12-28-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - Heading into the opening game of the 42nd Annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament, Fairfield head coach Scott McElravy turned to his veteran players for an early morning boost.

What ever these Mules grazed on for breakfast settled well and gave them enough energy to pull away and eventually hold off their first round opponent.

Getting five players in double-digits, Fairfield held off the stubborn Century Centurions in the tournament opener, 69-56, in front of an ‘eye-rubbing’ crowd at Duff-Kingston Gymnasium.

Craig Zurliene - a senior forward who plays a lot larger than 6-foot-2 – scored 13 points to lead the Mules into the championship quarterfinals.

His presence in the frontcourt helped Fairfield to a 38-23 rebound edge and physically wore down Century late in the contest.

Overcoming a slow beginning, however, saved Fairfield from an embarrassing loss to a lower seeded team.

Coach McElravy’s club rallied from seven points down in the first quarter then outscored the Centurions 19-2 in the second frame.

The run was 20-0 and Century never recovered although they gave it a whirl in the second half.

Fairfield improved to 5-4 overall and will meet Meridian in the first quarterfinal game on Friday morning.

The top seeded Bobcats manhandled NCOE in the second game of the morning, 78-45.

The Mules got the most of their balanced scoring with Derek Tucker and Jacob Carpenter adding 12 points each while Jordan Cessna and Quentin Baker each pitched home 11.

But it was Coach Robert Bell’s kids that were ‘ringing’ loudly in the first part of the game to help wake up the partisans.

With four of his five starters putting points on the board in that opening stanza, Century looked the part of first round spoiler.

Ethan Stringer strung together five consecutive points to break an 8-all tie with a drive to the basket and a 3-pointer from the left wing that forced an early Fairfield timeout with Century up 11-8.

A rebound bucket by Xavier Butler, a short shot in the paint by Sam Baker and conventional three-point play by Josh Cheek and suddenly the Centurions had an 18-11 advantage with 1:14 to go before horn number one.

But whatever thoughts of a runaway that this South Egyptian Conference teams had designs on faded to black in a hurry.

The 20-0 run flipped the score from a seven-point deficit to a commandeering 31-18 spread.

The main culprit in the momentum shift was Tucker.

This 6-foot senior guard scored seven first quarter points and his bucket with under ten seconds to go cut the Centurions lead to 18-14.

Then in the second quarter, his teammates began the board crashing that Century was unable to contend with.

Fairfield ripped down 14-second quarter rebounds; eight on the offensive end with three of them directly resulting in second chance points from the outside.

The wave of rebounds turned the game in the Mules favor as Baker, Tucker and reserve Brady Troyer all connected on 3-point shots.

Zurliene added a rebound stick back and Cessna finished a fast break to make it 25-18 with 4:36 left.

Another reserve – Tyler Hodges – got into the fun with a 15-footer.

When Baker showed off his long-range skills the lead was 31-18.

Century final broke the dry spell – that lasted 7:20 – with a basket by Butler but Fairfield came right back with another Zurliene score on an assist from Tucker.

The two teams headed to the lockers for intermission at 33-20.

Century came out with a couple of runs in the second half but they couldn’t overcome the mistakes and physical play of Fairfield.

The best move by the Centurions was a 10-0 run in the beginning of the third quarter that frustrated Mules mentor McElravy.

Two 3-pointers by Stringer ended the run and forced a Fairfield timeout at 35-30.

“We preached to them at halftime to come out and put them away in the second half but we didn’t do it,” said McElravy. “We came out flat and they cut it down to five I think. They’re not a bad ballclub, they have some athletes and their best player (Thurston) came back today and he makes them a lot better. Eight-thirty games are early but we’ve got to come out better than that.”

Century failed to get closer than five points the remainder of the contest and saw its record fall to 8-4 overall and into the 10 pm ‘graveyard’ game some 12 hours later.

The Mules hit 6-of-8 fourth quarter free throws (16-of-20 overall) and scored on three consecutive lay ups against Centurions desperation press in the final minutes.

Fairfield tossed in 24-of-59 shots from the field (41 percent) while committing 11 turnovers.

But McElravy understood that Zurliene on the boards keyed the victory.

“Zurliene hit the boards hard today and got some offensive rebounds for us,” added McElravy. “He is a middle linebacker/center on the football team and he has gotten a lot more aggressive on the offensive end and we need that.”

Century wasn’t nearly as accomplished from the floor, making good on just 19-of-50 (38 percent) with 10 miscues.

