11-27-04
BY JACK BULLOCK
EFFINGHAM - Last season the Dieterich Movin' Maroons finished 25-3 and advanced to the semifinals of the Effingham St. Anthony regional, losing an overtime decision to the host Bulldogs.

The Maroons have already lost more games (4) than they did during the entire 2003-04 season.

However don't expect head coach Jamie VanScyoc to complain too much about this year's start.

With losses to Flora, Charleston, Vandalia and Taylorville in the first four games of the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament, Dieterich saved its best game of the week for the rematch of its final loss last February.

Dieterich rode the hot hand of junior Cliff Westendorf, who had a career-high 32-points in the Maroons' 73-63 revenge victory over St. A.

Finishing 1-4 in a Thanksgiving event to start the season might not sit well with most coaches, but VanScyoc sees the tournament as a strength heading into the remainder of the Dieterich schedule.

"The first four games (and tonight) taught my kids a lot this week," said VanScyoc. "It is really good for us to get into this tournament with this level of competition. It is just going to make us that much better come regional time."

With the way that they played against St. Anthony, if the Maroons do get better they will be tough to handle in February.

Saturday night, when St. Anthony made offensive runs at Dieterich, Coach VanScyoc's team had all the right answers.

The first quarter set the tone for this fast paced game with seven lead changes and four ties.
With both teams pressing and running the floor, when a team broke the press it made the other team pay dearly.

Westendorf got the game off to a roaring start with a two-handed fast break slam-dunk to give the Maroons an early 4-2 lead.

Balanced scoring was a key in the game with seven different Dieterich players scoring in the first half alone.

Coach VanScyoc got six points from his bench in the first quarter. Senior Aaron Flach (4) and sophomore (2) each contributed in the early going.

But while Dieterich was going inside to Westendorf and senior center Nick Fearday, St. Anthony was dialing long distance early, using Jordan Koerner, Chris Bohnoff and Matt Dasenbrock as it's 'carriers.'

After Dieterich broke a 4-all tie with a pair of baskets by Brad Niemerg and Westendorf, Dasenbrock drained a 3-pointer from the left side to cut the lead to 8-7 with 5:06 left in the quarter.

After Koerner and Westendorf traded buckets, Koerner hit both of his 3-pont bombs on consecutive Bulldog possessions.

His second one gave St. Anthony back the lead at 15-12.

Bohnoff's first quarter 'trifecta' came from the right corner, giving St. Anthony back the lead at 19-16.

The hectic first period ended with Bulldog reserve Mike Meers scoring his only two points of the night on an offensive rebound off a Bohnoff miss making it 21-18 St. Anthony at the first horn.

Dieterich made its first big run of the night to open the second quarter.

The Maroons scored eight of the quarter's first ten points.

Chad Nosbisch scored on a drive to the basket open things up.

Then a transition basket by Jay Ohnesorge gave the Maroons back the lead at 22-21.

For different players scored the next four baskets for Dieterich.

Ohnesorge scored on a fast break lay in; Westendorf hit a spinning shot in the lane followed by another shot in the paint by Nosbisch.

A shot from in close by Fearday closed out the run at 28-23 Dieterich, which prompted a timeout by St. Anthony coach Mike Wilson at the 5:26 mark.

As quickly as the Dieterich lead came about, it disappeared just as fast.

The Bulldogs' Doug Wohltman got in the scoring act, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in his personal eight-point run.

The second 'trey' gave the North Siders back the lead at 31-28.

The back and forth trend continued with Westendorf and Nosbisch scoring five straight points on a shot in the lane and a 3-pointer respectively, pushing the Maroons back up 33-31.

St. Anthony's reserves Matt Koester and Bohnoff combined for three made free throws. Bohnoff's pair with :04.9 seconds closed the half at 34-33 St. Anthony.

Whereas Dieterich was the quickest to start the second quarter, St. A was the first out of the gate in the second half as they sprinted out to an early advantage that they kept for most of the third quarter.

Matt Dust got on the board for the first time in the game for St. Anthony with a pair of baskets.

His 10-footer gave the Bulldogs 36-33 lead just seconds into the second half.

Both of these teams on this night proved that they have kids that can produce off of the bench.

Josh Baker 'sprang' off of the St. Anthony pine to help out with six third quarter points.

Baker and Dasenbrock each scored seconds apart to increase the St. A advantage.

After Westendorf answered with another 'in close' basket, Wohltman hit his third 3-pointer of the night to give his Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 43-37 with 5:55 left in the frame.

