12-12-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - In head coach Jon Brown’s tenure at the school his Crab Orchard Trojans never started a season 10-0.

Until now, that is.

Behind 18 points and 10 rebounds from sophomore Ben Kissing and a defensive effort that forced Grayville into 28 turnovers – Crab Orchard (1-0 in the tournament) stayed unbeaten with an easy 85-47 win in their opener at the Conrad Allen Wayne City Holiday Tournament.

Senior Adam Perry scored 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds while sophomore guard Drew Johnson added 13 points in the route.

Christian Neeley led Grayville (0-1) with 10 points in the loss while Hunter Bisch, Zak Linnemann and Hunter Short all scored eight points.

Crab Orchard took the lead from the opening tap and never trailed – forcing 10 first quarter turnovers and scoring at will.

Johnson connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to lead the charge to the front.

His second trifecta - from the top of that arc - with 5:41 left pushed the lead to 10-2.

The Trojans crashed the boards and clean up nearly all of their respective offensive messes in the first quarter.

Kissing scored six of his eight first quarter points on the offensive glass.

His put back with just over a minute left gave Crab Orchard a 25-7 lead.

“They (Crab Orchard) came out and hit a bunch of shots early and we got into foul trouble,” said assistant coach Kevin Wolff – who was in charge with head coach Will Knight out of town. “We kept playing hard and in the fourth quarter we started to play a bit better and got into a rhythm and that looks good for us moving forward.”

Kissing would score six more points in the second frame.

With two more offensive rebounds and a short shot in the lane – Crab Orchard could coast home after heading to the lockerroom up 54-23.

“Really I thought we kept our intensity up pretty well tonight. We got after it for the most part,” said Coach Brown. “We got a bit passive in the third quarter but we got a chance to get everyone in the game and got some people some minutes.”

A trio of fast break scores by Crab Orchard late in the third quarter closed the book on the regulars as Coach Brown emptied his bench in the final quarter.

Both Perry and Coty Wece scored on consecutive trips on Grayville turnovers.

Then reserve Adam Emery finished a fast break to balloon the lead to 73-29 at the end of the third stanza.

“There are a lot of good teams here this year and this looks to be a stronger tournament than it has been in the past few seasons,” added Coach Brown. “We want to keep striving to be the best team that we can.”

Crab Orchard didn’t shoot the ball well on the night (32-of-83 overall) but they piled up so many offensive rebounds that the accuracy took a backseat.

The Trojans out boarded the Bison 47-26 with 28 rebounds on the offensive end.

Crab Orchard had exactly half as many turnovers (14) as Grayville.

Grayville (2-6 overall) hit just 21-of-48 field goal attempts and were just 1-of-9 from behind the arc.

“We tell the kids to keep playing all four quarters. Play hard, don’t give up or hold your heads down,” added Coach Wolff. “There are going to be games where we are overmatched and tonight was one of them.”

Grayville (47) – Neely 5 0 0-0 10, Scott 3 0 0-0 6, Bisch 4 0 0-1 8, Gray 2 0 0-0 4, Burdin 0 0 0-0 0, Linneman 1 1 3-3 8, McFarland 0 0 0-0 0, Short 4 0 0-2 8, Powell 1 0 1-2 3. 2FG-20, 3FG-1, FT-4-8, PF-21.
Crab Orchard (85) – Johnson 2 2 3-3 13, Wece 2 0 5-9 9, Kissing 9 0 0-1 18, Killen 1 2 0-2 8, Perry 6 0 4-9 16, Hutson 1 2 0-0 8, A. Emery 1 0 2-2 4, McGuire 0 1 0-0 3, Dorries 1 0 0-2 2, C. Emery 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-4, FT-7-11, PF-24.
Fouled Out – Scott - Grayville.
Technical Fouls – None.

EDWARDS COUNTY 77, THOMPSONVILLE 38
The Lions led from the outset and opened the Wayne City Holiday Tournament with a blowout win.

