12/30/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
VANDALIA – Coach Todd Cantrill and his Greenville Comets played a pretty tough early season schedule heading into tournament week at Vandalia.

The slate of contests included games at the always difficult Carlyle Kaskaskian Classic.

The Comets took home fourth place in that tournament and entered the 52nd annual Vandalia Holiday Tournament with just a 6-4 mark.

The four losses were all to teams with winning records.

The tough slate of games paid off at the VHT.

The Comets won five consecutive contests, including a 50-38 triumph over top-seed Shelbyville, to capture the program's second Vandalia title and the first one since 2014.

Six-three senior Nolan Tabor tossed in 16-points to lead Greenville in scoring as the Comets now sit at 11-4 on the campaign heading into the second half of the season.

Senior guard Gavin Doll added 14-points as did senior forward Cale Ackerman in the victory.

“It (schedule) prepares us and I know it is tough on the kids sometimes to convince them of that but it prepares you for tougher games, against bigger, physical teams,” said Coach Cantrill. “You take those games and those lessons and apply them to everything you do.”

Dribble drives to the basket against the Shelbyville defense that turned into high percentage shots for most of the night and a defensive effort, especially in the third quarter, proved to be a championship game formula for success.

The Comets forced six third quarter turnovers against the Rams, which featured three consecutive miscues, that helped turn a 20-18 halftime lead into a 35-25 lead at the end of the period.

Shelbyville fell to 9-3 on the season while having its six-game winning streak snapped.

Head coach Paul Conlon and his team found defending the Comets a difficult task on Monday night.

Greenville ended up 20-of-44 from the field and knocked down 8-of-9 free throws, 5-of-6 in the final :38.8 of the contest to nail down the championship.

“I thought our defense was tremendous. The Jokisch kid is going to score but you have to hold him down as much as you can,” said Coach Cantrill. “We wanted him to shoot tough two's (shots) and our guy Gus Olson did a great job on number 11 (Myles Hammond) who came into the game shooting lights out for them. We took him out of the game and when you can do that to their two best players then you give yourself a chance.”

Shelbyville was led by tournament MVP Jack Jokisch with 21-points and 10-rebounds for the Rams.

But he got little help scoring with no one else hitting double-figures.

Junior guard Aiden Hardy added eight-points for Shelbyville, senior Wyatt Walker added six and sophomore Owen Beyers scored three-points as those totals weren't enough to take home the top prize.

The Rams came into the tournament finale having shot the ball well from the outside but managed a just a 3-of-19 performance from the 3-point line.

Greenville also took better care of the ball with just five-turnovers and just two in the second half.

The Comets trailed late in the first quarter as Jokisch scored six of his points and Hardy scored twice for a 13-10 lead.

(CONTINUED)

After an early quarter bucket by Jokisch, Greenville made their first run.

A 10-3 march to intermission included an 8-0 push to take the lead for keeps.

Ackerman started the run with a basket and added another drive for a score in the scoring spree.

Doll also added a pair of buckets, the last one closed the half at 20-18 Comets.

All ten of the points for Greenville in the second quarter came on the inside, which was part of the game goals.

“Our kids are strong enough that they can protect the ball and a big part of our game-plan was to attack the middle and when they got in there we finished,” said Coach Cantrill.

Greenville put some distance between themselves and the Rams with another scoring run coming from defensive stops.

Turning the Rams over in the third quarter produced two scoring runs to assume control.

Tabor converted on a steal and fast break and Ackerman scored twice on the inside as Greenville led 35-25 heading to the final quarter.

Greenville put together a 7-of-14 third frame which also included three key offensive rebounds.

Running a three-man weave on offense, the Comets got to the rim and finished.

“Our kids are strong enough that they can protect the ball and a big part of our game-plan was to attack the middle and when they got in there we finished,” said Coach Cantrill.

The Rams cut the deficit to nine twice in the fourth quarter but had to settle for second place honors, which denied Shelbyville a second-consecutive championship at the VHT and sixth overall.

Shelbyville finished up 18-of-44 overall and Greenville held a 24-21 rebounding edge.

“You're not going to win every tournament you play in but every once in a while it's nice to win one,” said Coach Cantrill.

OKAW VALLEY 51, CUMBERLAND 41
In a battle for third place at the VHT between Lincoln Prairie Conference rivals the Timberwolves came out on top to finish their week at 4-1 with the win over the Pirates.

