12/29/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
FREEBURG - The first two and a half quarters in the championship game of the Freeburg/Columbia Holiday Tournament on Thursday night couldn't have went much better for the host Midgets and head coach Matt Laur.

Shots were falling from everywhere and the defense was frustrating their rivals from Columbia.

After a breaking free in the first quarter and leading throughout the first half, Coach Laur's club was on the path to a title game win.

A 6-0 run that ended with 3:39 left in the third quarter pushed the Midgets' advantage to its pinnacle at 45-35.

Columbia mentor Mark Sandstrom and his team were in trouble.

However the script suddenly flipped in favor of the Eagles.

The visitors scored the game's next 19 points to turn a 10 point deficit into a 54-45 lead with 4:36 left in the fourth quarter.

The turn of events allowed Columbia to survive a Freeburg rally late as the the Eagles captured their third consecutive championship in this long running event with a 60-55 triumph in front of a capacity crowd at Freeburg.

Columbia got 21 points from 6-8 sophomore Sam Donald and 20 points from 6-7 senior Dylan Murphy in the win.

Murphy nailed a couple of big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and Donald went 5-of-5 from the foul line, four of which came in the final minutes, as the Eagles won this tournament for the ninth time since its inception in 1967.

Jack Steckler, a 6-1 senior, added 11 points for the Eagles in the win as they improved to 13-2 on the year with the tough win over their rivals.

Coach Laur got 26 points from 5-10 junior guard Cole Stuart, 18 of which came in the first half as he proved to be a tough matchup for Columbia.

Senior Caleb Weber added 14 points for Freeburg and 6-3 senior Lane Otten scored eight, with six of them coming in a third quarter stretch where the Midgets stretched their lead to double-digits for the first time.

The Midgets were also very from the foul line, hitting all 12 of their attempts.

But the story of the early going was Stuart as he drove through the Columbia defense in the first half, scoring 11 of the Freeburg 21 points in the first frame.

“I was worried to death about Cole Stuart coming into this game,” said Coach Sandstrom. “He is one of the best drivers I've had to defend against in my 20-some years of coaching. Man, he can go to the rim. He is really good at it.”

The Midgets hit 9-of-12 attempts in the first eight minutes with Stuart scoring three different times on penetration of the Eagles' zone.

Coach Laur also got 3-pointers in the stanza from Weber and Stuart along with a driving score down the baseline by Otten for a 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Stuart added seven more points in the second frame.

His conventional three-point play with 1:37 left expanded the Midgets' lead to 29-21.

Columbia got points from Murphy and Donald in the second quarter and a 3-pointer from freshman Brody Landgraf to close the half down 31-26.

Despite forcing five Freeburg turnovers in the second, the Eagles still trailed at intermission.

The Midgets were on the verge of putting their rivals away in the third quarter.

Stuart added a transition basket and a couple of free throws while Otten got inside for three buckets, including a falling down rebound attempt that found the mark.

Two more free throws, this time by Weber, had the Midgets standing tall with a 10 point advantage.

However things changed in dramatic fashion as Columbia made their move.

Murphy, Steckler and reserve Hayes van Breusegen began the eventual game-changing championship run.

Steckler scored twice, once on a back door cut to the basket and on a fast break.

Murphy added a basket and van Breusegen started the run with 1-of-2 free throws and closed the third quarter on a drive for a reverse lay in and a 46-45 Columbia lead heading to the fourth.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Murphy forced a couple of Freeburg timeouts to try and stop the bleeding and then the 6-7 senior hit a driving jumper that banked in for the Eagles' largest spread at 54-45 which closed the 19-0 scoring spree.

Columbia held Freeburg scoreless for just over eight minutes.

“We wanted to get Donald and Murphy in spots where they can go to work 'one-on-one' and they were both really good tonight,” said Coach Sandstrom.

While the scoring increased, the Eagles did a much better job defensively on Stuart in the final 16 minutes.

“Hayes van Breusegan came in and really bother him (Stuart) and he really turned that game around for us,” said Coach Sandstrom. “I've always said that momentum is sometimes your best player and he's not even on the floor.”

To the hosts' credit, they rallied to get to within two with :32.1 remaining on buckets from Stuart and free throws by senior Bryson Browning and Weber.

Stuart stole an inbound pass and went coast-to-coast for a lay up to make it 57-55 Columbia.

But the Eagles finished the game off with a pair of foul shots by Murphy and then a turnover led to a fast break lay in attempt where he was fouled.

It turned into a technical foul on Freeburg's Jase Brentlinger with :08.0.

Steckler made the second of two free throws and Columbia ran out the clock on the title game triumph.

The tale of the tape in this championship bout favored the Eagles.

Columbia hit 22-of-37 shots from the floor, 3-of-10 from the 3-point line while Freeburg was pretty good as well connecting on 20-of-37, 3-of-11.

Freeburg managed a slight 17-14 rebounding edge as there were few opportunities with the high percentage of made shots.

