12-21-08
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - The Eldorado Eagles are serving notice around Southern Illinois that they are going to be tough to deal with in the next few months of the 2007-08 basketball season.

The Hamilton County Foxes can attest to that statement.

Led by Isaiah Cunningham with 27 points and teammate Dallas Robinson adding 25 – the Eagles soared past Ham Co. 80-51 in a tune-up for the upcoming Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

Head coach Greg Goodley saw his team improve to 10-0 with the triumph.

The Eagles defense forced head coach Curt Reed's team into 26 turnovers - including seven in the opening quarter as the tone was set for the entire contest.

Eldorado's Cody Lane added 11 points for Eldorado and he had nearly half of his team's 13 steals.

While keeping Hamilton County from setting the pace of the game – Eldorado sprinted out to a 10-4 first quarter advantage and never looked back while improving to 3-0 in the Black Diamond Conference East Division.

“We have spent a lot of time working on keeping teams from penetrating to the basket and tonight we did a good job of that,” said Goodley. “We did a good job of rotating and keeping them (Hamilton County) from getting easy looks. (Jordan) Williams did a good job defending in the lane. Our big guys do a good job in the paint. We did a lot of things well tonight.”

Cunningham was unstoppable on this night – hitting 10-of-11 shots from the field and all five of his free throws. His one miss was on a shot in the lane that was deflected.

“The compliment goes to him (Cunningham) as an individual. He has improved his game and when I told him during the summer that I was going to move him outside he said 'Coach, I'll play where ever you want me to' and that is a plus if you have players that just want to play the game,” added Goodley. “Kids around the area that are good basketball players can do it all.”

Hamilton County saw its record dip to 3-6 on the season – 0-2 in the BDC East.

Seth Thomas scored 10 points for the Foxes in a game that was decided early in the second quarter.

Hamilton County turned the ball over seven times in the first eight minutes of the contest and Cunningham was the main benefactor.

The 6-foot-4 junior guard/forward scored six points in that opening stanza.

A spin move in the lane with 5:11 to go were the first points for the Eagles - tying the game at 2-2.

He would score two more times in the frame – once on an assist from Lane and again on a nice baseline drive to finish the quarter at 10-4 Eagles.

The Foxes only real scoring move came at the beginning of the second quarter when Brandon Biggerstaff and Seth Thomas scored back-to-back baskets to cut the Eldorado advantage to just 10-8.

But in just a little over a minute – Eldorado went on a 10-2 run.

Cunningham scored on a conventional three-point play on a drive to the basket while being fouled by Thomas.

Robinson scored 11 of his points in the second quarter and two made free throws were part of that game changing run.

A steal and fast break lay in by Brandon Harner and a Robinson trifecta pushed the lead to 20-10 at the 5:09 mark.

Robinson's other nine point in the quarter were on three long range 3-pointers that not only gave Eldorado and big lead but softened the inside for Cunningham.

When his third bomb exploded with :47 remaining until halftime – the Eagles were in command at 34-20.

“You have to be ready to shoot those shots when they become available and tonight we made them,” added Goodley. “In our offense when you get an open look you have to take it. Dallas hit some big shots.”

A 15-0 run 'sealed the deal' near the beginning of the second half took the all the drama out of this contest.

Robinson again was part of the mix as this 5-foot-11 senior guard and leader stepped up.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the arc and again on the left wing pushed the Eagles lead to 43-24.

But that was just part of the run as Cunningham, Alex Parker and Lane all got into the scoring fun.

Lane hit the final two shots in the scoring spree with a steal and fast break score followed by a back door cut – receiving a pass from teammate Williams to bank one home for a 51-24 lead.

Eldorado put the game away with another run – 10-2 to open the final quarter.

Lane hit his only 3-pointer of the night in the run and Robinson added trey number five.

Cunningham scored twice more for good measure before Goodley called off the Eagles when the lead reached 72-37 with 5:07 remaining.

“If you are going to be a winning team you have to get transition points and if you don't defend and rebound you are not going to get those points. You have to make teams pay for their mistakes and tonight we did that,” Goodley explained.

Eldorado was an 'egg frying on a sidewalk' hot from the field – connecting on 27-of-46 shots (59 percent) with an 8-of-11 performance from behind the line that should be a 'red flag' to future opponents that the Eagles must be defended on the perimeter.

Coach Goodley's club hit 18-of-22 free throws in the game and committed just eight turnovers – four of which came from the bench in the final minutes of 'mop up' duty.

Ham Co. was 15-of-38 overall and 3-of-8 from behind the arc.

Behind Thomas' 10 points – three Foxes (Bryan Thomas, Orry Taylor and Tyler Reyling) scored seven points each.

The biggest bugaboo for Hamilton County was the 26 turnovers – uncharacteristic of a Foxes' club.

Exactly half of those turnovers (13) were Eldorado steals.

Hamilton County outrebounded Eldorado 29-15 but that stat is misleading. Eldorado didn't miss enough shots to have offensive rebounding opportunities.

“Everything starts at the defensive end of the floor for us and we have done a good job so far,” finalized Goodley – whose team is the second seed at next week's Eldorado Holiday Tournament. “We have used our quickness and length to defend the ball and it is nice to see the energy these guys bring to the court.”

The Eagles open with Pope County Thursday night at 7 pm while Hamilton County will take on sixth seeded West Frankfort Thursday at 3:30 pm at the 43rd Annual EHT.

Hamilton County (51) - B. Thomas 2 1 0-1 7, Taylor 2 0 3-3 7, Williams 1 0 0-0 2, Vaughn 0 0 0-0 0, S. Thomas 3 0 4-4 10, Denham 0 1 0-0 3, Mitchell 0 0 0-0 0, Hanson 2 0 0-2 4, Biggerstaff 2 0 0-0 4, Reyling 2 0 3-4 7, Hoffinfer 0 1 0-0 3, Irvin 1 0 0-0 2, J. Webb 0 0 2-4 2.
2FG-15, 3FG-3, FT-12-20, PF-21.
Eldorado (80) - Robinson 3 5 4-4 25, Lane 3 1 2-3 11, Cunningham 8 2 5-5 27, Parker 1 0 1-4 3, Williams 0 0 2-2 2, Harner 3 0 0-0 6, Cook 0 0 0-0 0, Behrens 1 0 0-0 2, Parks 0 0 2-2 2, Houseright 0 0 2-2 2, Street 0 0 0-0 0, O'Neal 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-8, FT-18-22, PF-17.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.