SESSER-VALIER HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
Goreville holds off Indians, reaches semifinals
Christopher upsets Waltonville; Sparta posts win over Chester; Woodlawn edges New Athens
Sesser-Valier, Zeigler-Royalton, Century, Cobden get consolation bracket wins

12-28-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER
The Goreville Blackcats jumped out to a 18-point lead on the Johnston City Indians on Friday afternoon in their quarterfinal game at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament and it appeared that the Coach Todd Tripp's team would “waltz” its way into the semifinals with ease.

However the Tribe had other ideas and turned this event into a “dance marathon.”

Coach Wade Thomas' Indians staged a rally that nearly turned into a shocking upset.

Johnston City had a final shot that would have produced a victory but Hunter Zeigler's 3-pointer from the left corner was on target but short at the buzzer as Goreville escaped with a 47-45 victory to advance to the final four.

Goreville improved to 7-2 on the season with the triumph and they advanced to play Christopher in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon.

“That was my positive point to them (the kids) and I said that in the last time out. I said 'its a close game, let's win it.' It is a positive that we can get that 'W' and we did,” said Coach Tripp. “We didn't do that the last game against Carterville. I thought that our kids didn't play the second half with the intensity that we had in the first half.”

The Blackcats were led by Dayton Tripp with 13-points. This 6-foot-3 senior hit a pair of shots to open the fourth quarter and his free throw with :19.2 was the final point scored in the game.

With fouls to give in the final seconds, the Blackcats kept JC from getting off a potential game-winning shot until the final horn.

“We got a good shot (Zeigler) at the end of the game but it just didn't fall,” said Coach Thomas. “They (Goreville) punched us right in the mouth (figuratively) to begin the game but the kids fought back, with a lot of courage. To be down 18 with nothing going right early on. Missing lay ups and giving up offensive rebounds. We finally got into the flow of the game and we kept battling. We put ourselves in a good spot. It was a great ballgame.”

Jake Davison and Austin McPheron led Johnston City with 12 and 10-points.

Getting the the 6-foot-3 Davison the ball in close to the basket helped trigger the late rally.

Back-to-back scores from Davison began the comeback and then Derek Smith, who wears number 33, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 3:33 left.

Those ironic numbers spelled a 43-37 deficit that was shrinking much to the chagrin of the Goreville faithful.

A pair of conventional three-point plays got Johnston City even closer in the final 1:16.

Zeigler drove the left side of the lane to the basket and was fouled by the Blackcats' Blake Gray.

McPheron made a nice move a possession later that turned into another three points.

He faked a hand-off to one of his teammates and quickly drove the right baseline for a basket while being fouled by J.T. Russell.

His subsequent free throw cut the lead to 46-45 with :19.2 remaining.

The Cats appeared to be headed for an easy victory as they sprinted out to a 20-3 lead early in the second quarter.

Using its zone press to speed up the game, Goreville was able to force six Johnston City turnovers in the first eight minutes.

Getting the ball inside to Alex Andros, a 6-foot-4 senior, helped build the early spread.

Andros scored five points in the first quarter and his conventional three-point play while being fouled by Davison made it 13-3 at the end of one.

Seven consecutive points from Goreville, including another conventional three-point play from Andros, made it a 17-point advantage.

The lead reached its pinnacle when Tripp scored inside to make it 22-5 at the 5:12 mark.

At this point, the Indians began to whittle away at the lead and got it to 27-15 at intermission.

Three consecutive scores from Davison on drives to the basket breathed life into the Indians' rally.

A pair of 3-pointers from McPheron and reserve guard Jeremy Gregge cut the lead down to 25-15.

“We talked in the walk-through today, we don't want to just break their press, we want to break them and score,” added Coach Thomas. “If they are going to put pressure on the front end, we felt like if we could get in the right spots and connect the dots we could get opportunities.”

A bucket by Kyefer Cavins for Goreville at the buzzer closed the first half with the Blackcats up 12.

Johnston City outscored the Blackcats, 15-7 in the third quarter to set the stage for a near upset.

Luke McCormick scored five points for JC, hitting a trey to open the second half and then nailing another shot from 18-feet near the top of the arc.

A lay in from the Indians' Levi Tanner forced a Goreville timeout at the 4:27 mark.

Consecutive scores from Smith and Zeigler closed the frame at 34-30.

Although Johnston City got close, they never got the lead in the contest as the Tribe fell into the fifth place bracket with the loss.

Following Davison and McPheron in scoring for the Indians with five points each was Smith, Tanner, Zeigler and McCormick.

Johnston City, after a slow start, finished 19-of-41 from the field and hit 4-of-9 from behind the arc.


Andros had 12-points and Cavins added 10 to the total for Goreville, who is looking to reach its third straight Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament title game.

Goreville was 20-of-32 overall, 3-of-8 from downtown. The Blackcats could have closed the game out earlier but they were only 4-of-11 from the foul line.

The Cats outrebounded JC 22-14 and although they were the ones pressing, Goreville finished with more turnovers 17-14

“They (Johnston City) are well coached and they run a lot of good stuff. They made some shots in the second half and they didn't make them in the first half,” added Coach Tripp. “But we got the win and we moved on and that's the most important thing.” 

