12-03-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
GOLCONDA - It was definitely a wild one in the Greater Egyptian Conference on Friday night in Golconda.

A contest that featured 50 personal fouls called with 51 free throws attempted, (counting a couple of lane violations) a bench technical foul and the outcome not decided until the final horn sounded.

But the whole game can basically be summed up by a statement by Pope County head coach Jim Simmons after his Pirates lost a heartbreaking 51-49 decision.

“We missed a ton of free throws and we only got beat by two,” said Coach Simmons. “I don't think I was ever (part of a game) where we missed 15 free throws in the fourth quarter.”

The Pirates shot 17-of-39 overall from the line with two lane violations on top of that.

Crab Orchard overcame foul trouble where three Trojans fouled out and watched as a last second shot by Pope County fell short,

Coach Jon Brown's club survived a conference game, 51-49 on the road.

With the victory the Trojans are now 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the GEC.

The Pirates tasted defeat for the first time in this battle of unbeaten teams, falling to 3-1 overall, 1-1 in the league.

Coach Brown went deep into his bench on this night, which was not a time or place that he wanted to use his reserves.

But as the fouls mounted, Coach Brown put some kids in places they weren't accustomed to.

However as learning experiences go, the kids got a taste of important varsity action and the bus ride home for everyone was more enjoyable after a come-from-behind win.

“I'm really proud of our guys. We just got so deep into our bench. We're really not that deep. Coming into tonight we hadn't had a guy foul out yet this year. Pope County played well tonight, they came after us,” said Coach Brown. “I'm glad we could get that deep into the bench when we had to and get that experience for them. We found a way to come of here with a 'W'.”

Coach Brown got balanced scoring with three Trojans in double-figures.

Five-ten senior Ian Dawes and 5-10 junior Brinnen Norris each finished with 13-points while Crab Orchard got 12-points from 5-10 junior Robbie Rooker.

Rooker and Norris were two of the three Trojans (along with junior Klayton Williams) who fouled out as Crab Orchard was whistled for 31 personal fouls in 32 minutes.

Coach Brown also got eight points from senior Hayden Ray, who also ended up with four fouls.

In spite of all of the difficulties, the Trojans escaped with a key road win.

“I think a lot of that (Pope County free throw shooting difficulty) was fatigue. We tried to get the game 'going up and down' a little bit in the second half,” said Coach Brown. “We had some key people (on the bench) and we needed some kids to step up tonight and they did.”

The Pirates were paced by 6-0 senior Logan Croley with 20-points, a game best.

Coach Simmons also got 10-points from 6-4 sophomore Masin Presser and nine-points from 6-0 freshman Eli Presser.

Masin Presser also added seven rebounds before he, too, fouled out.

Garrett Robards, a 6-5 junior, spent most of his night on the bench with foul issues.

However he returned late in the game and netted all six of his points in the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately both Croley and Robards were part of the failed free throw parade in the final eight minutes.

Pope County was 8-of-23 from the stripe in the final 7:44, including a stretch where they missed five consecutive tosses and added its second lane violation in the contest.

It offset in a bad way the other aspects of the night for Coach Simmons' club.

The Pirates ended up 14-of-28 from the field (50 percent) and held a slight 26-24 rebounding edge.

However to go with the 'brick laying' from the foul line, Pope County committed 19 turnovers, including the two lane miscues.

Crab Orchard struggled from the field, hitting just 17-of-51 overall, 6-of-24 from the arc.

They were a whole lot better from the foul line than the hosts, connecting on 11-of-19.

The Trojans also were guilty of 12-turnovers in the Friday night matchup.

Rooker helped get Crab Orchard off to a good beginning.

He nailed down two 3-pointers in the opening quarter, both from the top of the arc and both were wide open as Pope failed to find him out front.

After Masin Presser scored six points in the quarter, three consecutive scores for Pope County, Crab Orchard closed the frame with seven straight points on back-to-back 3-pointers from Dawes and Norris.

A free throw by Dawes closed the quarter at 15-8 Trojans.

