01-31-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
DIETERICH - The 'Cliff Westendorf Story' just keeps getting better at Dieterich High School and head coach Jamie VanScyoc is happy to add chapters (wins) to what has become a history making chronicle for this South Central Illinois basketball program.

On Tuesday night against a good Neoga squad, the Movin' Maroons' 6-foot-5 senior forward/center made two big plays late in overtime to help assure his teams' 17th consecutive victory this season.

He scored a key basket on a short bank shot in the lane with :12 remaining in the extra session to give his team the lead.

Then he made the defensive play of the night by deflecting a last second attempt by Neoga's Alex Walk just before the final buzzer, which protected an exciting 66-65 overtime victory at home.

With the win Dieterich improved to 18-3. Coach VanScyoc's squad hasn't lost a game since the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament.

"Cliff ended up with 26-points tonight and he had to earn every one of them," VanScyoc said. "I was really pleased with a lot of our other kids that were able to see him (Westendorf) and recognize how to get him the ball."

Neoga, which lost to Teutopolis in the National Trail Conference tournament title game last Saturday, is now 16-4 after dropping two-consecutive games.

"When we played well tonight in the middle quarters we were doing it on both ends of the floor and we made them earn their points," Neoga head coach Jason Hanson explained. "But in the first and fourth quarters we didn't do that. Still, if we make our free throws in the fourth quarter we win the game."

The Indians got off to a slow start shooting on Saturday and did the same in first quarter in this contest, connecting on just 4-of-16 first quarter attempts as they quickly fell behind.

Getting six points from Westendorf in the opening minutes, and a 3-pointer from Eric Pickens, the Maroons stormed out to an early 9-2 lead.

Neoga's only bright spot in the opening quarter was the play of Ray Zumbahlen. He scored four buckets in the frame, accounting for all eight of the Indians marks in the book.

His consecutive scores in the final 1:10 cut the Dieterich lead to 15-8 at the first horn.

But while Neoga struggled with its shooting accuracy, the Maroons failed to make the most of its opportunity to get some scoring distance.

Five first quarter turnovers kept the score close and seven more gaffes in the second quarter allowed the Indians to hang around.

Although Neoga didn't shoot much better than it did early, they were getting enough chances to keep the score close.

Zumbahlen score his tenth-straight point for Neoga early in the second quarter and on the same play away from the ball, Westendorf picked up his second personal foul.

But VanScyoc gambled and left him in for an additional four minutes.

Westendorf took a lob pass from Bobby Niemerg and slammed home a dunk with 4:28 before intermission, giving Dieterich a 24-14 lead.

Westendorf finished his first half scoring on a conventional three-point play after being fouled by Neoga's Alex Walk.

But with Westendorf resting on the bench for the remainder of the half, Neoga went on a 10-2 run.
A 3-pointer from Zach Ballinger, a rebound basket by Wes Letizia and a combined 5-of-7 free throws made Zumbahlen, David Massengill and Alex Walk had Neoga feeling better trailing just 31-26 at the break.

"We had opportunities to put the game away early but we didn't and we kind of went South with 2:26 to go in the second quarter and let them back in," said VanScyoc, referring to his team allowing Neoga a big offensive run to end the half. "We turned the ball over six or seven times in that stretch. Sometimes you can get away with that but most times you can't. Overall it was a lucky one for us."

Neoga had the look of a winner in the first few minutes of the second half.

An impressive 17-2 splurge, coupled with the end of the half 10-2 jaunt, put Neoga in command.

Back door cuts, transition baskets off of Maroon turnovers and good fundamental offensive sets produced this fine run.

Massengill scored ten of the third quarter points for Neoga. His final bucket in the scoring brigade on a midrange jumper from the left baseline made the score at 43-33 Indians with 2:33 left.

It is difficult for any club to recover from a 27-4 onslaught, but on this night Dieterich did just that.

With the urgency at hand, the Maroons responded like a club on a 16-game winning streak.

Trailing 46-35 after a 3-pointer by Neoga's Zach Braden, Dieterich rattled off seven straight points with the biggest three coming on a 'trey' from the left corner by sophomore reserve Brock Teichmiller.

A Bobby Niemerg basket after a Neoga turnover cut the lead down to 46-42 with under a minute to go in the stanza. Massengill dropped in a rebound basket with just second's left, ending the third period at 48-42.

"Braden picked up his fourth foul and we had to take him out late in the third quarter and that kind of stopped our run," added Hanson. "He is our main offense threat and leader on the floor and when he isn't out there we can struggle."

Massengill scored the first four points of the final quarter on a basket and then a pair of free throws at the 7:00 mark, which gave the Indians a seemingly comfortable lead of 52-42.

