11-29-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
EDWARDSVILLE – In an early season contest in which both teams had issues, the Gibault Hawks handled their adversary better than their opponent on Friday night at the 33rd Annual Metro-East Lutheran Thanksgiving Tournament.

Despite blowing all of an 11-point halftime lead in the third quarter by missing their first 11 shots from the field, Coach Dennis Rueter’s club got things going again in the fourth quarter and pulled away from Roxana, 50-42, to advance to the championship game for the second consecutive year.

Defensively the Hawks forced the young Shells’ backcourt into mistakes and capitalized on these miscues to improve to 4-0 on the week.

Coach Mark Briggs’ club committed 20-turnovers in the contest and, even though they rallied to take a brief third quarter lead, dropped into the third place game on Saturday.

“That is kind of the way we want to play, game in and game out,” said Coach Rueter, talking about their defensive effort. “They (Roxana) really struggled with the youth that they have in spots. We are still trying to find our way offensively. The way we want to play is entirely different than we played last year. We are going to have to get a lot better offensively.”

Gibault was led in scoring by senior forward Wes Degener with 16-points while teammate Mitch Meyer added 15.

Nick Row added eight in the victory for the Hawks.

Roxana got solid play from their big guys up front as Ben Sheets led all scorers with 18-points while Matt Hartnett tossed 11.

Both of those 6-foot-5 seniors had quality offensive nights.

However it was the defensive end of the floor that ended up making the difference in the outcome for the Hawks, who got a bit of revenge for losing in the title game to the Shells last November in this tournament.

Exploiting the Shells’ inexperienced guards on the night, Gibault forced 12 of the Roxana turnovers in the first half in building a lead.

“Our backcourt is young. We have a freshman and two sophomores but we hope by Christmas and at the end of the year they will be better. Games like this will make you grow up fast,” said Coach Briggs. “I don’t like the turnovers but I knew that they (Gibault) would put a lot of pressure on us. That is a good measuring stick for our kids. It’s a good gauge for us. If you take away half of those turnovers then we probably win that game.”

A steal and a fast break lay in by Meyer gave the Hawks an early 7-6 lead. As it turned out, this was an omen of things to come as Roxana struggled against the Gibault pressure.

The Meyer’s steal started a 7-0 run in which featured the first of six made 3-pointers for the Hawks on the night.

A conventional three-point play by 6-foot-4 sophomore Brian Deterding and a 3-point bomb by junior guard Zach Rueter made it 13-6 with 2:23 left in the opening quarter.

Sheets and Hartnett each scored on shots in the paint to cut the Gibault advantage to just 20-17 midway through the second quarter before the Hawks made their second big run.

Gibault outgunned the Shells 10-2 to close the half with Meyer netting a pair of shots and Degener and senior guard Tyler Enright each converting steals into fast break lay ups for a 30-19 halftime edge.

Other than a made free throw by Degener (1-of-2) at the 6:14 mark, Gibault didn’t score a point for the first 7:15 of the third quarter as the Hawks allowed Roxana to get back into the game and take a brief lead.

Coach Rueter’s team went 1-of-12 from the floor in the quarter and the Shells went on a 13-1 run to take a 32-31 advantage.

Roxana made their move behind Sheets and Hartnett and using offensive rebounds (five in the quarter) to get back into the contest.

Scoring all but a single 3-pointer by Hartnett in the frame, Roxana bullied their way in the lane with Sheets and sophomore guard Trace Gentry each converting second chance opportunities.

When Sheets stuck back home a miss with 2:15 left, Roxana led by a point and had all the momentum.

But on this night, the Hawks were able to take the Shells best shot and came right back to take the lead.

Another transition score, this time by Degener, gave Gibault a 33-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Meyer nailed back-to-back trifectas to begin the fourth frame and Jared Rueter followed up with a big long distance bomb as Gibault began to pull away at 42-35 with 4:14 to go.

While Roxana had calmed the turnover storm during the third quarter, they committed five in the final stanza, including back-to-back possessions in which Degener took advantage.

Last season’s top scorer for Gibault Catholic, Degener showed why he is one of the top offensive threats in the Metro-East area as he scored twice on drives to the basket.

His conventional three-point play while being fouled by Roxana’s Jordan Brown was followed by a steal that turned into a fast break lay in which gave Gibault a 47-37 lead.

Sheets would manage a pair of scores late in the contest but the Shells could get no closer than seven points as Gibault locked down the win from the foul line, hitting 3-of-5 in the final :52.1.

“I’m happy where we are at defensively. We lost our marquee kid (Hunter Reine) from last year but I think this team is every bit as good as last season,” added Coach Briggs. “Once we come around and get some experience we will be better.”

Gibault, in spite of the poor third quarter, advanced to the championship game to face unbeaten Litchfield.

The Purple Panthers got to the finale with a 77-70 win over Metro-East Lutheran late Saturday night.

Both teams had similar offensive numbers with Gibault hitting 40 percent of its shots from the field (18-of-45) while the Shells delivered 19-of-48 (39.5 percent).

However the real difference turn out to be the Hawks ability to convert from beyond the arc, hitting 6-of-12 compared to just 2-of-12 from Roxana.

Gibault took better care of the ball with just 11-turnovers compared to Roxana’s 20.

Roxana held a slight edge on the boards at 28-25 but they couldn’t overcome the mistakes handling the ball.

“We had some big 3’s when we really needed them. We went pretty cold in the third quarter,” added Coach Rueter. “The one Jared (Rueter) hit with about four or five minutes to go was really big.”

Roxana (42) – Vandiver 0 0 0-0 0, Gentry 1 0 0-0 2, Sheets 8 0 2-5 18, Golenor 0 1 0-0 3, Brown 2 0 0-0 4, Hartnett 4 1 0-1 11, Foss 2 0 0-0 4. 2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-2-4, PF-16.
Gibault Catholic (50) – Ja. Rueter 0 1 0-1 3, Enright 1 0 0-0 , Za. Rueter 0 1 0-0 3, Meyer 3 3 0-0 15, Degener 6 0 4-5 16, Row 1 1 3-6 8, Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Deterding 1 0 1-1 3. 2FG-12, 3FG-6, FT-8-13, PF-12.
Fouled Out – Brown - Roxana.
Technical Fouls – None.