12-17-04
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - Cisne coach Kevin Bowen publicly challenged his team to play better this week.

In an article in the Wayne County local newspaper, this coach chastised his club and dared them to get better.

The Bowen alarm clock went off Thursday when the paper hit the stands.

The Lions woke up at the right time both Thursday and Friday nights.

The result was a championship win at the 51st Annual Conrad Allen Holiday Tournament.

Holding previously undefeated Webber Township to just one field goal in a first 5:49 of the fourth quarter, Cisne won the schools' first championship at Wayne City since 1966 with a 60-51 victory in front of a SRO crowd.

"That is what we have been preaching all year to these kids is that we won't win big ballgames like this unless we could stop people defensively," Coach Bowen said. "This is a heck of a team we beat tonight. They (Webber) have a lot of offensive weapons and our kids really stepped up."

Holding an offensive juggernaut like Webber Township to just 51 points, the Lions held off a late Trojan tirade to take home the championship.

"It seems like we couldn't hit that key bucket down the stretch in a game where every possession was important," said Webber coach Clarence Gross. "I want to congratulate coach Bowen and the Lions they have a very fine ballclub. There is no shame losing to those guys."

At one point in the fourth quarter, Webber Township missed 11 straight shots, including the final dry spell of missing four straight 3-point attempts on one trip into the offensive end in the final two minutes.

"We never got into a flow tonight offensively and you can credit Cisne for that," added Gross. "We had a nice run but we have a lot of work to do with no easy games coming up in January."

The way the game started out, it looked like the night was going to belong to Jabe Michel, the Trojans' athletic 6-foot-4 forward.

He scored his team's first eight points on a 3-pointer and on two offensive rebounds where he stole the ball from Cisne rebounder's and put back up shots.

His first of two 3-pointers from the left wing produced an early 5-2 advantage with just over a minute gone in the contest.

But a trend began to develop for Cisne, not unlike other contests for the Lions this season.

Lance Endsley, Cisne's 6-foot-4 senior space eater, scoring in the lane while point guard Drew Glover and sophomore shooter Ben Farleigh were putting up points from the outside.

Endsley muscled inside for six first quarter points while Glover, the teams 6-foot-1 senior veteran, hit an early 3-pointer to set the tone.

Webber, on the other hand, was scoring from all over the court in the opening eight minutes of action.

Brad Porter, Cody Swartz and Bryce McKenzie were adding points.
Porter even managed to bank home a 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Trojans a 13-10 lead with 4:52 remaining.

The quarter ended when McKenzie caused a loose ball which resulted in Ullery going in for a successful fast break lay up leaving the score 18-16 at the first horn.

The Trojans made its best offensive run of the evening to open the second quarter.

An Ullery offensive put back, a Swartz drive and a 3-pointer from Michel from the right wing forced coach Bowen to talk things over with the Lions trailing 25-22 with 3:36 left before intermission.

Cisne scored on three straight trips coming out of their break.

In that run, Farleigh hit his first basket of the night on a 17-footer from the right wing, which gave the lead back to the Lions at 26-25 with 2:43 to go.

A spin move by Ullery and a drive to the basket by McKenzie gave the Trojans an uncomfortable lead heading to the break at 29-27.

However the baskets were few and far between for 6-foot-4 senior Ullery.

He scored just six points on the night and none after halftime.

But even more importantly he picked up his second, third and fourth fouls in just a 1:29 stretch and had to head to the Webber bench just one minute for a long stay.

Cisne took advantage of the situation with Glover hitting for eight points in the quarter, including a big 3-point shot with just :08 remaining to give the Lions back the lead at 41-39 heading to the final frame.

As it turned out, the Glover shot (like in baseball) turned out to be the game-winning hit, as Cisne never relinquished the lead.

Lance Endsley has had some very good games in his career, but he might have had his best offensive run ever in the first 3:14 of the fourth quarter.

The 'big man' scored nine points in succession, giving the Lions a commanding 50-41 lead.

A spin move in the lane, a shot bank shot and a rebound of a miss by teammate Jake Tannahill forced Webber coach Gross to burn a timeout trailing 47-41 with 5:51 left.

