12-06-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
CRAB ORCHARD – In a battle of the top two teams in the Greater Egyptian Conference one team showed that they are already in mid-season form while the other team is still trying to figure things out.

The Crab Orchard Trojans used its quickness advantage and outside shooting to gun down Gallatin County, 57-45 on Tuesday night in front of a packed house at COHS.

Coach Jon Brown's team didn't shoot the ball well from the outside but they kept firing away and made enough 3-pointers to outlast a Hawks team that turned the ball over way too many times in key situations.

Gallatin County saw its record slip to 2-4 on the young season and 1-1 in the GEC.

The Hawks were in a position to make a run to capture a very important conference road win after scoring the first four points of the fourth quarter to close out a 10-2 run to tie the game at 36-all with 6:43 remaining.

But at this point, Crab Orchard retaliated with its best scoring crusade of the night.

The Trojans hit three consecutive 3-pointers as part of a 17-2 run that put Crab Orchard ahead to stay.

After having begun the 2011-12 campaign in a early season tournament in Washington, Illinois where they took on three powerhouse clubs, Coach Robert “Radar” Patton's Hawks ran into the defending GEC champs who were in no mood to be gracious hosts.

“We got the game tied up 36-all and had the ball with a chance to take the lead and we take a 15-foot fade away shot. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot tonight,” said Coach Patton. “That's what I told them when I called timeout. We've just got to be smarter to win basketball games. Give them (Crab Orcherd) credit, they shot well and we had to go to a zone to try and slow down their penetration they hit two or three shots.”

Forcing the Hawks into six first quarter turnovers (14 overall) Crab Orchard took command powered by the one-two combination of Ben Kissing and Drew Johnson.

Both are now four-year starters and these two vets shined as the Trojans improved to 3-0 in the Greater Egyptian Conference and 8-0 overall.

Kissing led Crab Orchard with 23-points and 11-rebounds while Johnson added 21-points which included a pair of 3-pointers.

The Trojans top two scorers overshadowed the Hawks' combo of Andrew Drone and Patrick Lowe.

Drone, who was held to just four first half points, got going after intermission and ended up with 21-points and eight rebounds.

Lowe picked up a double-double with 12-points and 13-rebounds.

But while the Hawks were effective inside, it was their lack of an outside game that was one of the deciding factors.

“I was really proud of our defense. I thought we got down and guarded them and made them earn their points,” explained Coach Brown. “I thought we kept good pressure on the ball. I thought we did a good job of helping out on Drone, I thought we did a respectable job on him. He got 21-points but he earned them.”

Gallatin County attempted 12 3-point shots on the night and missed them all.

And despite their inside size advantage with Drone and Lowe, the Hawks didn't get to the foul line until the fourth quarter.

“They (Crab Orchard) sloughed off on one of our players and helped out on Drone and we weren't smart enough to take advantage of it tonight,” Coach Patton added. “It's early in the season and we knew it would be tough over here. They (Crab Orchard) have played 7-out-of-8 games here so we knew it would be tough.”

In the early going, it was Gallatin County that had the chances but couldn't convert.

After taking a couple of early leads in the contest, the Hawks got into the Christmas spirit by giving the ball away.

The only reason the game stayed as close as it did early came from Crab Orchard being cold from the floor in the first quarter.

The Trojans took a while to get warmed up, missing 11 shots in the opening stanza.

Six of the seven shots that found the mark came from Kissing and Johnson.

Kissing scored on the inside twice and converted a fast break chance early to help set the tone of the Trojans wanting to run.

Johnson hit his first of two 3-pointers from the top of the arc that found the mark with :04 remaining in a quarter that ended 16-12 Trojans.

“He (Johnson) really stepped up tonight, especially early when we were a bit tight,” added Coach Brown. “He made some nice moves and hit a big shot to end the first quarter. I thought he did a good job finding people.”

Lowe helped keep the Hawks in contention with a very good first half.

The 6-foot-5 junior had 10 of his rebounds and eight of his points in the first two quarters and he crashed the offensive glass for a pair of baskets in the second quarter.

His rebound of his own missed shot closed the first half scoring at 24-16 Crab Orchard.

“Patrick Lowe always comes up big for us. He is always right there and he plays hard,” added Coach Patton.

The second quarter of this contest was marred by poor shooting by both clubs.

