01-17-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
CENTRALIA - On Saturday afternoon at the Centralia Shootout – Crab Orchard ran into a 2A club that was just too physical.

Being dominated on the boards 48-20 and out gunned by Metro-East Lutheran junior guard Bob Schnietz – the Trojans went home after dropping a 74-53 decision.

Schnietz scored 30-points for head coach Chad Ambuehl’s team that improved to 9-7 on the season.

But the score was very misleading as Coach Jon Brown’s club didn’t back down from the more experienced Knights and the final tally will send a mixed message.

The Knights scored the games’ final 10 points as Metro-East Lutheran’s reserves went on a 6-0 run in the final two minutes to expand the lead to 21.

In fact Crab Orchard trailed just 57-49 with 6:34 left in the contest when M-E took command.

“We talked about being gutsy and about having to rebound with this team,” said Coach Brown. “They are a tough team to rebound against. We only get two non-conference games and one of them is a game at the SEC/GEC Shootout in February. We could have looked to pad the record or play somebody good. We got an opportunity to come up here. We knew it would be tough but we hung with them today.”

Behind Schnietz in scoring for Metro-East Lutheran was Brad Rodgers with 10 points.

Rodgers is a 6-foot-1 senior guard who was on the team when they last appeared at the Centralia shootout two seasons ago.

That Knights’ team beat Okawville in January of 2007 and is now 2-0 in this event.

Metro-East won despite 19 turnovers by shooting 31-of-58 from the floor with Schnietz connecting on drives to the basket and pull up mid-range shots.

A.J. Hutchins topped Crab Orchard (12-5) with 24 points, which included six 3-pointers.

Adam Perry (11) and freshman Ben Kissing (10) added to the Trojans total.

But they weren’t accurate from the field (19-of-58) overall and couldn’t convert many of the Metro-East turnovers (19) into points.

The Trojans had a couple of early first quarter leads after Kissing and Hutchins hit from their usual spots on the floor.

Kissing – a 6-foot-5 frosh forward – scored the games’ first points in a spin move on the right blocks.

Hutchins hit a long hit a long 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 5-2 with 6:35 to go.

But Schnietz scored six points of an 8-0 run to put the Knights in front.

His drive to the basket in transition off of a missed Crab Orchard shot at the 3:40 forced a Trojan time out at 10-5.

Six-foot-five center Jake Holle scored a couple of times for Metro-East underneath the basket and Schnietz closed out the frame with a 15-footer from the right side to close the scoring at 17-9.

The Trojans closed to within seven points once in the second quarter.

A three-point play by senior Ryan Anderson capped a 5-0 run that whittled the lead down to 26-19.

Anderson – after getting rejected twice in the paint by Holle – got his third attempt to go down while being fouled. His made free throw at 4:30 kept the game within reach.

The Knights finished the half with eight more points that included a 3-pointer from the right corner by Rodgers.

Hutchins responded with five points on a 3-pointer and a fast break lay to close the scoring at 34-26.

Schnietz put the Knights on his shoulders and ripped home 14 third quarter points.

Two buckets by Schnietz and a free throw by 6-foot-6 junior Spencer Morris pushed the lead to 51-32.

Crab Orchard could have warmed up the bus at that point but they made a final rush forward.

A drive to the basket by freshman Drew Anderson and steal and fast break by Hutchins sparked the Trojans at the quarters end. Crab trailed just 55-41 heading into the final stanza.

Johnson and Hutchins each hit 3-pointers to open the fourth quarter and when Kissing kissed a shot off the glass from in close at 6:34 left – it was the afore mentioned 57-49.

Metro-East outscored the Trojans 17-4 the rest of the way.

“They (Metro-East) have some good athletes and they put pressure on the ball,” added Brown. “Our strategy coming in was to see if we could hang around and I knew we would have to play awfully well to do that. To play against someone like them you have to be on top of your game the whole way and we didn’t do that today. We have some young kids and they battled hard today for us.”

Crab Orchard heads back into action next week with a pair of home games against Thompsonville and Gallatin County in the Greater Egyptian Conference while Metro-East Lutheran (an Independent) will compete in the Litchfield Invitational Tournament.

Crab Orchard (53) – Johnson 1 1 0-0 5, Hutchins 2 6 2-2 24, Kissing 5 0 0-2 10, T. Fauver 0 0 0-0 0, Perry 3 0 5-7 11, Anderson 1 0 1-1 3, Killen 0 0 0-0 0, Marks 0 0 0-0 0, Boester 0 0 0-0 0, Hutson 0 0 0-0 0, Wece 0 0 0-0 0, C. Fauver 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-7, FT-8-12, PF-9.
Metro-East Lutheran (74) – Schnietz 13 0 4-6 30, Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, Langendorf 2 0 2-2 6, Hardy 3 1 0-0 9, Niemeier 1 0 0-0 2, Wise 1 0 2-2 4, Rodgers 2 2 0-0 10, Verdun 0 0 0-0 0, Bodenbach 1 0 0-0 2, Holle 2 0 0-0 4, Morris 3 0 1-2 7.
2FG-28, 3FG-3, FT-9-12, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

COLUMBIA 41, TOLONO UNITY 34
The Eagles overcame a bummer of a first half to stun Unity in the second boy’s game at the Centralia Shootout.

Coach Mark Sandstrom witnessed his club come alive with a strong second half led by Brad Buettner and Brian Winters.

Buettner led Columbia (14-2) with 14-points while Winters tossed home 12.

Zebo Zebe – a 6-foot-1 senior guard - led the Rockets (10-3) with 17-points.

Six-foot–three junior forward Dylan Sturgeon added 10.

Columbia struggled from the field (13-of-40 overall) in the afternoon contest but hit 11-of-15 free throws.

Buettner – a 6-foot-7 senior forward who averages 17 points a game – hit 6-of-8 free throws to help close out the win.

Columbia (41) – Buettner 4 0 6-8 14, Winters 1 3 1-2 12, Hall 3 0 2-2 8, Arzola 1 0 2-3 4, Gallagher 0 1 0-0 3, Babb 0 0 0-0 0, Haag 0 0 0-0 0, Hermann 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-9, 3FG-4, FT-11-15, PF-11.
Metro-East Lutheran (74) – Zebe 6 1 2-2 17, Sturgeon 4 0 2-2 10, McFall 0 1 0-0 3, Gooch 1 0 0-0 200, Perry 1 0 0-0 2, Brown 0 0 0-0 0, McNeely 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-2, FT-4-4, PF-20.
Fouled Out – Gooch - Tolono Unity.
Technical Fouls – None.