11-24-17
BY JACK BULLOCK
VIENNA – In a basketball you don't want this to happen to you, ever.

It is sometimes referred to as the “turnover bug.”

At some point in time every team catches it. It can either be self inflicted or it can be forced upon your team.

In any case, it isn't the sort of virus that you want your club to have to deal with at anytime.

On Friday night against Eldorado, the Cobden Appleknockers got the 32-minute strain of the bug and there was no cure for this problem.

In other words, the Appleknockers had a lot of issues taking care of the basketball in a battle of undefeated teams at the 19th annual Vienna “The Classic” Thanksgiving Tournament.

Coach Rhett Barke saw his troops commit a whopping 25-turnovers, many of which turned into Eldorado points as Cobden fell to 3-1 on the campaign with a 64-40 defeat in the second game on Friday night.

“Because of the turnovers it slowly got away from us tonight. You can't do that (turnovers) against good teams like Eldorado,” said Coach Barke. “I told the kids, we lost the game but we didn't lose if we learned from it. We certainly learned how to play physical and how to play against length. I don't think we will see any teams in 1A that will be quite that size. Five games in six games is good for us.”

The undefeated Eagles not only forced many of the Cobden miscues, they were also dominant on the boards, grabbing a 31-rebounds with 16 coming on the offensive glass.

When you can hit the glass that often, it can make up for some shooting problems, which the Eagles had on this night.

Coach Josh Bradley's squad was just 22-of-58 overall from the floor but many of the made baskets came on second, and even third, chance points as Eldorado is now a win away from their second consecutive Vienna tournament championship and 5-0 start for the second time in as many seasons.

Six-foot-four senior forward Braden Attebury scored 25-points and took down a game-best 13-rebounds in the win on Friday night.

A real matchup problem for Cobden on this night, Attebury hit a pair of 3-pointers to go with his ability to get to the rim, especially on the offensive boards.

Six-foot-three senior guard John Meredith added 17-points to the totals for the Eagles while 6-foot-3 junior Joe Mayberry added 10.

“It's the two things we preach everyday at practice; defense and rebounding. We have to use our strength and we have to use our athleticism. And when we do that we have a chance to win every ballgame,” said Coach Bradley. “They (Cobden) are a very good basketball team and I think that they are going to cause a lot of problems in 1A. They don't get the credit that they deserve. They have some really good young players.”

The Appleknockers shot the ball pretty well on the night, hitting 15-of-34 attempts (44.1 percent) but the turnovers and not being able to keep Eldorado out of the paint and off the glass.

Joe Brumleve, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, was the only Appleknocker in double-digits in scoring as he led the team with 10-points.

Senior guard Clayton Eck added seven and freshman Noah Franklin and senior John Russell added five.

The turnover bug that was caught by Cobden wasn't the gradual kind. It hit the Appleknockers right from the beginning of the contest.

The Eagles jumped out to an 18-8 first quarter advantage by forcing Cobden to five first quarter turnovers and just 2-of-8 shooting from the floor.

Eldorado also began their onslaught on the boards, picking up a a couple of offensive put backs, one each by Attebury and Meredith.

Meredith's rebound bucket gave Eldorado an 11-4 lead with 3:32 left in the opening quarter.

Points on consecutive trips from Mayberry on a 3-pointer from the right wing and a pair of free throws ended the frame with Eldorado up by 10.

Cobden did manage to make things interesting at the start of the second quarter.

A transition score from Franklin and a Russell 3-pointer from the top of the circle cut the Eldorado lead to just five at 18-13.

However Eldorado closed the quarter on a 15-4 run to take a 33-17 lead to intermission.

Coach Bradley's bunch delivered six consecutive free throws while Attebury hit a 3-pointer from the right wing that triggered the second quarter run.

“We do this every night. If they put a big kid on him, he plays out on the floor; if they put a small kid on him we take him in the post,” said Coach Bradley about Attebury. “We try to make you have to decide how you want to guard him. He is a mismatch for teams to deal with.”

He added two more scores in the paint as Eldorado was in command with a 16-point spread at the half.

During a 10-2 run in the second quarter, the Eagles took full advantage of more turnovers by the Appleknockers.

Scoring a pair of baskets in the lane by senior Jacob Traxler and another offensive rebound score by Meredith was sandwiched around a steal by Attebury who fed senior guard Ray May for a fast break.

The 6-foot-3 guard sprinted to the goal for a slam dunk, one of three fast break scores off of turnovers in a third quarter stretch in which there were six more offensive rebounds and seven total Cobden turnovers.

When Traxler hit two free throws at the 4:30 mark, Eldorado led 46-22.

Attebury put an exclamation point on the stanza with a conventional three-point play, pushing the lead to 54-33.

Six more turnovers in the fourth quarter led to four more Eldorado baskets.

Attebury finished off his night with a pair of free throws and yet another offensive rebound score before both coaches emptied the benches.

The Eagles were not only dominant on the glass, there defense was spot on for most of the night as they haven't really been challenged in this event with four lopsided victories.

“We took care of the basketball tonight. We only had seven turnovers and our guards have played very well in this tournament. That is the biggest thing that we have been happy about in this tournament. Last year it was all about our post players but if our guards keep playing well, then Attebury and Traxler are going to get more one-on-one opportunities in the paint and that bodes well for our basketball team,” said Coach Bradley.

A win over the host Eagles on Saturday night will be the 10th straight win in two seasons at the tournament.

Cobden will play South Egyptian Conference rival Century in the second game on Saturday night at 7 pm while Greater Egyptian Conference clubs Carrier Mills and Galatia will hook up in game one at 5:30 pm.

“I won't be surprised to see them in the supersectional in 2A, they are that good,” said Coach Barke. “They are a well coached team; they are a big team; they have kids that can come off of the bench. We knew we were going to be a matchup issue for them to a degree, but strength-wise they were a bit much for us and their length caused us to make some passes we normally wouldn't make.”

VIENNA 75, CARRIER MILLS 36
The host Eagles improved to 3-1 on the season as well as the tournament with the win over the Wildcats.

Coach Cory Waters saw 11 different Vienna players score in the route.

Six-foot-three junior forward Gabe Snell tossed in 12-points to lead the scoring for the Eagles while junior Dalton Byrd, also 6-foot-3, added nine.

Four Vienna players (Lane Ross, Kyle VanCleve, Matthew Naese, and Zane Hutchison) each scored eight-points.

Carrier Mills (0-4) was topped by 14-point from senior Andrew Lollis.

Coach Keil Peebles got nine-points from senior Billy Lewis.

CENTURY 81, GALATIA 75
In the closest game of the evening, the Centurions outscored the Bearcats 23-18 in the fourth quarter to improve to 2-2 on the season and in the event.

Coach Jerry Johnson saw his club get ballanced scoring with three players in double-figures.

Senior guard Marcus Davis netter 22-points while senior forward Colin Ryan added 17.

Cason Hight tossed home 16-points for the Centurrions as they took advantage of the Bearcats' issues on the night.

Galatia (0-4) got a game-high 30-points from senior guard Austin Stevens in defeat.

Stevens canned 15-of-18 from the foul line.

However Coach Rod Wallace saw his club hit just 19-of-34 free throws as a team.