1
2
3
4
-
F
Goreville
13
14
07
13
-
47
Johnston City
03
12
15
15
-
45

Goreville (47) – Tripp 3 2 1-2 13, Gray 2 0 1-4 5, Belcher 0 0 0-0 0, Lanham 0 0 0-0 0, Cavins 5 0 0-0 10, Patterson 0 0 0-0 0, Russell 2 1 0-3 7, Andros 5 0 2-2 12. 2FG-17, 3FG-3, FT-4-11, PF-11.
Johnston City (45) – Tanner 2 0 1-2 5, Zeigler 2 0 1-1 5, McCormick 1 1 0-0 5, McPheron 3 1 1-1 10, Davison 6 0 0-0 12, Smith 1 1 0-0 5, Gregge 0 1 0-0 3. 2FG-15, 3FG-4, FT-3-4, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

WOODLAWN 51, NEW ATHENS 42
The Cardinals survived a scare with a win over the Yellow Jackets as the quest for three championships in a row for Coach Shane Witzel's team is still in play.

Kris Harlow scored 23-points as the Cardinals improved to 7-2 overall with the win. Jake Robinson and Jayson Hapeman added seven points each.

New Athens (7-4) led 36-31 at the end of three quarters but couldn't put away the Cardinals as the Yellow Jackets were just 6-of-16 from the foul line in the final frame.

Tyler Meyer and Johnny Hepp scored 13 and 11-points respectively for Coach Marc Derwort's team as they fell into the fifth place bracket with the loss.

1
2
3
4
-
F
New Athens
13
09
14
06
-
42
Woodlawn
09
15
07
20
-
51

New Athens (42) – Marlow 0 1 0-0 3, Hepp 2 2 1-4 11, Ragland 3 0 2-3 8, Ozier 0 0 0-0 0, Kiefer 1 0 0-0 2, Meyer 4 0 5-10 13, Reuss 0 1 2-3 5. 2FG-10, 3FG-4, FT-10-20, PF-14.
Woodlawn (51) – G. Owens 0 0 0-3 0, Hapeman 1 1 2-2 7, Harlow 6 3 2-4 23, Isaac 2 0 0-1 4, Kennedy 0 0 1-2 1, Coleman 0 1 0-0 3, Robinson 3 0 1-2 7, Phelps 2 0 0-2 4, R. Owens 0 0 2-2 2. 2FG-14, 3FG-5, FT-8-18, PF-20.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

SPARTA 58, CHESTER 57
The Bulldogs cruised to an early advantage and then held off a furious Yellow Jackets' rally to advance.

Coach Jeff Bowlby's club was paced by 23-points from 6-foot-7 senior Aaron Rushing and 19-points from senior Phil Lockhart as Sparta improved to 9-3 on the season.

Sparta led 21-8 at the end of the first quarter but Chester (8-4) , behind 16-points from Kyle Landon came from behind to make it close.

Jake Lochhead and Chris Schwartz finished with 14 and 12-points respectively in the loss.

1
2
3
4
-
F
Sparta
21
16
09
12
-
58
Chester
08
12
15
22
-
57

Sparta (58) – Austin 2 0 0-1 4, Jackson 1 0 1-3 3, Rerguson 0 0 0-0 0, Lockhart 7 1 2-2 19, Lukes 0 0 0-0 0, Rushing 9 0 5-7 23, Wilson 0 3 0-0 9. 2FG-19, 3FG-4, FT-8-12, PF-16.
Chester (57) – Arbeiter 3 0 0-0 6, Schwartz 4 0 4-6 12, Weir 0 0 0-0 0, Lochhead 4 0 6-7 14, Landon 2 4 0-0 16, Cushman 1 0 4-4 6, Miles 1 0 1-2 3, Koeneman 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-15, 3FG-4, FT-15-19, PF-10.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

CHRISTOPHER 47, WALTONVILLE 39
In a second round upset, the Bearcats took care of the Spartans in the day's first quarterfinal.

Coach Eric Stallman's club got 13-points from Jacob Towers and 11-points from R.J. Kuh as they forced Waltonville into the fifth place bracket.

Outscoring the opposition 15-2 in the second quarter, Christopher (8-3) advanced to the final four to play Goreville on Saturday.

Waltonville (9-3) got 12-points from Trey Witges in the loss.

1
2
3
4
-
F
Waltonville
13
02
15
09
-
39
Christopher
07
15
14
11
-
47

Waltonville (39) – Winchester 0 1 0-0 3, Laird 0 2 0-0 6, Whisenant 0 0 0-0 0, Coggins 0 2 3-3 9, Rogers 1 0 0-0 2, Witges 4 0 4-6 12, Hale 2 1 0-0 7, Zahm 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-7, 3FG-6, FT-7-9, PF-18.
Christopher (47) – Towers 5 0 3-4 13, Atchison 0 1 0-0 3, Young 1 1 3-6 8, Calloni 1 0 2-4 4, Mercks 3 0 2-2 8, Kuh 2 0 7-8 11. 2FG-12, 3FG-2, FT-17-24, PF-10.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

CONSOLATION BRACKET
Zeigler-Royalton advanced to the semifinals with a 57-45 win over Vienna behind 21-points from Brandon Jones.

Century used 25-points from Cordon Hight as the Centurions stayed in the tournament with a 56-48 win over Shawnee.

Cobden needed 10-points from Josh Aspen and an extra session to oust Marissa-Coulterville, 42-39.

Sesser-Valier topped Elverado 61-36 in the final consy game of the day with Justin Kulich netting a game-best 17-points for the Red Devils. Jordan Gunter added nine points for S-V.