The two teams combined to make just 6-of-33 second quarter attempts and neither team scored in the final 3:07 of the second frame.

Drone used his size in the lane to help intimidate the Trojans around the basket with five blocked shots on the night.

But his counterpart for Crab Orchard stepped outside and used his quickness and offensive range to make things difficult for the Hawks.

The 6-foot-5 Kissing moved out and hit a pair of 3-pointers and his 20-footer from the right wing with 6:12 to go in the third quarter pushed Crab Orchard out to a 29-22 lead.

Drone, a 7-foot junior who is drawing a lot of college interest, stepped up inside to trigger the Hawks game-tying sprint.

He helped close out the third quarter with a pair of baskets in the post and then made a nice pass for an assist to a cutting Andrew Cox for a lay up to close the gap to 34-32.

After a Kissing basket ended the quarter with a Trojans' four-point advantage, Gallatin County evened the contest with Lowe hitting a pair of free throws and Cox scoring again, this time grabbing a rebound of a missed 3-pointer from sophomore Mitchell Ramsey.

The Trojans then pulled away with Johnson, Caleb Perry and Coty Wece all hitting from downtown in the game-winning drive.

Wece connected on his shot falling away from deep in the right corner to make it 45-38 with 5:10 remaining.

“I think especially in the second half he (Kissing) played a lot smarter and took advantage of his quickness,” added Brown. “He made some nice moves and read the defense better. For a big guy, he is tough to guard outside and it is something he has really worked on.”

Kissing extended the lead with a pair of nice drives to the basket as the Trojans were in their spread offense.

Kissing then forced a Gallatin County turnover and subsequent Hawks timeout with a steal in which he led teammate Perry for a fast break lay up and a double-digit lead.

“Perry and Wece, both, at critical times there knocked down big shots for us. We wanted to make them (Gallatin County) run the floor tonight and try and fatigue them,” Brown explained. “We got some transition scores and we definitely wanted to get the game going “up-and-down. We feel like we are a good transition team.”

Johnson, with Crab Orchard forcing Gallatin County to foul, hit a pair of free throw after being fouled by Lowe (his fifth) with 1:58 left.

Drone tried to get the Hawks back into contention, scoring seven points in a little over a minute on moves in the lane.

His conventional three-point play and additional score with :40.6 left cut the deficit to just 53-45.

However Johnson and Hunter Arnold closed out the scoring with four made free throws as the Trojans won an important game in this league race.

“He (Johnson) is a marque player. He is a floor general, he does it all for them. He is a nice basketball player,” added Coach Patton.

The stats were very indicative of how the outcome came about.

Both teams were identical from the floor, hitting 21-of-59 shots.

The difference is that of the 21 made baskets by Crab Orchard, seven came from behind the arc.

The Trojans took better care of the ball, committing just eight turnovers compared to 14 from Gallatin County.

The Hawks, behind Drone and Lowe, won the rebounding battle at 39-27.

But not being able to get to the foul line and committing those crucial turnovers spelled doom for Coach Patton's squad.

“The way the game played out, we hadn't been in a real close game before tonight other than the Hardin County game and we started working some clock and even though we had a couple of breakdowns we adjusted,” finalized Coach Brown. “We hit big free throws at the end and we showed a lot of composure at the end. We did defensively what we wanted to do.”

Gallatin County (45) – Aud 1 0 0-0 2, Hish 1 0 0-0 2, Drone 10 0 1-2 21, Ramsey 1 0 0-0 2, Lowe 5 0 2-2 12, Patton 0 0 0-0 0, Cox 3 0 0-0 6, Sorto 0 0 0-0 0, W. McGuire 0 0 0-0 0, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-21, 3FG-0, FT-3-4, PF-17.
Crab Orchard (57) – Johnson 5 2 5-6 21, Wece 0 1 0-0 3, Kissing 8 2 1-3 23, Perry 1 2 0-0 8, Arnold 0 0 2-2 2, McCree 0 0 0-0 0, Deaton 0 0 0-0 0, Emery 0 0 0-0 0, Bailey 0 0 0-0 0, Marks 0 0 0-0 0, Ray 0 0 0-0 0, Galloway 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-7, FT-8-11, PF-8.
Fouled Out –Lowe - Gallatin County.
Technical Fouls – None.