Edwards County (1-0) received 16 points from 6-foot-2 senior Chad Smith and 15 points from Ryan Head as this Little Illini Conference team improved to 7-2 overall.

Nathan Winemiller added 12 points as Ed Co. went wire-to-wire.

Thompsonville (0-6 overall, 0-1 in the tournament) trailed 20-7 at the end of the first quarter and 48-13 at intermission.

Head coach Brandon Chaplin’s Tigers got 12 points from Dale Peck and 10 points from Nick Sullivan in the loss.

Thompsonville (38) – Sullivan 3 0 4-6 10, Householder 1 0 0-0 2, Fisher 1 2 0-0 8, Pack 5 0 2-2 12, Gaither 1 0 0-0 2, Costello 2 0 0-0 4, Orill 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-2, FT-6-8, PF-10.
Edwards County (77) – Smith 6 1 1-2 16, Aaron 0 0 2-2 2, Head 3 3 0-0 15, Pertl 3 1 0-0 9, Winemiller 5 0 2-2 12, Dongu 0 3 0-0 9, Beadles 2 0 1-2 5, Goble 2 0 0-0 4, Lear 0 0 0-0 0, Harris 0 0 0-0 0, Speir 0 0 3-4 3, Laws 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-22, 3FG-8, FT-9-12, PF-9.
Fouled Out – None
Technical Fouls – None.

ZEIGLER-ROYALTON 57, CLAY CITY 34
The Tornadoes – a newcomer to the WCHT – started their tourney with a win on the opening day.

Tyler Mitchell – a 6-foot-3 senior – led all scorers with 15 points in the win while teammate Jake Wawczak added 12 points.

Alex Bayler led Winless Clay City (0-1 in the tourney, 0-8 overall) with 14 points.

Nick Beasley and Zack Rumsey each scored nine points for the Tornadoes while Payton Clark scored six points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds.

Clay City (34) – Klingler 0 0 0-0 0, Bayler 4 2 0-4 14, Wolfe 2 0 2-4 6, E. Brown 1 0 2-2 4, J. Brown 0 0 2-2 2, Kessler 4 0 0-0 8, Wolfe 0 0 0-1 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-2, FT-6-12, PF-11.
Zeigler-Royalton (57) – Mitchell 4 2 1-2 15, Wawczak 4 1 1-3 12, Rumsey 4 0 1-2 9, Beasley 4 0 1-3 9, Clark 3 0 0-1 6, Domineck 0 0 0-0 0, Slomka 2 0 0-0 4, Maseters 0 0 0-0 0, Leposky 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-22, 3FG-3, FT-4-11, PF-16.
Fouled Out – None
Technical Fouls – None.

PATOKA 42, WAYNE CITY 40
In by far the most competitive game of the first day – the Warriors held off the host Indians to improve to 7-2 overall and 1-0 in Pool A.

Six-foot senior Drew Baldridge led Patoka with 13 points while Cody Allen and Sawyer Potter added 11 points each.

Wayne City (0-1 in Pool A, 4-3 overall) was topped by Tyler Porter with 14 points while Cody Thomason added 10.

The Indians have lost all three of their games by five total points.

Patoka (42) – Baldridge 4 0 5-7 13, Wadkins 0 0 0-0 0, Despres 1 0 0-1 2, Murfin 0 0 1-1 1, Ishum 0 1 0-0 3, Thompson 0 0 1-2 1, Potter 1 3 0-0 11, Allen 5 0 1-3 11.
2FG-11, 3FG-4, FT-8-14, PF-7.
Wayne City (40) – Feather 0 0 0-0 0, Courtright 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Shreve 0 0 0-0 0, Porter 4 2 0-2 14, Evans 2 1 0-0 7, Thomason 4 0 2-4 10, Meritt 3 1 0-0 9.
2FG-13, 3FG-4, FT-2-6, PF-15.
Fouled Out – None
Technical Fouls – None.