12-28-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - As a freshman at Anna-Jonesboro at the 2002 Eldorado Holiday Tournament, Jimmy Drew came off of the bench for his father's team and hit a big 3-pointer to send the championship contest between A-J and Massac County into overtime.

The Patriots eventually won the game 44-39.

On Wednesday night in the 2005 title game, Drew didn't need any late heroics.

This 6-foot-5 senior leader netted a game-high 21-points as the Wildcats won the school's second Eldorado title with a convincing 52-30 win at Duff/Kingston Gymnasium.

Hitting for four 3-pointers in the game, two of which were from NBA distance, Drew made sure that the Wildcats' title run would be a successful one.

Teammate Ramehl Macon tallied 15-points on the night as A-J improved its record to 11-2 on the 2005-06 season.

"We are very proud to have won one of the best, historic tournaments in the state tonight," said head coach Jim Drew, who has watched his son blossom into one of the area's best. "This tournament provides great atmosphere and a great experience for our kids."

Massac County, in search of its seventh EHT crown under coach Joe Hosman, trailed nearly the entire game as it saw its record slip to 9-4.

Mason Jacobs was one of the lone bright spots for the Patriots as he put up 14-points to represent the only Massac player to reach double-digits.

"Over the last probably five or six games we came a long way in getting better. But tonight we took a step backward," said Massac County head coach Joe Hosman. "We didn't compete very well and didn’t get any production from other kids, other than Jacobs."

Jumping out to early leads in each of its four victories, the Wildcats trailed only once in the contest.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Jacobs gave the Pats a 6-3 advantage with 5:31 remaining in the opening quarter.

However, as was the case for most of the evening, A-J had little trouble dissecting Massac's 2-3 zone defense.

"We had struggled getting out of the blocks before this tournament and we made an effort this week to get our kids warmed up better to start the games," explained Drew on his clubs' four game run in which it took early scoring advantages.

The young Drew, who was accustomed to getting off early offensively in this event, shined in the title tilt.

After teammates Keith Bass and Chris Hand hit early 3-pointers, Drew stroked his first 'trifecta' of the night from the right wing NBA-style to force a Massac County timeout with 2:27 to go.

The Wildcats missed seven 3-pointers in the opening quarter.

But Massac County was unable to capitalize because of five early turnovers.

Although the quarter ended at 11-6, the writing was on the wall early for the Patriots' night.

Unable to make any headway stopping the A-J offensive barrage, coach Hosman's club watched Drew and Co. roll off to a second quarter 13-0 run to take control of the championship game.

Drew hammered home seven points in the frame on two more 3-pointers from somewhere outside of Raleigh in Saline County and 1-of-2 free throws.

A David Sanders back door lay in on a pass from Macon and another 3-pointer from Bass on a skip pass from Drew turned the game into a rout in a hurry at 25-12 at 2:50 before intermission.

Jacobs, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, tried to keep his club within striking distance scoring twice more in the final moments before halftime on two rebound baskets.

His second offensive rebound score on a baseline shot closed the half at 29-18 A-J.

However Jacobs was shutout after the break and the Massac offense was shutdown.

Spreading the floor in the final two quarters, Anna-Jonesboro got many open looks at the basket.

Macon, one of the quickest point guards in Little Egypt, scored eight of his points on drives to the basket.

His steal and lay in opened the second half flurry for A-J. The scoring spree ended with an additional backdoor score from Sanders courtesy of another Drew assist at 38-20 at the 2:58 mark.

Six-foot-five senior Michael Vanvleet, who had averaged double-figures in the tournament, got just a single basket on a shot in the lane late in the third quarter.

Patriot teammate Brandon Logeman hit a pair of free throws with 1:31 to go to close the third quarter at 38-24 Anna-Jonesboro.

Following a Landon Bremer rebound basket for Massac County early in the fourth quarter that whittled the A-J lead to 41-28; the Wildcats sealed the title game triumph with nine-consecutive points.

Seven of the points came from the foul line.

Following a foul of Macon by Jamareo Thomas, the 6-foot Massac sophomore was whistled for a technical foul.

Macon and Drew combined to nail four-straight free throws representing four nails in the championship game coffin.

Drew rebounded his own miss for the games final score as A-J could celebrate a three-day, four game run to the crown.

