11-23-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHRISTOPHER – The Thompsonville Tigers wanted to be very patient with their offensive possessions on Friday night against Egyptian in the semifinals of the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament.

And this strategy worked for nearly a quarter and a half of basketball.

But like so many other teams trying to snatch victory from the hands of defeat by being deliberate against quicker teams, what the Tigers did was just delay the inevitable.

Using a quickness advantage and 23-points by potential first team all-stater Devantae Price, the Pharaohs stayed undefeated at 2-0 and are a win away from defending their tournament championship from a year ago with a 54-36 win.

Thompsonville shot the ball well (16-of-32 overall) and did a decent job of keeping the tempo down.

However 21-turnovers spelled doom for the Tigers (1-1) as the Pharaohs turned most of those miscues into points.

Coach Matt Mandrell's club closed the second quarter on an 8-0 run, which turned into a 17-1 sprint in the second half.

By the time the dust had settled at the end of the third quarter, the Pharaohs were in command 34-16.

“I figured that they (Thompsonville) would (slow it down) with their personnel and they did a good job,” said Coach Mandrell. “Fortunately this year we play a little bit better man defense than we have in the past. I thought our kids did what they needed to do to get to the title game.”

Thompsonville won the opening tap and passed the ball around for a minute before scoring on a backdoor lay in by Lance Darnell at the 7:00 mark.

It took Egyptian a while to get on track.

A steal and fast break lay in by Price got the game tied at 4-4 with just over a minute left in the quarter.

Thompsonville senior guard and three-year starter Brady Householder connected on three 3-pointers on the night and his first one with :51 remaining ended the scoring of the first quarter at 7-4 Tigers.

Everything at that moment was going as planned for Coach Brandon Chaplain's club.

But Egyptian warmed up in a hurry in the second stanza by hurrying up their opposition.

The 6-foot senior Price scored on a drive to the basket that turned into a conventional three point play.

On the next Tigers' possession, Egyptian's Justin Prewitt stole an inbounds pass and sprinted coast-to-coast for a lay in for the first lead of the night for his team at 9-7.

The final tie of the game came on a Lance Darnell bucket with 5:56 to go. Darnell led the Tigers with 19-points on the night.

Thompsonville at this point began to turn the ball over against a now extended Pharaohs' defense.

Prewitt scored on a rebound basket and then three consecutive transition scores off of Thompsonville errors gave Egyptian its halftime edge.

“I thought for the first quarter and a half we went with the game plan pretty well. But we got tired a little bit and made some silly mistakes,” said Coach Chaplain. “It snowballed after that but I'm really proud of our effort. We prepped really hard for this game and bought into the game-plan. Even with the loss I think this was definitely a growing experience.”

Teammates Jeromy Turner and Alex McCrite got into the fun with McCrite scoring on consecutive fast breaks to close out the second quarter.

Price scored six of his points during the third quarter with two of those baskets coming on fast breaks.

McCrite added another steal and fastbreak for an 18-point advantage heading into the final quarter.

“For us to be successful we have to get transition baskets because we aren't a great shooting team,” Mandrell explained. “But we got enough shots to fall tonight. We have some guys are active on the glass (McCrite, Turner) and they get a put back or two and can score in transition.”

Turner scored on a rebound basket and when he made 1-of-2 foul shots with 3:29 to play, the Pharaohs had their biggest lead at 44-22.

Householder nailed a couple of 3-pointers late in the game but Price hit six consecutive free throws (9-of-9 for the contest) to deliver the victory and the spot on Saturday night's title game against Waltonville.

“I thought overall defensively our kids did a good job. We kept moving and we weren't giving up easy shots,” added Coach Mandrell. “Defensively we made them work hard. It got to the point that they (Thompsonville) weren't attacking, they were just passing it around. Eventually we are quick enough that we will get a deflection. And we didn't give them a lot of second shots when they did shoot.”

In a contrast of feast of famine, the Pharaohs were very good around the basket but struggled far away from the goal.