But on the next possession Endsley muscled into the paint and missed a short shot. But he picked up his own garbage and his put back found the basket as Michel fouled him at the 4:45 mark.

His subsequent free throw basically put the game out of reach.

After yet another empty trip by the Trojans, Farleigh shot Webber's chances right 'between the eyes.'

On successive trips, the 6-foot-1 sophomore buried 3-point shots and 'threw dirt' on the Trojans comeback chances.

When his second bomb exploded, Cisne was sitting pretty at 54-41.

Webber did managed to claw back within five points after Michel hit three consecutive free throws while being fouled beyond the arc on a shot attempt.

Michel then scored on a baseline drive to the basket to make it 56-51 with :53 seconds remaining.

However the Lions Glover and Endsley hit two free throws each to begin the Lions' roaring championship celebration.

"I thought we stuck with our game-plan tonight. When you look at them, they have five guys who can score, but I think we did a heck of a job on (Joey) Ullery," added Coach Bowen, whose team is now 7-1 on the season. "He still got some points but not nearly his average."

Endsley topped the Lions with 20 points followed by Glover with 19 and Farleigh with 12.

With Cisne missing one of its top players (Derek Simpson) due to injury, other players like Farleigh and freshman Brandon Kincart have stepped up to fill key roles in the Lions scheme of things.

"He (Farleigh) is a great shooter and has a shooters mentality," Bowen added. "He missed some shots early in the game but he kept firing away. Shooters think that they are never going to miss shots. He hit some big shots for us tonight."

Michel topped the Trojans (9-1) scoring list with 22 while McKenzie scored 13. Ullery, Porter and Swartz all finished with six points.

Ullery's total was far below his normal output.

After five second place finishes since the Lions won their only Conrad Allen title 38 years ago, Cisne finally took home the big trophy and the nets from the Wayne City gym.

Thompsonvile (60) - Vaughn 1 1 4-4 9, Clark 4 0 3-3 11, McFarland 2 0 0-1 4, McClerren 3 0 2-2 8, Jennings 3 0 5-8 11, Dial 0 0 0-1 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-1, FT-14-19, PF-17.
Wayne City (36) - Butler 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor 0 0 4-6 4, Bullard 2 0 1-3 5, Irwin 1 0 0-0 2, Bradford 4 0 4-5 12, Talbert 0 1 0-0 3, Wiggins 4 0 2-4 10.
2FG-11, 3FG-1, FT-11-18, PF-16.
Fouled Out - Taylor, Wayne City; McFarland, Thompsonville.
Technical Fouls - None.

CRAB ORCHARD 76, CLAY CITY 66
Crab Orchard's Raymond Kissing scored a game-high 35-points as the Trojans took home fifth place in a win over Clay City.

The 6-foot-5 senior swingman made 10 field goals and nailed 9-of-10 free throws to lead his team to their second win of the week to reach 5-7 on the season.

Ray's brother Tommy Kissing added 23-points in the offensive showcase of the night.

Clay City (5-6) got an outstanding performance from Brandon Allison on this night. This 6-foot-2 junior scored 21-points, 17 points over his average.

Tyler Frohning scored 15 and Devan Cook added 12.

Crab Orchard hit 11-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter to outlast the Wolves.

Clay City (66) - J. Frohning 2 0 3-4 7, T. Frohning 1 3 4-5 15, Michels 4 0 1-1 9, Cook 3 2 0-0 12, B. Allison 10 0 1-2 21, Nelson 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-21, 3FG-5, FT-9-12, PF-16.
Crab Orchard (76) - Duty 0 1 1-4 4, R. Kissing 10 2 9-10 35, T. Kissing 8 1 4-4 23, 1 1 0-0 5, Boester 3 0 3-6 9.
2FG-22, 3FG-5, FT-17-24, PF-15.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM - The members 51st Annual Conrad Allen Holiday Tournament: Ray Kissing, Crab Orchard; Jonathon Frohning, Clay City; Tyler Jennings and Miles Vaughn of Thompsonville; J.C. Taylor and Tim Bullard of Wayne City; Joey Ullery, Jabe Michel and Bryce McKenzie of Webber Township; and Drew Glover, Lance Endsley, Jake Tannahill and Ben Farleigh of Cisne.