01/20/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD - The Cisne Runnin' Lions have been a on a roll this season and their victory last Saturday over Mount Carmel was a signature win for the program and this mostly young squad.

That momentum has carried over into the Midland Trail Conference Tournament.

After putting away Grayville on Tuesday night, the scene shifted to Webber Township in the semifinals.

The Lions did what they needed to do against the hosts on Thursday night.

Getting an early led, the Lions forced the Trojans to foul them late.

That is where Cisne did their late game damage.

The squad combined to convert 11-of-14 foul shots in the final 3:33 of the fourth quarter while overcoming some late turnovers against Webber Township pressure.

With the 64-57 victory, the Runnin' Lions cruise into the Midland Trail Conference Tournament title game for the first time since 2005.

It was Coach Bowen's first season as head coach and his assistant coach Lance Endsley was a senior on that team that lost to South Central in the title game.

The program has three championships in the 91 previous tournaments; 1995, 1973 and 1939.

Anden Atwood, a 6-1 sophomore, dropped 24-points on Webber Township Thursday night.

That total included seven critical points in the final stanza.

Two other key contributors for Cisne were senior Gavin Fetherling and freshman Cooper Bowen.

Fetherling scored 16-points for the Lions, including a pair of big 3-point shots in the third quarter.

Bowen also knocked down a pair of 3-point shots and he stepped up late with 5-of-6 free throws late in the game.

The Lions are sitting at 18-3 on the year and will now face rival Wayne City in the championship game after the Indians defeated CORL in the second semifinal game on Thursday night.

For the host Trojans it was a bitter defeat in a game in which Coach Brad Beaty's club had chances to win.

Webber Township (11-8) won some of the battles but eventually lost the war.

The Trojans held a 23-14 rebounding edge and they forced 11 Cisne turnovers with five of them coming in the fourth quarter.

Six-seven junior Hunter Danberry led the Trojans with 19-points and nine-rebounds while two other Webber Township players; 6-0 sophomore Josh Lewis and 5-10 junior guard Elijah Marlow, each ended up with 10-points.

But Cisne was a bit better overall offensively and when they toed the foul line they took care of semifinal business.

The Lions hit 21-of-37 from the field, with 8-of-11 from the 3-point arc as a shining mark.

Webber ended up 26-of-48 from the floor, but just 2-of-10 from the 3-point line, including 0-of-4 in the final quarter.

After trailing 14-12 at the end of a first quarter that saw four lead changes and three tie scores, Webber got it's final lead of the game with Danberry scoring twice inside on assists from Marlow and Wes Hails.

Seth Hamerski, a senior guard for Webber, scored six first half points and his steal and fast break lay in made it 18-17 Trojans with 3:25 left in the second quarter.

But an 8-2 scoring move by Cisne, with Bowen and Atwood each canning 3-pointers, made it 25-20 Lions at intermission.

Behind Fetherling with his eight points in the third quarter, Cisne led by as many as eight before Webber cut the lead down.

A 3-pointer from Lewis and lay in by junior Aden Reed suddenly got the Trojans back in the contest down just 39-36 heading to the fourth.

With a bucket in the first minute of the final quarter by Danberry, Webber was down just a point.

It turned out to be the closest the Trojans would get the rest of the night.

Bowen hit his second 3-pointer from near the top of the arc and Atwood followed up with a couple of scores on drives to the basket.

Coach Bowen had other kids step up in key moments on Thursday night.

Freshman guard Gavyn Harrell scored just five-points but all five came in the final countdown.

His 3-point bomb was proceeded the Atwood baskets and a Bowen three.

Bowen then scored on what turned out to be a key play in the game as he was fouled by Marlow in transition.

Marlow was called for an intentional foul.

Bowen made one of the two free throws for a 52-41 spread.

While Webber was able to score points in the final minutes, they really didn't make much of a dent in the Cisne advantage.

This was simply because the Lions made eight-consecutive foul shots and they also got a key bucket from freshman Landen Keck.

Atwood also came up with a big steal and was fouled on the play.

