BY JACK BULLOCK
CRAB ORCHARD – In an afternoon battle of unbeaten teams at the Crab Orchard Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday, the contest began with both teams seemingly underneath a post-turkey day hangover.

However the host Trojans, after a few minutes of cold shooting in the first quarter, quickly heated up.

Missing their first eight shots from beyond the arc, the Trojans struggled.

But suddenly the shots began to fall and Coach Jon Brown saw his club throw a defensive blanket over Elverado.

This combination proved to be the difference as Crab Orchard pulled away from the Falcons late in the first quarter, rolling to a 61-30 victory to improve to 4-0 in the event.

Senior forward Caleb Vaughn led the Trojans' offensive push with 23-points, including seven points in the first quarter.

He also triggered the first big Crab Orchard run by scoring on a drive to the basket with under a minute left in the first frame.

His score made it 11-5 Trojans.

Senior guard Cameron Stephens followed Vaughn with 12-points and his first points of the game closed the quarter.

He hit the Trojans' fist 3-pointer, from the left corner in the final moments, making it 14-5 after one.

“We tried to stress to the kids to keep their defensive intensity up. If we stay focused the shots would come around,” said Coach Brown. “Vaughn got us going in the first quarter, he went coast-to-coast on a rebound and that got us going on transition.”

By this time, Crab Orchard had shaken off the cold start and were ready to make quick work of Elverado.

Vaughn, junior guard Levi Vinson, and Stephens all connected from 3-point range to open the second quarter.

When senior forward McKager Ferrell grabbed an offensive rebound for a put-back score with 6:08 before the half, the Trojans' 16-0 run made it 25-5 Crab Orchard.

There weren't many bright spots for Elverado, who tasted defeat for the first time this season after a 3-0 start.

Senior Sage Sarensen led the Falcons with just eight-points for Coach Jacob Emling.

His bucket on a drive to the basket stopped the Crab Orchard run.

But it was only a temporary fix as the Trojans closed out the half with another sprint.

Vaughn added six more points for the squad and Amos Beasley, a 6-foot-4 senior center, took a pair of nice assists by Vaughn and Vinson for scores in the lane.

His second score finished the Crab Orchard scoring for the first half as they led 35-11 at intermission.

“Defensively Crab Orchard did a really good job of guarding us. They gave us a lot of trouble but we haven't seen anything like that yet. They are by far the best team we have played so far,” added Coach Emling. “Our game plan going in was to attack the basket, driving. But they (Crab) were ready for it and got some charges on us.”

The Trojans showed no signs of let up in the second half, a sign of a well coached club.

Stephens hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third and Vaughn added another long range bucket.

Beasley and Ferrell both added points.

The Trojans were also efficient from the foul line, hitting 6-of-6 in the third quarter, which ended at 56-21.

The two teams closed out the contest in the fourth quarter with continuous clock under the tournaments' mercy rule.

“We tried to do to Crab what we did the other night against Pope County, we tried to double-down on their bigs. But Crab made a lot of good shots from the outside,” said Coach Emling. “Then we tried to go man-to-man but we just couldn't guard them. Their athleticism all around is better than ours right now.”

Crab Orchard, after the slow start, finished 22-of-55 from the field, 8-of-23 from beyond the arc.

The Trojans got out-rebounded 31-29, but Elverado picked up several offensive rebounds late in the game with both benches emptied.

Elverado was just 13-of-47 overall, 1-of-10 from the 3-point line and they committed 22-turnovers against the stiff defensive effort by Crab Orchard.

Coach Jon Brown's team committed just seven turnovers with the win.

“We did a better job today on defense, earlier in the week we weren't communicating, especially defending screens,” said Coach Brown. “We were making better decisions today. I'm pretty pleased with the effort. I give our kids the credit.”

Both teams play again Saturday afternoon.

Crab Orchard, with a win over Dongola at 2:30 pm, can clinch another championship and a 5-0 start to the season.

Elverado will face Joppa at 4 pm. Both Joppa and Elverado are much improved teams and both sit at 3-1 on the season and the tourney.

“No one can really remember the last time we started out 3-0 on a season. Everyone knows we went 0-25 last year so we are definitely happy about our start,” said Coach Emling.