0 4-6 16.
2FG-16, 3FG-4, FT-14-25, PF-13.
Red Hill (47) – Gray 1 1 0-0 5, Pentell 0 1 0-0 3, Vinsel 1 1 0-1 5, Murray 4 3 5-7 22, Breault 1 0 0-0 2, Moore 1 0 1-2 3, Tabler 2 0 3-4 7.
2FG-10, 3FG-6, FT-9-14, PF-18.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Patoka (54) – Sturgeon 1 0 0-0 2, A. Cain 2 0 0-0 4, Walker 0 0 0-0 0, Belcher 6 2 1-2 19, O'Brien 1 0 0-0 2, J. Cain 10 0 1-4 21, De. Back 0 0 0-0 0, Cobb 0 0 0-2 0, Dy. Back 0 2 0-0 6, Gramlick 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-20, 3FG-4, FT-2-9, PF-24.
Crab Orchard (75) – Hutson 5 2 7-8 23, Vaughn 0 1 7-8 10, Franklin 8 0 3-4 19, Schnell 0 0 0-2 0, Beasley 3 0 5-8 11, Vinson 0 0 0-0 0, Stephens 0 4 0-0 12, Whitehead 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-6, FT-9-14, PF-18.
Fouled Out – O'Brien, J. Cain, Dy. Back - Patoka.
Technical Fouls – J. Cain - Patoka.