His two made free throws made it 60-51 with :43.8 remaining.

Bowen hit two more free throws and Atwood and Fetherling each went 1-of-2 from the stripe.

Three of the Trojans' missed 3-point attempts came late with Atwood grabbing the final rebound for the Lions as they ran out the clock for the win.

“We have faced a lot of pressure in games this year and most of the time we've handled the ball well and haven't gotten rattled. But tonight we did a bit but credit Webber. Tonight they didn't quit but the good thing is we got enough stops at the end and we made free throws,” said Coach Bowen.

Cisne will need to be ready for its Wayne County rivals on Saturday as the two teams are familiar as can be.

The two teams have split a pair of games so far in 2021-22 with both games being blowouts on each of the teams' home courts.

The Lions took a 72-55 home win over the Tribe on December 7 and then Wayne City bested Cisne, 70-52, on their way to their own holiday tournament championship on December 15.

Webber Township (57) – Hamerski 3 0 0-0 6, Lewis 1 2 2-2 10, Danberry 9 0 1-3 19, Marlow 5 0 0-0 10, W. Hails 4 0 0-0 8, Reed 2 0 0-0 4. 2FG-24, 3FG-2, FT-3-5, PF-16.
Cisne (67) – Harrell 0 1 2-2 5, Atwood 5 3 5-6 24, Keck 3 0 0-0 6, Bowen 1 2 5-6 13, Fetherling 4 2 2-5 16, Best 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-13, 3FG-8, FT-14-19, PF-9.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

WAYNE CITY 62, CORL 57
The last time Christ Our Rock Lutheran made a trip to Webber Township for a contest they took care of business and topped the host Trojans, 59-44 in an important MTC contest on January 5, 2022.

Fifteen days later their next game at Bluford wasn't nearly as enjoyable.

Wayne City and head coach Jake Talbert got some revenge on CORL Thursday night.

After losing an early season matchup against the Silver Stallions (77-68 on November 30, 2021) the Indians were in no mood to 'horse around' with the higher seeded club.

Coach Talbert got his usual production from his usual kids in the victory, which improves the won/loss mark to 14-6 overall.

Six-foot senior Taj McKinney netted 19-points while pulling down nine-rebounds.

Six-five junior Justin Durham added 16-points and 12-rebounds for the Indians while three other teammates; senior Risten Kell (11), junior Jonny Durham (10) and senior Lucas Noe (six) rounded out the Wayne City scoring.

The Silver Stallions had four players in double-figures in scoring in the loss, which drops the record to 7-7.

Junior guard Myles Pryor topped CORL with 16-points followed by senior guard Drew Jackson with 14.

CORL got 10-points each from 6-5 junior Ryan Wuebbels and sophomore Parker Boehne.

Although the Indians never trailed, there were three tie scores in the second quarter before they got some cushion by halftime.

Wayne City hit 21-of-52 from the field, 7-of-25 from the arc, in the contest.

CORL was 23-of-54, 4-of-19 from the 3-point line.

The Silver Stallions held a 38-31 rebounding edge with Wuebbels (eight), Boehne (five) and Pryor (five) leading the charge.

“When he (Durham) is focused I don't know of a 1A big kid that can stop him,” said Coach Talbert. “Risten made a three tonight and Jonny was knocking them down again.”

Wayne City (62) – McKinney 6 1 4-8 19, Ju. Durham 7 0 2-2 16, Jo. Durham 0 3 1-2 10, Kell 1 1 6-9 11, Noe 0 2 0-0 6, Calderon 0 0 0-0 0, Diaz 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-14, 3FG-7, FT-13-21, PF-14.
Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran (57) – Boehne 2 2 0-0 10, Pryor 5 1 3-5 16, Jackson 5 0 4-4 14, Wuebbels 5 0 0-1 10, Peltes 1 0 0-1 2, Isaiah 0 0 0-0 0, Such 1 1 0-0 5, Fair 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-19, 3FG-4, FT-7-11, PF-22.
Fouled Out – Jackson, Such - Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran.
Technical Fouls – None.