Coach Kyle Pierce's team used an 18-4 second quarter to take a 32-14 lead and kept the lead at double-figures for the rest of the contest to improve to 6-8 on the year.

After starting the season 0-7, Okaw Valley have won 6-of-7.

Six-three junior Wyatt Hildebrandt paced the Timberwolves with 13-points as six different players produced points.

Six-one junior Braden Montgomery ended up with 12-points and junior Tucker Montgomery finished with eight.

Senior guard Chase Creviston added seven-points in the win and senior guard Grady Sparks pitched in six-points.

Cumberland (7-8) was paced by sophomore Cameron Roedl with 15-points and seven-rebounds for head coach Justin Roedl.

Sophomore guard Chase Stewart added six-points but the Pirates were only 4-of-27 shooting from the 3-point line and 5-of-12 from the foul line in the loss that ended a 2-3 week at the VHT.

Six-seven junior Zack Harmon scored two-points but grabbed seven-rebounds for Cumberland.

Senior Kelby Bierman scored six and junior Reed Miller scored five as did junior Kade McMechan.

Hildebrandt added eight-rebounds to his stats as the two teams finished 28-28 in total rebounds.

Okaw Valley did their damage on the inside by hitting 18-of-28 two-point field goal attempts.

The two clubs combined for 36 turnovers, with 19 being miscues by the Timberwolves and they will hookup again at Cumberland on January 7.

VANDALIA 65, PANA 44
The Vandals closed out their tournament with a victory in the fifth place game as they took an early lead and cruised home to improve to 7-9 on the season as they completed a 3-2 VHT.

Sophomore guard Andrew Casey rolled in 18-points for the Vandals as he nailed down 8-of-13 field goal attempts in the win over the Panthers.

Senior Wade Brannon dropped in 15-points while snagging 10-rebounds for Coach Joe Vanzo.

Six-five sophomore Lucas Bowers scored 12-points to go with 11-rebounds as Vandalia crushed the Panthers on the glass, 42-19 in total boards.

Sophomore guard Qwentyn Stombaugh added seven-points and seven-rebounds as the hosts led37-22 at halftime.

Pana (5-7) finished the week at 2-3 for Coach Adam Metzger.

The Panthers had just two players; freshman Easton Malisia and junior Tyler Rench, in double-figures with 10-points each.

Pana hit just 18-of-61 shots from the floor in the loss compared to 28-of-55 for Vandalia.

Senior guard Sam Sims scored nine-points and junior Cash Lynch, an all-tournament selection, was held to just two-points by the Vandalia defense.

NOKOMIS 43, FLORA 41
The Redskins rallied with a 12-3 third quarter and held off the Wolves in the seventh place game.

Coach Dan DeWerff's club is now 9-7 overall, 2-3 for the week, as 6-3 senior Drake Taylor scored 12-points and 6-2 senior Ian Keller added 11.

Two other Nokomis players; sophomore Carter Wexstten and junior Galvine Himes, scored seven-points apiece in the victory.

The Redskins ended up 18-of-48 overall from the floor and just 2-of-14 from the arc.

Six-one junior Kyler Dennis led Flora with 12-points and 6-3 sophomore Kehlin Crawford added nine-points for the Wolves and head coach Phil Leib.

This marks the final Vandalia Holiday Tournament for Coach Leib, who is retiring from coaching at the end of the 2024-25 season.

MACON MERIDIAN 69, MULBERRY GROVE 53
The Hawks salvaged their week with a victory over the Aces to go 1-4 by winning the ninth place contest to open the final day of the event.

Meridian is now 4-12 for head coach David Graves on the season and they picked up the win behind 24-points from sophomore Bryce Brown and 21 from senior Paul Ralston.

Senior Brooks Brown added nine-points for the Hawks as the team managed to win despite hitting just 23-of-57 overall.

Senior Colton Denny added nine-points and senior Lucas Miller and junior Ted Jones each scored four.

The Aces, in their first ever trip to the Vandalia Holiday Tournament lost all five of their contests in the event.

Coach Sam Barber and his Aces fell to 5-11 overall and 0-5 for the VHT.

Six-two junior Jackson Icenogle scored 19-points, senior Logan Bauer added 11 and Landon Sugg scored 10.

Mulberry Grove was just 6-of-28 from the 3-point line and 23-of-64 overall.