12-29-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
PINCKNEYVILLE -The Carterville Lions couldn't have started their championship game any better offensively.

Head coach Dave Brown saw his club hit their first eight field goal attempts to take a double-digit lead.

Then the Lions turned to a defensive effort to keep Waterloo Gibault from making any big extended offensive runs.

This combination turned out to be a championship formula.

The Lions won their second-consecutive Duster Thomas Hoops' Classic title with a 54-46 win over the Hawks to finish the event 4-0.

All-tournament selections Austin Swalls and Taylor Heil, hold overs from last season's champs, led the way with 20 and 15-points in the triumph.

“His turning point this year was he played against Royce Newman (Nashville) one of the best big men in the South and ever since then his confidence has been through the roof,” said Coach Brown about Taylor Heil. “I just love the kid. Swalls is a leader and he wants to play. He wants to play defense. He loves the game.”

Justin Parson-Nalley added nine points for Carterville (10-3) while Brendan Beasley chipped in seven.

Offensively, after the hot start, the Lions cooled a bit but not enough to allow the Hawks to get closer than three points at any point in the title game.

Gibault was led by tournament Most Valuable Player Trevor Davis with 22-points.

Jacob Rueter added eight-points while seven-points were added by Brian Detering.

However the Hawks were their own worst enemy offensively as they hit just 19-of-49 overall from the field (38.8 percent) which included just 2-of-13 from the 3-point line.

The Lions jumped out to an early advantage and never trailed.

Heil scored twice in the first two minutes and Swalls hit the first of his four 3-pointers in the game for a quick 7-0 lead.

Parson-Nalley hit back-to-back shots in the lane as they took a quick 11-4 lead.

Davis scored 14-points in the first quarter on seven field goals.

But Heil and Swalls continued the hot shooting, hitting a pair of baskets for an 18-8 lead with 3:04 remaining in the opening frame.

Heil, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, stepped out and made his only 3-point attempt just before the first quarter horn for a 26-15 lead.

When the dust had settled on the opening stanza, Carterville had hit 11-of-13 field goal attempts for its 11-point lead.

Buckets by Beasley and Swalls gave the Lions their largest early margin.

Swalls scored on a fast break for a 30-17 spread.

Head coach Dennis Rueter saw his club finally get a brief run in the second quarter.

A 6-0 run, with Jacob Rueter scoring twice and a score inside by Deterding cut the Carterville lead to just 32-25.

Carterville's Colt Wilkey scored on a drive to the basket to close the first half at 34-25 Lions.

The Hawks made a move to get to within 41-37 at the end of the third quarter.

Scores by Davis and Colin Kessler and a 3-point bomb right before the buzzer by teammate Karson Huels gave Gibault some momentum heading into the final quarter.

Davis finished his night of scoring with a pair of free throws and a basket in the lane.

His bucket got the Hawks closer at 47-41.

He uncharacteristically missed two straight free throws with :51.4 remaining.

But Detering grabbed an offensive rebound for a stick back to cut the lead to 49-46.

That, however, was the last score for Waterloo Gibault.

The Hawks missed their next three shots, all 3-point attempts.

Heil added a pair of free throws and Swalls came up with a big block of a 3-point attempt near the top of the arc by Huels.

Carterville's Justin Jackson made 1-of-2 free throws and Swalls iced the game and put an exclamation point on the title game win when he took a pass off of a long rebound on the Hawks final 3-point try and slam dunked the final points just before the buzzer.

Carterville finished the night hitting 20-of-39 overall after the hot start and they nailed 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.

They held a slight rebounding edge 24-23 and they committed just 10-turnovers.

For the Hawks Deterding led the way on the board by grabbing 11.

Waterloo Gibault, one of the perenial powers in the Metro-East area, have had second-itis in the last two seasons.

The Hawks have finished runner's up in their last six tournaments, including a 2A regional final last season at Chester, the Okawville Invitational Tournament last January and back-to-back second place finishes at the Metro-East Thanksgiving Tournament and the Duster Thomas.

“My guys controlled themselves and played together. We are a dangerous team,” said Coach Brown. “This tournament was really good for us as far as learning to keep our composure. After a team makes a run at us, to dig in and make our run. That is what basketball is, its a game of runs. At the end you want to be in a position where you can control it.”