BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO –

When it happens, the fourth seed at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament went on a 12-0 run to take command of its opening round game.

Behind four Bulldogs with double-figures in scoring, Coach Kevin Wolff's club ran away with a 70-51 victory over Hardin County to begin the 51st annual event on Saturday morning.

Zach Vaught, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, netted 19-points while front-court teammate Tucker Gray added 18 in the victory that was much closer than the final score indicated.

While the weather in southern Illinois is unseasonably warm, it didn't keep Carmi-White County from burying the Cougars with a second-half avalanche.

Guard's Matt Rice and Tyler Barbre added 13-points each as CWC improved to 7-2 on the season, Coach Wolff's first at the helm.

“These morning games are tough but we changed our lineup in the second half and I wanted us to focus more on the defensive end of the court,” said Coach Wolff. “The kids responded and did a great job in the second half.”

Hardin County saw its mark slip to 7-4 with the loss that sends them into the graveyard game at the end of the first day. The Cougars will play Meridian, who lost to West Frankfort, 70-69 in overtime, at 10 pm Saturday night.

Coach Rodney Lane can point to turnovers as a culprit on Saturday morning as Hardin County committed 15 miscues, including nine in the second half that helped fuel the CWC turnaround.

Two Cougars finished in double-digits with Austin Seavers tossing in 18-points while grabbing eight rebounds in defeat.

Guard Tyler Winters added 17-points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Hardin County made the most of its early game success, leading at the end of each first-half stop, while taking a 37-33 lead to intermission.

The Cougars grabbed an early lead, its largest of the game, with a consecutive baskets by Seavers and junior forward Craig Hudson starting a brief run with ended with a 3-pointer from Seavers from the left corner to make it 15-9 Hardin County with 1:38 left in the first quarter.

Winters got most of his points from driving to the basket for shots or assists to teammates.

The 5-foot-10 junior converted two consecutive three-point plays in the second quarter while being fouled.

His second one was quickly followed by a long two-pointer from John Rose that closed the half at 37-33 Cougars.

Hardin County appeared to be ready to carry over the momentum into the second half but a scoring run by Carmi as a direct result of the Cougars' turnover problems switched control to the Bulldogs.

Coach Lane's team missed four-straight shots and turned the ball over five times over a four minute span.

In this time frame, behind the scoring of Barbre and Vaught, Carmi rattled off a 12-0 run.

A steal and fast break score from Vaught proceeded a 3-point bomb from Barbre.

Vaught drilled home a long-range missile from the right corner and Vaught added a pair of baskets on a rebound score and a transition lay on an assist from Vaught.

By the time Hardin County knew what hit them, the Bulldogs led 48-40 at the 1:06 mark.

“We just can't seem to play a whole game. We can't keep our intensity and effort going for four quarters. And late in the game when Winters goes out (fouls) we were in trouble,” said Coach Lane. “We just need to get better at being mentally into the game on both ends of the floor. We have gotten into foul trouble in games this season by committing silly fouls by not moving our feet or reaching in.”

Carmi-White County took care of business in the fourth quarter from the foul line and getting the ball inside.

Working against the Cougars zone, Gray got going with 11-points in the quarter, including 5-of-5 from the foul line to go with three field goals.

With Carmi ahead 58-47, Gray was fouled on a 3-point attempt by Hudson who fouled out.

Gray calmly netted all three charities, pushing the lead to 13.

A trifecta from the top of the arc by Rice, his fourth trey of the contest, and another inside bucket from Gray gave CWC its largest lead at 68-48 before the benches emptied.

Both teams shot the ball pretty well with Carmi-White County hitting 24-of-43 from the field overall (55.8 percent) and 7-of-13 from the arc.

The Cougars hit on 17-of-35 attempts (48.5 percent) but just 3-of-10 from long range.

Hardin County had a slight 18-17 rebounding edge but the 15-turnovers turned the second half to the Bulldogs.

“We tend to give up some lay ups on our press but we took care of that in the second half and did a great job of recovering,” added Coach Wolff. “All-in-all it was a great defensive effort.” 

The Wildcats saw their mark slip to 5-7 on the season.
Coach Mike Chamness' club rallied to tie the game late with a pair of 3-pointers by guard Ryan Stark, who led A-J with 13-points.

Dakota Earnhart and Hunter Garver added 10 and nine each.

Robinson led all scorers with 16-points as Union County (6-4) advanced to the winner's bracket.

The top-seeded club coached by Joe Hosman, got 20 points from JT Weber, including nine early points in the first frame as the Pats lead all the way.

Noah Farmer tossed in 14-points, 10 in the first quarter, as Massac County improved to 8-2 on the season.

Caleb Duckworth added eight-points for the Patriots as they will now face Union County (KY.) on Monday.

Hamilton County got five-points each from Oakley Dial and Austin Potter as they trailed 36-10 at intermission.

The Foxes (1-10) will play Anna-Jonesboro Monday morning in the consolation bracket.