"I know he is my son but I think he is one of the best kids I have ever coached," added Drew, who coached some good ones over the years at Springfield Calvary and Sacred Heart-Griffith. "He does a lot of different things for us other than just score. I am so proud of this group. My kids have worked hard to get where they are now and we are looking forward to the second half of the season."

After Drew and Macon, Anna-Jonesboro received scoring help from Bass with eight points to go with four points each from Sanders and Hand.

Massac County had four points from Thomas and two points each from six other Patriots.

Anna-Jonesboro shot 15-of-37 from the field for the contest (41 percent) and were just 7-of-22 from behind the 3-point line.

But they held Massac County in check, as Coach Hosman's club was just 13-of-44 overall and a paltry 2-of-18 from behind the arc.

A-J took care of the ball with just three turnovers in the first 30-minutes of the game. Four late turnovers by the mop up crew added up to seven for the contest.

The Wildcats held a slight 29-28 rebounding total and were successful 15-of-20 times from the foul line.

The Patriots had just 10 turnovers, but five were critical in the opening eight minutes.

"We ran into some gimmick defenses this week but our other kids kept them (opponents) honest by hitting some big shots," added Drew, whose team added the EHT title to the Champaign St. Thomas More Thanksgiving championship this season. "Chris Hand, David Sanders and Keith Bass were all unsung heroes for us in the four wins."

Massac County lost for the first time in a EHT title game after winning its previous five championship games.

"Drew and Macon were the best two players in the tournament and their other kids played their roles well," added Hosman. "We play a pretty good zone defense but we don't have the ability to play from very far behind."

	1	2	3	4		Final
Anna-Jonesboro	11	18	9	14	-	52
Massac County	6	12	6	6	-	30

Anna-Jonesboro (52) - Drew 1 4 7-8 21, Macon 4 0 7-8 15, Hand 1 1-2 4, Bass 1 2 0-0 8, Sanders 2 0 0-2 4, Pengress 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-7, FT-15-20, PF-9.
Massac County (30) - Thomas 2 0 0-1 4, Mason Jacobs 4 2 0-1 14, Vanvleet 1 0 0-0 2, Bremer 1 0 0-0 2, Murdock 1 0 0-2 2, Matt Jacobs 1 0 0-0 2, Logeman 0 0 2-2 2, McClellan 0 0 0-0 0, Adamson 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-11, 3FG-2, FT-2-6, PF-16.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - Thomas, Massac County.

ELDORADO 59, HAMILTON COUNTY 53
The host Eagles used 20-points from Ryan Frailey and 14-points from Daniel Etienne in holding off the Foxes in the third place game. Jonathan Smith chipped home 11 in the Eldorado (11-3) victory.

Hamilton County closed out its week with a 2-2 mark at the EHT having entered the event winless.

The Foxes (2-6) got 20-points from Cedrick Graham and 18 from Dustin Walls in the defeat.

Frailey, Etienne and Graham were named to the ten-player all-tournament team.

WEST FRANKFORT 61, CARMI-WHITE COUNTY 47
The Redbirds, who were the top seed and two-time defending champion, won their final two games of the day to take home fifth place honors.

Twenty-six points from Keith Brown highlighted the game for coach Kevin Toney's squad who saw their record improve to 8-4 on the season.

CWC got 17-points from Tyler Choate and 12-points from Mark Healy in the loss for the Bulldogs (9-3) who were one of the favorites heading into the tourney.

West Frankfort's Isaiah Simelton and Choate were named all-tournament.

FAIRFIELD 60, BENTON 46
The Mules spoiled the Rangers' attempt at winning a third consecutive EHT consolation championship as Todd West scored 19-points for Fairfield in the title game win.

Jordan Orr scored 16-points and Jordan Cessna added 12 for coach Scott McElravy's club that improved to 7-5 on the season.

Benton (8-4) got 17-points from Seiger Shurtz and eight points from Todd Browning in the loss.

The Eldorado Holiday All-Tournament Team consisted of:
Jimmy Drew (MVP) Anna-Jonesboro; Ramehl Macon, Anna-Jonesboro; Cliff Ford, Harrisburg; Nathaniel Mitchell, Carrier Mills; Isaiah Simelton, West Frankfort; Ryan Frailey and Daniel Etienne, Eldorado; Todd West, Fairfield; Landon Bremer, Massac County and Cedrick Graham, Hamilton County.
Benton's Seiger Shurtz was named the Duff/Kingston Sportsmanship Award winner for the 2005 EHT.