01-26-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG - Jeremiah Mitchell may never have a better night in his basketball career than he had on Friday night of the Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament held at Southeastern Illinois College.

This 6-foot-3 senior forward scored 32 points and hauled down 10 rebounds while being a major part of a stellar defensive effort that kept rival Galatia at a very long arm's length in a dominating 58-43 title game win.

Forcing the Bearcats into five early turnovers and also hitting 8-of-13 first quarter shot attempts, Carrier Mills jumped out to a double-digit lead that they would never relinquish.

With the victory, Coach Mark Motsinger got another championship for his school and picked up a pretty good bargaining chip heading into next week's regional seeding meeting.

Defensively, Carrier Mills was overwhelming to say the least.

Holding the normally good shooting Galatia club to just 18-of-52 from the field, the Wildcats improved to 16-5 on the season.

Coach Rod Wallace saw his Bearcats shoot a miserable 5-of-24 from behind the 3-point arc, a place in which his club usually excels.

CM was 24-of-45 from the field overall and led nearly the entire contest in spite of a 9-of-21 performance from the foul line.

Mitchell – in case you didn't know – has a brother that isn't too bad himself.

Six-foot-five senior Nathaniel added 17 points and six rebounds to his brother's totals as this one-two punch outscored Galatia by themselves.

By the time that Galatia made a brief run at Carrier Mills, the deficit was too great to overcome as the Bearcats fell to 11-7 overall.

“They (the Michell's) came out and did what we wanted them to do tonight and the other kids I'm proud of, too,” said Motsinger, who won the title again on the floor and in the gym that was named after his father. "Tonight we fed the post and got the ball to Jeremiah and he did a good job.”

Senior Garrett Johnson had a very good game for the Wildcats, both on the defensive end while running the offense.

He guarded Galatia's Robbie Engle most of the night and he help hold the 5-foot-9 junior to just 10 points and – more importantly – just one made 3-point field goal.

Jeremiah Mitchell got the Wildcats off to a grand beginning.

After Galatia's Ethan Robinson scored in the lane to give the Bearcats their only lead at 2-1 early in the game, Mitchell put six quick points on the board on three consecutive trips up the floor.

His brother Nathaniel closed the first stanza by stepping back to nail a fall-away 3-pointer from the left wing.

Carrier Mills led 18-8 at that first buzzer.

A lackluster second quarter by both teams did little for the Bearcats as they couldn't get enough going to cut into any of the CM lead.

Galatia hit just 3-of-12 shots from the floor.

Jeremiah Mitchell scored five points in the quarter that ended at 29-15 Carrier Mills.

An 8-0 run in the middle of the third quarter got Carrier Mills to its largest advantage.

The Mitchell's each scored four points in the sprint and when Nathaniel picked up a loose ball in the lane and scored with 2:20 left in the quarter, the lead had ballooned to 39-19.

The best run of the evening for Galatia ended the third quarter and started the fourth.

Scoring nine straight points, the Bearcats showed some life.

Jann and Engle each contributed and when Engle scored on a drive in the lane with 7:16 left, Coach Motsinger had seen enough and asked for a time out with his team leading 41-28.

After a Nathaniel Mitchell bucket, Jann scored twice on a drive to the basket and a long 3-pointer which trimmed the CM lead to just 41-33.

However that was the last run of the night for Coach Rod Wallace's club.

Nathaniel Mitchell scored on a drive in the lane while being fouled by Brian Gurley – who picked up his fifth personal foul while Coach Wallace was issued a technical foul.

Although Carrier Mills didn't really benefit from the penalty, the momentum created by the Bearcats run faded.

Forced to overplay and chase on the defensive end while launching 3-pointers offensively, Galatia made no dent into the Wildcats' spread.

Back-to-back fast break scores off of Galatia missed shots by the Mitchell's ended the championship doubt.

Jeremiah put an exclamation point on the title with a one-handed dunk with under a minute remaining.

“They are a very good team and they did a good job tonight,” said Galatia coach Rod Wallace. “We couldn't get going from the outside tonight.”

No other player hit for double-figures for Carrier Mills but the Mitchell's combined for 49 of the Wildcats' 58 points.

Jann led Galatia with 15 followed by Robinson with 12.

Johnson was third on the list for Carrier Mills with five points.

“He (Johnson) has been more than I could have dreamed of this year,” said Motsinger. “He had a broken hand and we didn't have him for the first two games but since he came back he has been what we have asked for.”

The Wildcats outrebounded Galatia just 33-28 but that stat is misleading.

Carrier Mills allowed just one offensive rebound in the first two quarters and just eight for the game. Four of those came late in the game when the outcome had been put to rest.