But with most games of spurts like this one, Dieterich came roaring back right away.

A quick 7-2 run by Westendorf and Ohnesorge sandwiched around a Koerner basket crept the Maroons to within a point at 45-44.

Yet another 3-pointer from Bohnoff, this time from the right wing, left the score at 48-44 Bulldogs.

St. Anthony matched its earlier six-point bulge with Baker and Dust hitting shots to make it 52-46.

But like a superb prizefighter that was staggered early in a round, Dieterich came off of the ropes to finish the round with a bang. It's 10-2 run to finalize the third quarter had six points from Westendorf as he began to wear down the St. Anthony interior defense.

"When St. Anthony put on a run, we answered right back each time," added VanScyoc. "This group has been together for a lot of years and nothing really surprises them anymore."

When Westendorf hit his spinning shot in the paint to end the quarter, Dieterich had another lift leading 56-54 heading into the fourth.

Another basket by Koerner to open the final quarter evened the score for the last time at 56-all with 7:39 to play.

Reserve Brock Mellendorf came off of the Maroons bench and made the most of his time on the floor, answering the Koerner basket with a 3-pointer from the left corner to give Dieterich back the lead for good at 59-56.

Westendorf's great game got even greater in the final minutes.
He scored eight straight points, including a conventional 3-point play after being fouled by Dust with 2:56 to go.

His final points of the streak and the game came on a pair of free throws with 1:45 left to stretch the Dieterich advantage to 69-61.

Although the Bulldogs had several chances to cut into the lead, they managed just a final basket on a lay in by Koerner.

Four free throws on eight attempts was just good enough to give Coach VanScyoc's team its first win of the season and a huge win overall against a long-standing basketball power.

"Our guards do a nice job of seeing when our big guys are open and then getting them the ball in situations where they can score," VanScyoc said. "We finally got everything together and the team chemistry really showed tonight."

After Westendorf's 32-points, Ohnesorge added 13-points.

Eight different Maroons lit the scoreboard. Nosbisch scored nine points while Fearday chipped in eight. Flach and Mellendorf provided four and three points respectively.

St. Anthony (2-3) had three players hit double-figures.

Koerner scored 16 to lead the Bulldogs while Wohltman and Baker finished with 13 and 10.

The St. Anthony All-Tourney team consisted of Lucas Benning and Eric Hobbie of Vandalia; Lucas Stanford and Derek Caswell of Flora; Doug Wohltman of St. Anthony; Cliff Westendorf of Dieterich; Chase Cocagne of Taylorville; and Brandon Reid, Jason Murphy and Andrew Shick of Charleston.

CHARLESTON 70, FLORA 68 OT
The Trojans won the St. Anthony Tourney with an overtime win over the Wolves.

Jason Murphy topped Charleston in the win with 22-points, including a big basket in the extra session.

Brad Reid added 18-points while Andrew Shick rounded out the Trojans' trio of double-digit scorers with 16.

Flora (3-2) was paced by Luke Stanford and Blaine Headlee with 16-each while Matt Henson and Tyler McGrew finished with 14 and 13.

Charleston's Dane Church scored on a 3-point play in the overtime to help put his team over the top.

Flora (68) - Caswell 3 1 0-0 9, Stanford 3 2 4-6 16, Headlee 0 5 1-2 16, McGrew 4 1 2-5 13, Cartright 6 0 2-4 14.
2FG-16, 3FG-9, FT-9-17, PF-19
Charleston (78) - Church 1 1 1-3 6, Murphy 7 2 2-4 22, Peterlich 0 1 0-1 3, Reid 6 1 3-4 18, Schaljo 2 0 1-3 5, Shick 5 1 3-4 16.
2FG-21, 3FG-6, FT-10-19, PF-16.
Fouled Out - Caswell, Flora.
Technical Fouls - None.

TAYLORVILLE 65, VANDALIA 55
The Tornadoes built a lead and then held off the Vandals in the Saturday night opener.

Chase Cocagne was the top scorer for Taylorville with 16-points while teammates Kyle Hempen and Jaris Wommack added 11 and 10.

Senior guard Bryan Hobbie was the leading scorer for coach Brian Kern's Vandalia club with 19-points.

His sophomore brother Eric Hobbie pitch home 11-points while Lucas Benning had 10.

Vandalia made a furious comeback with four fourth quarter 3-pointers, three of which came from Bryan Hobbie.