12-28-2020
BY JACK BULLOCK - The third edition of ABV's “The Upsets” is unique to the rest of the list.

This contest was the only one that I attended.

If you are a numbers person there was an ominous feel for the Class A Regional championship game at Madison as the Trojans played host to the number-two ranked Freeburg Midgets.

The date? It was February 22, 2002.

Or 02/22/2002.

Perhaps logic would say the number-two ranked team would cherish the numerical balance of this setting.

After all, head coach Norm Toenjes brought his club into the contest 27-0.

Not only were they riding a high on a season long winning streak, his club had not been challenged often.

And perhaps that fact proved to be the Midgets' undoing.

They had a scant six games in which were single-digit margins of victory.

Teams had tried slowing it down on the Midgets but the opposition had simply prolonged the agony.Nokomis, Civic Memorial, Whitfield (MO.), Mascoutah, Pinckneyville, Trenton-Wesclin, and rival Columbia, came the closest.

The Nokomis (25-5) and Civic Memorial victories were in the early season tournament at CM.

The Whitfield win was at the annual Coca-Cola Shootout in St. Louis.

Whitfield ended up 21-6 on the year.

They romped to a four-straight wins at the Columbia/Freeburg Holiday Tournament and three-consecutive wins at the Nashville Invitational.

Late in the season, Wesclin gave the Midgets a game as they fell 56-47 and Columbia slowed the game down in a 31-26 loss

In the Wesclin game, Freeburg spotted the Warriors an early lead and then went on an 18-2 second quarter run.

They kept Wesclin at bey the rest of the way.

Columbia managed a 21-21 tie heading into the final quarter before Freeburg outscored the Eagles, 10-5 to stay unbeaten in the final regular season game.

It ended the Midgets 9-0 run through the then one division Cahokia Conference.

Jason Guyette, a 6-foot-5 senior, topped the Midgets with 18.8 points and 7.8 rebounds.

Six-foot-one senior guard Jacob Bayers was second in scoring at 14.4 points a game and ran the offense while dishing out 5.3 assists per outing.

Alex Moddrell, a 6-foot-4 senior, pitched in 12.6 points and 6.9 rebounds on average.

Six-foot-five senior Jim Dibble, a 6-foot-5 senior, was versatile from all over the floor (10.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 41.3 percent 3-pointers).

Some of the other players who had significant roles on the team were Pat Klein, a 6-foot-3 senior, 6-foot-3 senior Eric Turner, 6-foot-7 sophomore Jon Reagan and 6-foot senior Justin Weber.

Freeburg played a pretty good schedule but a quick look back tells a tale of which of these teams played the toughest slate of games.

Have bus, will travel.

They still do every season.

In 2001-02 it was as tough as it gets for a Class A team.

Coach Al Collins led his club through a land-mine filled battle field of contests.

Nine of the teams were either Class AA (5) or large Missouri (4) teams.

The list of victories of note were East St. Louis, Sr., Salem, St. Louis McCluer South and Waterloo on the large list.

The small school standouts they took care of were Hamilton County, Fairfield, Flora, Pittsfield, and then a 67-54 conquest of Teutopolis at home.

The Trojans lost some games to some really good programs; Breese Mater Dei, Massac County, St. Louis U-High, Mt. Vernon and Centralia.

They were ready for the Class A postseason and it just so happened that they got to play at home.

Maurice Hughes, a 6-foot-3 junior, was the only Madison player who averaged double-figures with 11.3 points a game.

He was also tops on the club with 6.1 rebounds a game.

However Hughes had tons of help spread out among the starters and reserves.

Keith Long, a 6-foot-5 junior, added 9.3 points and 5.6 rebounds a game while 6-foot-8 junior Robert Kennedy averaged right at nine points a night to go with 5.7 boards.

James Newsome, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, along with 5-foot-10 sophomore Rico Newsome, were both right under five points a game.

Rickey Salmond, 5-foot-8 sophomore, (3.1 p.p.g.), Perry Adams, 6-foot-8 sophomore (3.2 p.p.g.)
Jonathan Cox, 5-foot-9 senior (1.7 p.p.g.) added to the offense.

Travonti Walker, 6-foot-3 junior, scored 7.1 points and grabbed 3.6 rebounds.