In the early part of the second quarter it appeared as if Crab Orchard was ready to put Pope in the rear view mirror.

Baskets by Norris, Rooker and Ray pushed the lead to 23-16 with 4:26 left.

Something happened earlier in the quarter that was a blow to the Pirates.

Robards, after coming back into the game in the second quarter with two fouls, picked up his third personal with 6:16 remaining in the half.

However Pope County ran of 10 consecutive points to take a 26-23 halftime lead.

Three straight 3-pointers; two by Eli Presser sandwiched around a trey from 6-1 junior Brody Barnes, sent the teams to the break.

Rooker added his fourth and final 3-pointer to open the second half scoring.

The fouls continued to be a problem for the visiting team.

A bench technical on the Trojans added to the problems as Pope County actually made a few free throws in the third quarter.

Notwithstanding Robards was called for a charge during this time and went back to the pine with his fourth personal at the 5:13 mark.

In the quarter Croley hit 6-of-7 from the line and the Pirates headed to the final stanza up 39-33.

The problems with the foul line hadn't reared its ugly head just yet for Pope and it appeared the Pirates were in line for a win.

Rooker was called for a charging foul and was disqualified with his fifth foul with just seconds gone in the fourth.

His teammates picked up the slack offensively as junior Conner Richardson provided some key minutes, scoring two points and taking an important charge late in the game.

Norris score six of his points on baskets in the final quarter, including a drive off of an inbounds play that tied the score at 43-43 with 4:23 left.

It was at this point that the Pirates' foul shooting parade commenced.

With Crab Orchard over 10 fouls for the half, all trips to the line were two-shot variety for the hosts.

With an opportunity to put the Trojans away, Coach Simmons' watched as his team hit just 7-of-19 the remainder of the game (4:11).

Even though Crab Orchard missed some shots themselves, the Pirates failed to increase their advantage.

The Trojans got the lead back on two free throws by Ian Dawes and a rebound stick back by Ray.

The Ray bucket was a 'stinger' to the Pope County cause, giving Crab Orchard back the lead at 50-48 with just over a minute remaining.

Robards, who was now back in the game, hit just 1-of-2 from the line after being fouled with :37.7 left.

Dawes then was fouled and hit 1-of-2 to make it 51-49.

Croley again was fouled but neither of his foul shots found the mark.

Crab Orchard, while running out the clock by spreading the floor, took an ill advised shot that ended up with Pope County.

A quick timeout by the Pirates set the stage for a final attempt to even the score with :05.5 to go.

Out of the timeout, Pope County got the ball in to Croley who drove into the lane.

But his running one-hander in the paint fell short where Richardson secured the rebound and the win as the final horn sounded.

“If we hit just a few more free throws we win. We had a decent look (shot) at the end that could've tied it,” said Coach Simmons.

The Trojans will host both Gallatin County and Galatia in GEC play before heading to the 67th annual Wayne City Holiday Tournament December 11-18.

“Sometimes you just have to find a way to win. We made our share of mistakes tonight and it was nice to get some other people in the game in situations for quality minutes,” said Coach Brown.

Pope County will travel to Paducah (KY.) CCA on December 6 and will then host Galatia on December 7 for the next games.

Crab Orchard (51) – Rooker 0 4 0-0 12, I. Dawes 1 1 8-12 13, Ray 3 0 2-4 8, N. Dawes 0 0 1-2 1, Norris 5 1 0-0 13, Robbins 0 0 0-0 0, Watts 0 0 0-0 0, Richardson 1 0 0-1 2, Williams 0 0 0-0 0. Clark 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-11, 3FG-6, FT-11-19, PF-31.
Pope County (49) – Croley 4 0 12-21 20, Lewis 0 0 0-3 0, M. Presser 5 0 0-2 10, Robards 1 0 4-10 6, Ohse 0 0 1-2 1, Barnes 0 1 0-0 3, E. Presser 0 3 0-0 9, Burkhead 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-10, 3FG-4, FT-17-39, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Rooker, Norris, Williams - Crab Orchard; M. Presser - Pope County.
Technical Fouls – Crab Orchard Bench.