12-18-14

Gunnar Galloway, a 6-foot-2 senior who is used to scoring points for Crab Orchard, led all players with 32-points in his teams' 63-52 win over Webber Township in the third contest on Thursday night.

He and his teammates combined for seven 3-pointers and they made key free throws in the final minutes to get themselves into position for a 'win and in' scenario on Friday night.

Coach Jon Brown's club used a strong rebounding effort in the second half and made good on crashing the offensive glass to improve to 3-0 in Pool B and 11-1 overall with the victory.

Six-foot-two sophomore McKager Ferrell added 14-markers while 10-points came from junior guard Lane Hutson.

Galloway and Ferrell played key roles in a turning point in the fourth quarter with the outcome still in doubt.

“I thought we did a really poor job in the first half rebounding and that was the biggest thing we addressed at halftime, especially on the defensive end,” said Coach Brown, as his team is one win away from reaching the club's second straight title game at the Conrad Allen. “It seemed like their best offense in the first half was 'throw it up and go get it' and you can definitely see a difference in our rebounding intensity in the second half.”

Webber Township and head coach Brad Beaty got 12-points from junior forward Corey Hammer and 11-points from freshman Charles Neal.

But this mentor can point to two key reasons for the Trojans loss on Thursday night.

Not being able to keep the other Trojans off of the offensive boards and not being able to do a better job handling the basketball.

Webber Township committed 16-turnovers, with six of them in the fourth quarter, which helped bring to a halt a rally that got the club to within three points with 4:32 remaining.

The Trojans allowed Crab Orchard to get 19-rebounds on the offensive end of the floor.

Crab Orchard, no stranger to success at this long standing event, got the job done in the fourth quarter as they took advantage of a technical foul on the Webber bench to convert four-straight free throws to extend a six-point lead to 57-47.

Ferrell and Hammer were battling for a potential rebound on a made free throw by Galloway when a foul was called on Hammer.

This didn't sit well with the Webber bench and a technical foul was called.

Ferrell hit both shots in the 1-and-1 opportunity and Galloway followed up with the two made technical tosses.

The result was another Crab Orchard possession which again turned into points off an offensive rebound by Ferrell and a 59-47 lead at the 3:06 mark.

Webber Township never recovered from that stretch and they saw their overall mark slip to 6-5 and out of the final day of games on Saturday.

Coach Brown's team hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final :48.1 to secure the victory and a spot in the title game on Saturday night if they can best the host Indians on Friday.

Crab Orchard hit four of their long-range shots in the first quarter as they got a lead on the Trojans.

Galloway and Hutson hit two apiece in the early run that got the Trojans a lead they never relinquished

Galloway canned a shot from the right wing to break the second and final tie of the game with 3:34 left in the opening quarter.

When his shot found the spot, Crab Orchard led 11-8.

Hutson hit his second 3-pointer while Ferrell (two free throws) and a rebound basket by Galloway closed the frame at 20-14.

“He (Galloway) was able to drive and get to the basket and he draws a lot of fouls,” said Coach Brown. “He did a good job of recognizing that and getting to the rim. He hit a variety of shots. He hit some 3's and made some tough shots on the move. And Ferrell came up big for us, he got some scores underneath when we needed them. He really competed for us and battled.”

Webber had chances in the second quarter but they were only 3-of-13 from the field with a basket by Neal on a rebound off his own miss cutting the Crab Orchard lead to just 26-22.

However five-consecutive points from Galloway on a drive to the basket and then another trifecta produced a 31-22 halftime edge.

Sophomore guard Jaxon Helm, himself a long-range marksmen, hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Webber wagon rolling in the second half.

Helm finished with nine points on three 3-pointers in the quarter.

His third bomb hit late in the frame added to the outside offense on this night and when Neal scored underneath the basket late in the quarter, Webber trailed 47-37.