Stringer topped all scorers with 22 points while Baker and Thurston added 12 and 10.

“If we (the coaching staff) can get the kids to stay in the game for four quarters mentally, we can be a really good team,” explained Coach Bell. “Until we can get to that point, we are going to struggle against good teams.”

Century (56) – Reichert 0 1 0-0 3, Stringer 3 4 4-7 22, Baker 4 1 1-1 12, Thurston 3 0 4-5 10, Butler 2 0 2-2 6, Cheek 1 0 1-1 3, Admas 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-6, FT-12-16, PF-16.
Fairfield (69) – Cessna 4 0 3-4 11, Baker 1 1 6-7 11, Tucker 2 2 2-4 12, Reever 0 0 1-2 1, Zurliene 5 0 3-4 13, Dickey 0 0 0-0 0, Hodges 3 0 0-0 6, Troyer 0 1 0-0 3, Dreith 0 0 0-0 0, Carpenter 4 1 1-1 12, Vaughn 4 1 1-1 12.
2FG-19, 3FG-5, FT-16-20, PF-16.
Fouled Out – Zurliene, Fairfield.
Technical Fouls – None.

MERIDIAN 78, NORRIS CITY-OMAHA-ENFIELD 45
The top seeded Bobcats handled their ‘bulls-eye’ in the morning session with a relatively easy win over the Fighting Cardinals on Thursday.

Backed by 18 points from Marland Johnson and 17 from Jeremiah Oats, Coach Jeff Mandrell’s squad improved to 8-4.

Ralph Smith topped all the Bobcats with 19 points, including five first half 3-pointers as Meridian scored 55 first half points in the route.

Six-foot-five sophomore reserve Zach Halfacre led NCOE (2-9) with 14 points.

WEST FRANKFORT 70, POPE COUNTY 39
In a contest that was closer than the final score indicated, the Redbirds advanced with a big fourth quarter output that sent the Pirates to the consolation side of the Eldorado bracket.

Four of Coach Kevin Toney’s Birds hit for double digits with Matt Brown hitting three 3-pointer and 15 points overall.

Isaiah Simelton and Alex Gutierrez added 12 apiece as West Frankfort pulled away with a 21-8 fourth quarter.

Pope County (2-9) had 13 points from Gage Jackson while Kyle Volle (9) Aaron Webb (8) and Ethan Billington (7) added to the total.

HAMILTON COUNTY 66, MASSAC COUNTY 64
In a game that was as close as it was ugly, the Foxes survived and advanced to the quarterfinals on the strength of 25 points from Jake Welch.

The Patriots and Foxes combined for 35 turnovers in a ‘rock’em-sock’em’ game that featured seven lead changes and six ties while going down to the final buzzer before the game was decided.

Hamilton County (4-2) held off MC by hitting 12-of-15 free throws in the final quarter and will play West Frankfort on Friday.

The Pats (7-5) will take on Pope County Friday.

HARRISBURG 60, GALLATIN COUNTY 47
Coach Randy Smithpeters’ second seeded Bulldogs (7-2) held off the Hawks on Thursday night behind 12 points from Jake Stevers as ten Harrisburg players scored in the win.

Blaine Barker topped Gallatin County (2-7) and all other players with 21 points.

Harrisburg will play Carmi-White County Friday evening. The other Bulldogs topped defending tournament champion Anna-Jonesboro 60-41.

BENTON 56, CARRIER MILLS 54
The Rangers outdistanced the Wildcats in the final quarter and advanced to play the host Eagles in Friday night’s quarterfinal.

Casey Ainslie paced Benton with 18 points in his first game back after a football injury sidelined him for the first eight games of the season.

Saylor Shurtz added 10 points while Ryan Sanders and Trevor Meyers chipped in eight points each.

Nathaniel Mitchell - with 20 points – led Carrier Mills (4-3). Brother Jeremiah Mitchell brought 13 points to the effort and Ryan Nichols produced 10 points.

Carrier Mills will play GEC rival Hardin County after the Cougars lost to Eldorado 77-54.

CENTURY 70, NCOE 65
The Centurions bounced back with a win in the day’s ninth and final game.

Blake Thurston – after scoring just ten points in the morning loss to Fairfield – got after it in the finale with 37 points against NCOE.

In the young tournaments’ best scoring performance, Thurston hit eleven 2-point field goals and made all 12 of his free throws.

Jesse Flanagan paced the Fighting Cardinals with 25 as NCOE was eliminated from the tournament with the loss.