As the second seed in the regional, the Trojans took care of Lovejoy (87-37) and Columbia (61-49) to improve to 17-8 on the season.

Freeburg, after a first round bye, took down Venice (83-65) to get to the regional final.

The gym at Madison High School where the regional was held produced a very good home court advantage over the years for the Trojans.

For anyone who has ever been inside, and for any teams that have suited up there, it has an ominous look and feel to it.

Although the gym has a regulation size floor for high school, the lighting was dark (at least back then) and the energy level was high for the Trojan faithful who represented most of the near sellout crowd.

The Trojans were the aggressor on this night, and the jumped out on the Midgets in the early going.

Using their athleticism they jumped out to an early lead.

Even though Freeburg stayed close in the first minutes of the game, it was apparent early that this night was going to be a struggle for the undefeated squad.

After Guyette hit 1-of-2 free throws at the 3:40 mark, which gave the Midgets an 11-10 advantage, Madison went on its first big run of the night.

Just nine seconds after the Guyette free throw, Hughes tipped in a missed shot by Long to give the Trojans a 12-11 advantage.

After a Freeburg turnover, Long would score on a nice low block move to push the lead to 14-11 and forced a Freeburg timeout.

However the break did little to stop the Trojans.

Rico Newsome was fouled in the lane and he nailed both free ones to make it a five-point bulge with 1:24 left.

The next time down the court, Hughes scored again tipping in a Long miss to extend the lead.

After the Midgets came up empty again on the next offensive trip, Madison's Kennedy scored after a scramble in the lane just before the horn and the lead was 20-11 at the first break.

Madison scored immediately at the start of the second with Kennedy hitting a leaner in the paint to push the lead to the biggest of the first half at 22-11.

Freeburg battled back quickly.

Moddrell scored on a soft shot off the glass and then, after a Trojan turnover, Guyette swooped in on a fast break with a pass coming from Bayers.

His lay in cut the deficit to 22-15.

After another Hughes bucket, Bayers canned a 3-pointer and then Guyette scored in the lane and the lead was four at 24-20.

After Long and Bayers traded baskets on consecutive trips, Freeburg made a run to take back the lead.

Guyette pick up a batted ball in the lane and threw in a jump-hook to cut it to four once again.

Then reserve Patrick Klien was left open in the corner on an inbounds play and he calmly hit a shot to cut the lead to 28-27.

Long got a perfect inbounds pass in the Madison lane and missed a wide open 3-footer.

The Midgets got the rebound and then Guyette made a nice move in the paint and his shot put Freeburg in charge at 29-28 with 1:48 left til the half.

Then Adams hit 1-of-2 shots from the foul line for Madison to tie it a 29-all.

Bayers put Freeburg back up 31-29 with a drive on the baseline at :19.

After a Madison turnover, the Midgets made a seemingly harmless mistake that ended up costing them the lead at the end of the quarter and most of the momentum that they had taken away from Madison.

With :06 left and with the ball being inbounded after a Madison turnover, Moddrell took the inbounds pass in his own backcourt and tried to heave the ball toward the Freeburg basket as if there were not much time left in the quarter.

But Hughes blocked the attempt and had the presence of mind to take a quick dribble in the lane and hit a 10-foot shot just before the buzzer to tie things up at 31-all at the intermission.

Just seconds into the third frame Madison shifted into high gear and the Midgets couldn't keep up for the first few minutes.

Just ten seconds into the half, Long scored on a set out-of-bounds play that found him open in the paint just 10-feet from the goal. His shot found the bottom of the net and Madison again found themselves up, 33-31.

After Freeburg missed an opportunity on the next trip, Madison worked the ball to Long on the same cut in the lane and his second goal of the quarter made it 35-31.

The Trojans ran the same play the third straight trip down the court, which resulted in Long canning yet another easy shot, making it 37-31 and putting Freeburg in another jam.

A free throw line jumper by Moddrell cut the lead back to four.

However Madison answered right back. Long gave the Trojan faithful something to yell about with a baseline drive that resulted in a two-handed dunk.

A subsequent Freeburg shot that was blocked by Long, which started a fast-break that Long eventually finished. His finger roll down the middle of the lane pushed the lead back out to eight points at 41-33 and forced Toenjes to burn another timeout.

