Gibault produces big comeback
Hawks hand Hornets 44-37 loss, force Nashville into final quarter mistakes

01-06-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
OKAWVILLE
– For the Nashville Hornets, Saturday night's contest against Waterloo Gibault Catholic marked another learning experience for Coach Brad Weather's team.

The lesson taught to them on this night was that to beat quality teams you must play four good quarters of basketball.

Nashville played just three.

The Hornets fourth quarter mistakes coupled by Gibault's sudden offensive explosion turned a sure win by the hosts into defeat.

Coach Dennis Rueter's club rallied by outscoring Nashville 23-8 in the final frame, due in part to seven Nashville turnovers in the final eight minutes as the visitors prevailed, 44-37, in front of a shocked home crowd at the Assembly Hall.

Using two different 8-0 runs in the last eight minutes, the Hawks improved to 6-1 on the season while handing Nashville its second loss in six tries.

“You have to credit their defense. This is a difficult loss for us. I told the kids I was proud of their effort tonight. But we have to get mentally tougher,” said Coach Weathers. “We have to make better decisions in situations. Every time we got up by eight points (three times) in the third quarter, we made a bad decision and turned the ball over in some way, shape or form.”

Opening the final quarter with three straight made shots, with two of the buckets coming from long distance from senior Matt Schreder, Gibault evened the game at 29-all.

After hitting just 2-of-11 attempts in the third quarter, Coach Rueter's squad got hot at the right time to pick up the big road win and its second win over a SIRR Mississippi Division team in 2012-13.

Gibault also bested Pinckneyville back on November 30.

“We finally made a few shots. Points were tough to come by tonight. There is no question that anytime you come in here and get a win against Nashville its a good win,” said Coach Rueter. “They have a pretty good team this year and we like to think that we have a pretty good team. These were two teams that were 'grinding' all night.”

The two made shots by Schreder, both from behind the 3-point arc, got Gibault's offense “kick started.”

His second bomb, launched from the left corner coming off of a screen, found the mark at 5:37 remaining to even the score.

Nashville's Devin Holle scored 12-points from close range on the night and he added a pair of baskets in the fourth quarter that helped keep the Hornets in the contest late.

His score on a hook shot in the lane gave Nashville its final lead with 2:21 remaining, 34-33.

Gibault then took command with its second scoring blitz.

A drive to the basket by 6-foot-1 junior guard Nick Row and a conventional three-point play by senior forward Brendan McFarland put the Hawks up for good.

McFarland grabbed a rebound on his own missed shot while being fouled by Holle. His made free throw gave Gibault a 38-34 lead with just 1:05 to go.

Nashville had a couple of chances in the final minute, but couldn't deliver on the offensive end.

By the time senior Scott Brown connected on a long 3-pointer right in front of the Hornets' bench that cut the deficit to just 41-37, only :15 remained.

Gibault closed the win with 3-of-4 made free throws in the final seconds.

Coach Weathers' team was at its best when it got the ball inside to big men Holle and freshman Royce Newman.

Both took nice lob passes from sophomore guard Daniel Thorson for scores in the lane in the first quarter, which ended at 11-8 Nashville.

The Hornets were a stellar 14-of-26 in their two-point attempts in the matchup but weren't nearly as productive from the outside.

Brown's trey in the final seconds was Nashville's only made 3-pointer in 12 tries.

Nashville's best move came at the beginning of the second half.

Again, the success came from getting the ball inside.

Holle scored on consecutive offensive possessions and Thorson picked up his third assist on a nice backdoor pass to force a Gibault timeout at 24-16 Nashville at 4:08 of the period.

Freshman forward Royce Newman scored four points in the game and his made shot in the lane pushed the lead to 28-19.

Gibault, who hit just 14-of-42 shots overall, were 6-of-10 in the fourth quarter of the comeback.

Coach Rueter got balanced scoring from his club.

Row topped the list with 11-points while McFarland came through with 10. Schreder hit a trio of 3-pointers to finish with nine markers and Wes Degener helped finish the win with eight points.

Degner hit 6-of-8 free throws in the win, 5-of-6 coming in the final quarter.

Nashville was topped by Brown with 13-points while Holle finished with six made shots in close for his 12.

Nashville also controlled the glass, out-rebounding the guests 32-19 overall.

But the Hawks made a second half adjustment, and the Hornets got zero offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.

Nashville finished with 18-turnovers while Gibault only had nine. The Hawks had just three in the second half.

“We forced them into a few turnovers, we put some pressure on them (in the fourth quarter) and we did a good job on the defensive boards,” said Coach Rueter. “We hadn't done that, especially in the first quarter. In the fourth quarter we cut that out entirely.”

The Hornets head back into action next weekend by hosting Carterville on Friday and hitting the road to play at Benton on Saturday.

Gibault will play at cross-town rival Waterloo on Tuesday.

“Gibault picked up the intensity and it was a physical game,” added Coach Weathers. “Hopefully we can learn from this. They're a good ball-club but this is a game we thought we had the opportunity to win.”

1
2
3
4
-
F
Waterloo Gibault Catholic
09
07
05
23
-
44
Nashville
11
09
11
08
-
37

Waterloo Gibault Catholic (44) – Ja. Rueter 0 0 0-0 0, Jac. Rueter 0 0 0-0 0, Meyer 1 0 0-0 2, Degener 1 0 6-8 8, Row 4 1 0-0 11, Schreder 0 3 0-0 9, Toal 2 0 0-0 4, B. McFarland 1 1 5-8 10, Weiler 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-9, 3FG-5, FT-11-16, PF-11.

Nashville (37) – Rueter 2 0 0-0 4, Brown 4 1 2-4 13, Thorson 0 0 1-3 1, Anderson 0 0 0-2 0, Beetley 0 0 2-2 2, Holle 6 0 0-0 12, Newman 2 0 1-2 5.
2FG-14, 3FG-1, FT-6-12, PF-15.

Fouled Out – Holle - Nashville.
Technical Fouls – None.