But like the awakening of a sleeping giant, Westendorf was up for the challenge.

He scored 11-points in the fourth quarter, mostly on shots in close as the Maroons' offense was clearly aiming in his direction.

"They (Neoga) built their lead up and had a chance to put us away," added VanScyoc. "But then they started coughing the ball up and we started understanding where the ball needed to go. We kept battling and got the game tied and sent it into overtime."

A spin move in the lane, a inbound lob pass and an in close shot from the right blocks were three of the ways Westendorf produced points in the fourth quarter. His shot at 1:31 cut the Indians lead to 54-53
All the while, Neoga was desperately trying to hold on.

Missing eight free throws in a game most of the time isn't a big crisis. But when you miss four of them in the fourth quarter, including three in the final 1:23 of regulation, problems can occur when trying to hold on to a lead.

That is exactly the scenario that happened to the Indians.

Erik Walk and Braden could have put the game out of reach.

But both of these kids hit just 1-of-2 in their individual trips to the line.
When Braden missed the front end of a two-shot excursion, Dieterich had a life.

After the Braden made free throw in his second try, the Maroons worked the ball to Westendorf, whose shot from underneath the basket misfired.

However he wouldn't be denied on the follow up as his shot banked home with :00.2 left.

After a pair of timeouts Neoga couldn't get off a shot before the regulation buzzer making a need for overtime to decide the winner.

Neoga struck first in the OT on a back door basket by Zumbahlen on a pass from Braden.

As it turned out, it would be the last offensive stat for Braden, as he would pick up his fifth personal on a blocking foul the next trip down the floor.

Two made free throws by Dieterich's Brock Lidy was the result for yet another tie.

Neoga's last hurrah came on back-to-back baskets by Alex and Erik Walk.

When Erik scored on a drive past Bobby Niemerg, Neoga had a 64-60 lead.

However after Westendorf canned a pair of free throws, Neoga again found difficulty at the foul line.

Massengill hit just one of his two attempts with :57.4 left on the fifth foul by B. Niemerg.

But while his brother was on the bench, Craig Niemerg stepped up and hit on a shot in the lane to cut the lead down to a single point.

A turnover by Neoga in the closing seconds set up Westendorf for his game winner and defensive stand.

"I am extremely proud of the kids, they held their composure out there tonight in the overtime," added VanScyoc. "We got down early in the overtime but we were able to battle back and get the victory at the end."
Dieterich got 16-points from Bobby Niemerg to go with Westendorf's 26.

The Maroons shot the ball well from the field, connecting on 24-of-47 attempts overall (51 percent) with 4-of-9 from behind the 3-point line. They held a 32-23 rebounding edge but the Maroons' 20-turnovers is not something that Coach VanScyoc takes lightly.

"We are still turning the ball over too much right now," said VanScyoc, referring to his clubs' 20 miscues Tuesday night. "If we turn the ball over that much in the postseason, it won't be pretty. We got a bit lucky tonight but I think we are heading in the right direction with what we are trying to accomplish in the postseason. We got some things to work in trying to get Cliff the ball and Niemerg and some of the others made some good passes. We haven't been very good at doing those things lately and it is nice to start seeing that come out."

Neoga came out of its shooting funk from the early going and got its percentage up a bit, finishing the game at 26-of-63 (41 percent) and 3-of-10 from downtown.

But Coach Hanson knows what phases of the game that his team must improve upon.

"I was disappointed because when we made our run in the third quarter and at the end of the second quarter we were doing the things that we can do, which is getting the ball in the right hands of the right people and also playing good defense," said Hanson. "Later on we settled for some bad shots and then some guys tried to do some things that they are not capable of doing. We're not going to be a very good team when that happens. We played our butts off to get back into the game and hopefully we can take that as a positive."

	1	2	3	4	OT		Final
Neoga	8	18	22	8	9	-	65
Dieterich	15	16	11	11	10	-	66

Neoga (65) - Massengill 9 0 4-7 22, E. Walk 4 0 3-5 11, Ewing 0 0 0-0 0, Ballinger 0 1 0-0 3, 1 0 0-1 2, A. Walk 1 0 0-0 2, Braden 2 2 1-3 11, Zumbahlen 6 0 2-2 14.
2FG-23, 3FG- 3, FT-10-18, PF-18
Dieterich (66) - Westendorf 11 0 4-5 26, B. Niemerg 5 0 6-6 16, C. Niemerg 2 0 0-1 4, Pickens 0 1 0-0 3, Lidy 1 1 2-2 7, B. Wright 1 0 0-0 2, Teichmiller 0 2 2-2 8, Wendling 0 0 0-0 0, Zumbahlen 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-20, 3FG-4, FT-14-16, PF-20.