“We've stressed defense in the past four years that I have been here at Carrier Mills and I believe it is starting to pay off,” added Motsinger. “I felt really good about our defense and our rebounding tonight.”

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Galatia	8	9	8	20	-	43
Carrier Mills	18	11	10	19	-	58

Galatia (43) – Jann 2 3 2-2 15, Beaty 1 0 0-0 2, Engle 3 1 1-2 10, Gurley 0 0 1-2 1, Robinson 6 0 0-0 12, Higgins 0 1 0-0 3.
2FG-12, 3FG-5, FT-4-6, PF-15.
Carrier Mills (58) – Deaton 1 0 0-0 2, Johnson 2 0 1-4 5, J. Mitchell 13 1 3-8 32, N. Mitchell 7 0 3-5 17, Nichols 0 0 2-4 2.
2FG-23, 3FG-1, FT-9-21, PF-8.
Fouled Out – Gurley, Galatia.
Technical Fouls – Galatia Bench.

GALLATIN COUNTY 55, HARDIN COUNTY 48
The Hawks picked up third place hardware with a win over their rivals from Hardin County.

Blaine Barker scored 23 points for Gallatin County in the win while pulling down six rebounds.

Teammate Michael Vaughn added 14.

The often injured club improved to 6-15 on the season with two of the wins coming this week.

Louis Joyner scored 22 points to lead the Cougars (10-10) while teammate John Moseley chipped in 14.

Barker scored eight of his points in the opening quarter, establishing his inside presence.

Hitting back-to-back hook shots in the lane to go with a couple of mid-range shots from around the foul line, Barker put together a fine offensive effort that got his club heading toward a third place triumph.

Hardin County remained in the chase until Gallatin County closed the first half on a 7-0 run to lead 28-20 at intermission.

Coach Ricky Williams' Cougars mounted a rally in the fourth quarter but they couldn't totally take advantage of five Gallatin County turnovers in the final minutes.

An 11-0 run at the beginning of the final stanza closed the gap to just 48-43 with 4:21 remaining.

But the Hawks conventional three-point play by Matt Drone extended the lead to 51-43 on the next possession combined with five empty offense trips by the Cougars allowed Coach Chris Fromm and his Hawks to escape with the victory.

Gallatin County was 22-of-40 on its two-point attempts while hitting 2-of-6 from behind the arc.

Hardin County hit just 20-of-51 overall, 6-of-17 from long range.

Gallatin County's real advantage was in rebounding, holding a 32-19 edge while allowing just seven Hardin County offensive boards.

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Hardin County	12	8	14	14	-	48
Gallatin County	15	13	18	9	-	55

Hardin County (48) – Joyner 7 2 2-5 22, Moseley 1 4 0-0 14, Oxford 2 0 0-0 4, Cowsert 3 0 0-0 6, Joiner 0 0 0-0 0, Vaughn 1 0 0-0 2, Barnard 0 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-6, FT-2-5, PF-17.
Gallatin County (55) – Duffy 0 0 0-2 0, Shoulders 2 0 1-2 5, Belford 1 2 0-1 8, Vaughn 6 0 0-0 12, Barker 11 0 1-3 23, M. Drone 2 0 3-5 7, Vickery 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-22, 3FG-2, FT-5-14, PF-11.
Fouled Out – Cowsert, Oxford - Hardin County.
Technical Fouls – None.

CRAB ORCHARD 57, POPE COUNTY 41
The Trojans responded with a win in the consolation game as David Brainard scored 22 points for Coach Jon Brown's club.

Dakota Morris added 10 points as Crab Orchard (12-8) got back on track after an opening round loss to Gallatin County.

Ryan Anderson hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with nine points.

Pope County (3-16) received 19 points from Gusten Wallace and 12 points from Aaron Webb in the loss.

The Pirates led early 10-4 and trailed just 18-15 after one quarter.

However they were out-gunned by CO 53-31 the rest of the way.

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Pope County	15	10	6	10	-	41
Crab Orchard	18	18	13	8	-	57

Pope County (41) – Volle 0 0 0-0 0, Webb 2 2 2-2 12, Jackson 1 0 0-0 2, Wallace 7 1 2-2 19, Billington 4 0 0-0 8, Butler 0 0 0-0 0, Gurley 0 0 0-0 0, Benard 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-3, FT-4-4, PF-13.
Crab Orchard (57) – Brainard 4 2 8-9 22, Hutchins 0 2 1-2 7, Perry 3 0 1-2 7, Boester 0 0 0-0 0, Morris 5 0 0-0 10, Anderson 0 3 0-0 9, Pierce 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-7, FT-10-13, PF-9.
Fouled Out – Volle, Pope County.
Technical Fouls – Pope County Bench (2).