Freeburg, like the top-notch team that they are, responded quickly and closed the gap in a few moments.

Moddrell hit a 3-pointer, Guyette scored in the lane after an Eric Turner steal and Bayers scored on an inbounds play.

The six unanswered points brought it to 41-39 with 4:22 left. Then, following a Long bucket in the lane, Bayers would hit another 3-point bomb to cut it to 43-42.

It was at this point in the game the fortunes turned drastically in favor of Madison.

After coming back again from several points down, Freeburg saw Madison go on yet another scoring run to end the quarter.

A lay up by Long, a rebound basket by Kennedy and then a pair of free throws by Kennedy, sent the Trojans back on top 49-42.

Moddrell hit a pair of charities to cut it back down to four.

Then Madison got a tip in by Kennedy with just :05 left and the lead was 51-44 heading into the final stanza.

Turner scored for Freeburg to cut the lead back to 51-44. But then Madison, who were now feeling like they had a real shot at the upset, went for the jugular.

Long hit yet again in the paint on a pass from James Newsome, which forced another Freeburg timeout at 4:54.

Madison scored again quickly after the break with Newsome scoring in close after getting a pass from Jonathan Cox to extend the lead to 55-46.

After another miss by Freeburg, Long hit another short jump shot in the paint for a commanding 57-46 lead.

The Midgets had one last gasp in them, a 7-2 run, highlighted by a Bayers trey from deep on the left side of the arc which got it back to six at 59-53.

But Madison, which had struggled all season from the foul line, kept the Midgets at bay by hitting just enough free ones at the end.

Cox, Newsome and Hughes combined to hit 3-of-5 from the line on three straight trips to make it 63-53.

Bayers hit another 3-pointer to cut it back to seven.

However in four possessions in the next fifty-one seconds, the Midgets got just a single free throw from Moddrell, who hit the front end of a one-and-one to cut it to 63-57.

Cox again made the Midgets pay for fouling him, as he hit two more from the stripe.

A 3-point attempt from Guyette trapped between the rim and backboard, and the possession arrow gave it back to Madison.

Rico Newsome was the next candidate to be sent to the line and his two made charities made it 67-57.

Bayers' last points in his career, a 3-pointer with :37 left, got it to 67-60.

Newsome again toed the line and made 1-of-2 for a eight point lead with just :34 seconds left.

After another Freeburg attempt failed, Newsome canned two more from the stripe.

Moddrell's lay in at :08 ended the scoring, and the season for the Midgets.

Hughes led the Vandalia Sectional bound Trojans with 19 points on the night.

Long added 18 and Kennedy pitched in 10.

Three seniors ended their careers with double-digit performances.

Bayers and Moddrell each had 21 while Guyette ended up with 15.

When you crunch the numbers it was easy to see how the Trojans advanced.

Madison hit 26-of-51 shots from the floor (51 percent) even though they missed all five of their 3-point attempts.

They were 18-of-28 from the foul line (64.3 percent) which was better than what they normally shoot heading into the contest.

Freeburg wasn't nearly as accurate from the floor.

Coach Toenjes' club was just 24-of-58 overall and only 6-of-22 from the arc.

They also couldn't get to the foul line as often as they would've liked (8-of-10) as they saw their perfect season come to an abrupt end.

The 19 turnovers they committed didn't help matters.

"We expended a lot of energy after falling behind early," said a dejected but somber Freeburg coach Norm Toenjes after the game. “When you fall behind a good team like Madison, it makes it difficult to comeback and win."

The Trojans defeated Altamont at the Vandalia sectional semifinals the following week and then lost a heart-breaking 49-48 decision to Trenton-Wesclin in the sectional title game to end their season at 19-9.

Most of these same players won a regional title the following season in beating Waterloo Gibault in the regional finale at Gibault (ABV was also there).

EDITOR'S NOTE: This was the only story from 2001-02 season that somehow was saved on my laptop that I didn't lose in my fire in 2017.

Although the artwork from that season was lost as well, the photo of Keith Long from Madison I used is from the following season's regional championship game against Gibault that I also attended.

This is what I consider an "on paper" upset. Clearly Madison was a great team.