01-12-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - Sometimes the winner of a basketball game is determined by which team wants it more.

The team with the burning desire; the team that is willing to do the little things to get the victory.

Tuesday night’s contest between Goreville and Sesser-Valier was a virtual deadlock statistically.

But when it came down to deciding the outcome – it was the kids wearing the Black and Gold that grabbed the brass ring.

Using an early scoring run to gain confidence and a late scoring burst to get the lead back for good – Coach Todd Tripp’s club “tripped up” the Red Devils on their own floor 56-51 in an important non-conference road victory.

Lee Sopczak and Tyler Shadowens paced the ‘Cats with 16 and 13 points respectively with Shadowens closing out the game with 3-of-4 made free throws to give his team the win.

Neither team took good care of the ball as the defenses’ ruled the contest.

However Sesser-Valier was forced into 19 turnovers - with seven of those mistakes coming in the fourth quarter as Goreville took control.

Breaking the final tie of the game at 39-all with an 11-2 scoring march – Goreville got the breathing room that they needed.

The Red Devils had their chances but missed seven shots in the final eight minutes and couldn’t get back the lead.

Despite 17 turnovers of their own – Coach Tripp’s Blackcats left town with a hard-fought win and an 11-3 overall record.

“Our kids played extremely hard tonight and that is what makes us good when we are good. The harder we play the better we are,” said Coach Tripp. “We started out the game and hit a lot of shots and we had some kids come off the bench tonight and contribute.”

Sesser-Valier had multiple chances to win this contest but failed to execute in the important minutes in the final quarter.

“I thought we started the game flat and I told the kids the run that they (Goreville) made to start the game was probably the difference,” said Sesser-Valier mentor Chip Basso. “We wrote on the board that you have to play 32-minutes. We played hard down the stretch but Goreville came to play tonight and we didn’t respond to it until it was too late.”

From the opening tap – Goreville proved that they were ready to go.

Especially Sopczak – a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard - who got his club off to a good start with eight first quarter points.

He drained a 3-pointer from the right wing to get the Blackcats fired up early and when stuck his own rebound back to start his own conventional three-point play while being fouled in the lane Sesser’s Myles Tinsley – Goreville had its first double-digit advantage at 15-5 with 3:30 left in the first quarter.

Sesser-Valier got right back in the contest with a run of its own to finish the quarter.

Outscoring Goreville 9-2 to close the stanza with Justin Matyi scoring four of the points in the paint – the Red Devils trailed 17-14 at the horn.

The pace of the game – sort of a “helter-skelter” style – suited the Blackcats just fine.

“We wanted to keep it more of a half-court game and that is where we wanted it,” added Coach Basso. “We had to scramble down the stretch but we shot ourselves in the foot too many times in the fourth quarter.”

The Red Devils got their first lead of the game when T.J. Eubanks found the mark from behind the 3-point arc for a 22-21 S-V lead with 4:36 to go before intermission.

As it would turn out – Sesser-Valier should have stayed away from a long-range attack.

They were just 3-of-17 from downtown on the night – part of what became their late undoing.

Goreville’s defense – which challenged nearly all of the Red Devils’ attempts – was a huge difference in the contest.

Sesser-Valier closed out the half with Matyi scoring in the lane and Dane Eubanks hitting a pair of free throws that tied the game at 26-all at intermission.

Using its bench to get some important minutes and putting together a slight offensive spurt – Sesser-Valier momentarily looked like they would shake loose from the pesky Goreville crew in the third quarter.

When T.J. Eubanks hit his second and final 3-pointer from the right corner – Sesser-Valier had its largest lead at 37-32 at the 2:20 mark.

But the Cats’ closed the quarter with Sopczak again coming up big on a drive to the basket while being fouled by Dane Eubanks.

His three-point play closed the gap to 37-35 heading to the final quarter.

A pair of scores by Martin Powell and a big 3-pointer by reserve sophomore Alex Stout - that gave control of the contest back to the Blackcats - highlighted the 11-2 run by Goreville.

“Stout – he’s our sixth man and he is probably good enough to start but he gives us a spark every time he takes the floor,” Coach Tripp explained. “He probably played more minutes than anyone tonight.”

Sesser-Valier had a final run left in the tank but the run came way too late.

Matyi closed his scoring for the evening with a basket in the lane and Tinsley made a steal on an errant inbounds pass and scored on a baseline drive to cut the Goreville lead down to 53-51 with :07.5 left.

After making just 1-of-2 free throws to push the score to 54-51 – Shadowens unexpectedly fouled Sesser’s Kendall Gibson going after the rebound on the miss with :04.9 remaining.

S-V – needing Gibson to make the first free throw and then miss the second one and hope for a rebound – got neither.

Gibson missed the first one and when he tried to miss the second one on purpose – he missed the rim by banking it off the glass.

This violation gave the ball back to Goreville.

Shadowens then closed out the game by making both free throws after being fouled with :03.1 left as Goreville left town with the triumph.

“This is a veteran ball club and there are no excuses,” Coach Basso said. “We have to be held accountable and we have some big games ahead of us and we have to step up in those situations and make something good happen.”

The Blackcats were 21-of-50 overall from the field (42 percent) while hitting just 2-of-12 from behind the arc.

Sesser-Valier (12-3) were just 17-of-46 (37 percent) from the floor.

The Red Devils out rebounded Goreville 30-22 but couldn’t overcome the 19 miscues.

Justin Matyi led S-V with 19-points to go with 10-rebounds while Myles Tinsley added 11-points before fouling out.

The Blackcats held the rest of the Devils in check.

“Our team defense and our help-side defense was there on Matyi all night tonight and when they (Sesser) kicked out to their shooters our guys closed out extremely well,” added Coach Tripp. “We had hands everywhere – especially in the second half. It was just a team-effort tonight. To come up here and get a win against Sesser is big.”

Besides Sopczak and Shadowens scoring in double-figures – Powell added 12-points despite being saddled with foul trouble for the Blackcats who are on a roll after a fifth place finish at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament. They returned to that gym for the big win Tuesday night.

“We thought that we could get them (Sesser) a bit tired tonight and we tell the kids it will show up in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter,” finalized Coach Tripp. “I told our coaches that ‘we are going to win this game’ because I could see it in our guys’ eyes, I could see it in the lockerroom. When they came out to warm up they were focused. I know my team and I could see that tonight. I just felt like we were going to win this game.”

Goreville (56) – Lyell 0 0 0-0 0, Shadowens 4 0 5-6 13, Stout 3 0 1-2 7, Potocki 1 0 0-2 2, Kinder 1 0 1-2 3, Sopczak 4 2 2-3 16, Andros 1 0 1-2 3, Powell 5 0 2-3 12. 2FG-19, 3FG-2, FT-12-20, PF-18.
Sesser-Valier (51) – D. Eubanks 0 1 4-4 7, Witcher 0 0 0-0 0, Hicks 0 0 0-0 0, Tinsley 3 0 5-9 11, Pitchford 0 0 0-0 0, Gibson 1 0 2-6 4, Donovan 1 0 0 -0 2, T. Eubanks 0 2 0-0 6, Matyi 8 0 3-7 19, Edwards 1 0 0-0 2, Dorris 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-3, FT-14-26, PF-17.
Fouled Out – D. Eubanks, Tinsley - Sesser-Valier.
Technical Fouls – None.