“I thought for the most part we were patient against their zone but when you turn the ball over on Crab they are going to convert on those mistakes,” said Coach Beaty. “They like to get out and transition on offense. That is where I thought it kind of got away from us (fourth quarter) and we allowed them too many second and third chances. They are going to crash the glass and if you don't get a body on them they are going to go get the ball.”

Neal and fellow freshman Dylan Stratton each 3-pointers and Neal added two more baskets to cut score down to 50-47.

But two made free throws by Galloway just before the Webber “T” triggered a Crab Orchard winning sprint to the finish.

Webber finished the game at 22-of-51 from the floor (43.1 percent) while hitting just 6-of-23 from beyond the arc.

Coach Beaty's club hit just 2-of-8 free throws and were outscored at the line by Crab Orchard 18-2.

“We hit the free throws late when we needed them and we hit just enough of them (18-of-28) to keep them (Webber) at bay,” said Coach Brown. “The were making some shots and they kept it interesting.”

Crab Orchard hit 34.5 percent but survived by grabbing a lot of their own missed shots.

Coach Brown's club finished 19-of-55 from the field and were 7-of-20 as neither team shied away from launching outside shots.

“It is a good tournament every year for us. With the exception of Thompsonville, we get to play some teams that we don't normally see,” said Coach Brown. “We enjoy coming up here. The tournament is run well, its good hospitality and it is a fun event for us to play in.”

Webber heads to a break from the schedule as the Trojans don't play in a Christmas tournament and won't hit the court again in a game until January 5.

“We now know two of the things we really need to work on over the break,” said Coach Beaty. “Free throw shooting and rebounding. If we don't get better at those two things we are going to have a lot of nights like this. This is a tough team to get behind and try to catch up. I'm proud of the kids. They came out and showed me some fight tonight. We played a good team and it was a good game for us to learn from.”

Webber Township (52) – Helm 0 3 0-0 9, Austin 1 0 0-0 2, Mount 0 1 0-0 3, Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Raymer 4 0 0-0 8, Neal 3 1 2-2 11, Stratton 0 1 0-0 3, Hammer 6 0 0-6 12, Ganieany 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-16, 3FG-6, FT-2-8, PF-21.
Crab Orchard (63) – Hutson 1 2 2-2 10, Galloway 6 4 8-13 32, Ferrell 4 0 6-9 14, Tarlton 0 1 0-0 3, Beasley 1 0 1-3 3, Vaughn 0 0 0-0 0, Treat 0 0 0-0 0, Schell 0 0 0-0 0, Anderson 0 0 0-0 0, Stephens 0 0 1-2 1, McDonald 0 0 0-0 0, Ashby 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-7, FT-18-28, PF-10.
Fouled Out – Raymer, Hammer - Webber Township
Technical Fouls – None.

Z-R got 11-points from sophomore Brenden Whiting in the loss for Coach Matt Morgan's young club that is 1-8 on the season.

Patoka (84) – S. Cain 0 0 0-0 0, Belcher 7 0 1-2 15, J. Cain 6 0 2-2 14, T. Back 5 0 1-2 11, D. Back 0 11 0-0 33, Organ 2 0 0-0 4, Cobb 1 0 0-0 2, Sturgeon 0 0 0-0 0, Gramlick 1 0 1-1 3.
2FG-22, 3FG-11, FT-5-7, PF-5.
Zeigler-Royalton (44) – Whiting 1 3 0-0 11, Newton 0 0 0-0 0, Eastwood 0 0 0-0 0, S. Anderson 1 0 0-0 2, Saddler 2 0 0-0 4, Domineck 0 0 0-0 0, N. Anderson 0 0 0-0 0, Risley 2 0 1-1 5, Hummerickhouse 0 2 0-0 6, Hall 5 0 0-0 10, Steadman 0 0 0-0 0, Leach 0 0 0-0 0, Sanders 1 0 0-0 2, Cochran 0 0 0-0 0..
2FG-10, 3FG-7, FT-5-5, PF-10.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.