Egyptian finished 21-of-32 (66 percent) on two-point shots. However they were 0-of-10 from behind the arc, dropping the shooting night to 50 percent.

Coach Mandrell's club held a 24-16 rebounding edge and handled the ball well, having committed just eight turnovers.

Householder hit all three of his 3-point shots and the Tigers were 6-of-9 from behind the arc and 10-of-23 in close.

Following Price's 23-points, Prewitt added 16-points with McCrite and Turner chipping in eight and six.

The Pharaohs will play the Spartans on Saturday night at 7:30 in the title tilt, a Waltonville team that has impressed Egyptian's mentor.

“I'm very impressed with that team (Waltonville) I saw them twice and when you have a kid 6-foot-6 who can dribble the ball and shoot 3's and go inside, that will cause a lot of problems,” finalized Coach Mandrell. “The Witges kid is outstanding, too. That is a great 'one-two punch' and their other kids know their roles. It is going to be a very tough game tomorrow.”

The Tigers will hook up with the host Bearcats at 6 pm.

“We are getting tough inside. They (big kids) are working hard, they hit the weights and are being tough,” said Coach Chaplain. “Price and Prewitt are phenomenal athletes and they are tough to deal with.”

The final day will open with Wayne City and Webber Township in the seventh place game at 3 pm followed by the consolation championship game between Cobden and Zeigler-Royalton.

Egyptian (54) – McCrite 4 0 0-0 8, Grueninger 0 0 0-0 0, Woodson 0 0 1-2 1, Turner 2 0 2-4 6, Price 7 0 9-9 23, Prewitt 8 0 0-0 16, Murphy 0 0 0-0 0, Pollard 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-21, 3FG-0, FT-12-15, PF-15.
Thompsonville (36) – Householder 0 3 0-0 9, R. Darnell 0 0 2-4 2, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Payne 0 0 0-0 0, Henson 2 0 2-2 6, L. Darnell 8 0 3-6 19.
2FG-12, 3FG-3, FT-7-12, PF-12.
Fouled Out – Turner, Egyptian; Henson, Thompsonville.
Technical Fouls – None.

Coach Matt Morgan's crew held off a rally by WT in the final minutes.

The Trojans got to within 51-49 with two minutes left, but then missed four consecutive shots.

Zeigler-Royalton's Jeffrey Pedigo hit a pair of free throws and Andrew Reece connected on 1-of-2 with :05.5 to play.

Webber Township guard Koalton Dye drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the margin to two.

Ty Henderson, a 6-foot-7 senior, led the Trojans (0-2) and all scorers with 22-points while Greg O'Dell chipped in nine points. Dye netted seven for Coach Chad Harper's club who will play Midland Trail Conference rival Wayne City Saturday afternoon.

Zeigler-Royalton won its first game of the season, thanks to Brandon Jones who put in 12-points.

Nick McPhail and Jeremy Weddle each scored nine points in the triumph.

Zeigler-Royalton (54) – McPhail 4 0 1-3 9, Moskoff 2 1 0-0 7, Stubblefield 1 0 0-0 2, Weddle 0 3 0-0 9, Pedigo 1 1 2-2 7, Reece 2 0 2-5 6, Brooks 1 0 0-0 2, Jones 5 0 2-4 12.
2FG-16, 3FG-5, FT-7-14, PF-21.
Webber Township (52) – Austin 0 1 2-2 5, O'Dell 2 0 5-10 9, Welch 0 0 0-0 0, Dye 2 1 2-4 7, Henderson 8 0 6-6 22, Hammer 0 0 0-0 0, Moser 0 0 0-0 0, Dickey 2 0 0-0 4, Lynn 0 0 0-0 0, Aydt 1 0 1-1 3.
2FG-15, 3FG-2, FT-16-24, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Moskoff, Stubblefield - Zeigler-Royalton.
Technical Fouls – Moskoff, Zeigler-Royalton.