The two teams will hook up again next Friday in a Cahokia Conference Mississippi Division game at Freeburg.

Columbia (60) – Van Breusegen 1 0 2-4 4, Steckler 4 0 3-4 11, Bosch 0 0 0-0 0, Murphy 6 2 2-2 20, Donald 8 0 5-5 21, Landgraf 1 0 0-0 3, Hemminghaus 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-19, 3FG-3, FT-13-17, PF-12.
Freeburg (55) – Brentlinger 0 0 0-0 0, Stuart 10 1 3-3 26, Browning 1 0 3-3 5, Weber 1 2 6-6 14, Cooper 0 0 0-0 0, Trentman 1 0 0-0 2, Otten 4 0 0-0 8.
2FG-17, 3FG-3, FT-12-12, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Brentlinger - Freeburg.

Three different Gibault players netted double-figures in the victory over the Eagles.

Five-ten senior guard Kameron Hanvey and 6-3 junior Gavin Kessler each scored 21 points for Gibault as the Hawks are now 11-3 on the season.

Kaden Augustine, a 6-1 senior, added 15 points to the offense.

The Hawks outscored Civic Memorial 38-23 in the final two quarters for the victory as Kessler scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter.

Senior Owen Mechler (seven) and junior Kanen Augustine (five) also chipped in for Coach Rueter.

Civic Memorial saw their overall mark slip to 7-7 with the defeat.

Seven-foot senior Sam Buckley led the Eagles with 25 points and teammate sophomore guard Adam Ogden added 15 points.

Civic Memorial (55) – Ogden 2 3 2-3 15, Silva 1 0 1-4 3, Greene 0 0 0-0 0, Parnell 1 0 0-0 2, Piening 1 0 0-0 2, Buckley 10 1 2-3 25, Franford 2 0 2-2 6, Buhs 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-18, 3FG-4, FT-7-12, PF-17.
Waterloo Gibault (70) – Kaden Augustine 3 2 3-4 15, Hanvey 6 2 3-5 21, Kanen Augustine 2 0 1-2 5, Mechler 1 1 2-4 7, Biffar 0 0 0-0 0, Frierdich 0 0 0-0 0, Mannes 0 0 0-0 0, Kesler 9 0 3-4 21, Wessel 0 0 0-0 0, Schafer 0 0 0-0 0, Altes 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-21, 3FG-5, FT-13-21, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Piening - Civic Memorial.

Waterloo (63) – Glenzer 0 0 0-0 0, Oswald 0 0 0-0 0, Lopez-Tercero 2 1 0-2 7, Lohman 1 1 0-1 5, Kettler 0 0 1-2 1, Schwehr 1 0 2-2 4, Schmidt 0 0 0-0 0, Stork 0 0 0-0 0, Fink 4 0 1-2 9, Still 3 1 8-9 17, Metzger 0 0 0-0 0, Stafford 0 0 0-0 0, Yochum 4 0 9-12 17, Gilbert 1 0 1-2 3.
2FG-16, 3FG-3, FT-22-32, PF-15.
Southwestern (34) – Austin 0 0 0-0 0, Gage 0 1 0-3 3, Robinson 2 0 0-0 4, Darr 2 0 0-0 4, Keith 0 0 1-2 1, Bouillon 1 1 1-3 6, 1 0 1-1 3, Brewer 0 1 1-2 4, Brantley 2 1 2-2 9, LeMarr 0 0 0-0 0, Watkins 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-4, FT-6-13, PF-22.
Fouled Out – Gage - Southwestern.
Technical Fouls – None.

AM improved to 8-6 on the season for first year head coach Cody Best.

Senior guards Dre Davis and Parker Macias chipped in seven and six points respectively as Marquette finished 1-3 in the event.

Nelson County (KY.) ended its tournament without a win and they're 3-10 on the season for Coach Jacob Kueker.

The Cardinals got seven points each from seniors Evan Hicks and Havin Carothers.

The game was tied at halftime at 21-21 and then the Explorers out gunned the Cardinals 43-12 in the final 16 minutes.

Nelson County (KY.) (35) –Hicks 2 0 3-5 7, Bulinco 1 1 0-0 5, Stone 1 1 1-1 6, Carothers 3 0 1-3 7, Scott 1 0 1-2 5, Goff 0 0 0-0 0, Mouser 1 0 1-2 3, Burks 0 0 0-0 0, Coomes 0 0 0-2 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-2, FT-7-15, PF-8.
Alton Marquette (64) – Macias 0 2 0-0 6, Kline 7 3 1-1 24, S. Williams 1 1 0-0 5, Lavendar 5 0 1-2 11, Van Dyke 1 0 0-0 2, Rochester 1 0 2-2 4, Davis 3 0 1-1 7, Cawthon 0 0 0-0 0, Spain 1 0 0-0 2, Bechtold 1 0 1-1 3, C. Williams 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-20, 3FG-6, FT-6-8, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Nelson County (KY.) Bench.