01/08/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELIZABETHTOWN - On a rainy Saturday night in Hardin County, the host Cougars more than 'dampened the spirits' of rival Thompsonville.

Coach Rodney Lane's club out-played the Tigers in nearly every phase, with big early and late offensive runs and an overall defensive effort on the night to keep the game in hand, Hardin County rolled to a 66-37 Greater Egyptian Conference win in a game that was originally scheduled for Friday night but was pushed back 24-hours.

The Cougars, who have played arguably the toughest non-conference schedule of the GEC, improved their overall mark to 9-6 while staying undefeated in league play at 4-0.

Statistically speaking, this was a game that Thompsonville head coach Kevin Smith would like to forget about.

Two of the problems that his team had offensively were the main contributors to the Tigers dropping to 6-10 overall.

The Tigers coughed up 18-turnovers, most of which coincided with most of the Hardin County offensive attack.

Another stat factor was rebounding as the Cougars were aggressive on the offensive end of the floor.

Coach Lane's club ripped down 15-offensive rebounds, 31-total boards, as defensively they forced Thompsonville into a 12-of-29 outing offensively while allowing a single offensive rebound (1) in the entire game.

This turned out to be a tough formula to swallow as the Tigers dropped their fifth GEC game (0-5).

Hardin County was paced by 6-5 senior Bryson Cullum with 17-points, 12 of the points coming in less than two minutes as the forward nailed four consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to ice the cake on the gloomy night.

Senior Jake Vaughn and sophomore Ben Vaughn added 14-points each in the victory.

Ben Vaughn hit four 3-point shots to match Cullum's quartet of long range shots.

The team total for the night was 11, which turned out to be exactly half (33) of the Cougars final score (66) in the win.

Gavin Smith, a 6-0 senior, hit two 3-pointers while 5-11 senior Lance Ditterline added one additional 3-pointer.

Smith netted eight-points total while Ditterline finished with seven.

Six-two senior Kailin Gerdes added a couple of baskets for his team, both coming early in the game as the Cougars were on the attack early on.

Hardin County trailed just once early and then made its first move.

The Cougars broke a 5-5 tie with a 17-4 run.

All of the players mentioned scored in the first quarter for HC.

Ben Vaughn hit three of his 3's in the quarter and Jake Vaughn got busy hitting the glass.

Jake scored both of his baskets on offensive rebounds in the first quarter and Ben nailed down his second trey of the frame for a 14-7 Cougar lead.

Gerdes added his second score which was followed by a Ditterline 20-footer from near the top of the circle.

Ben Vaughn's third bomb of the quarter came after the Cougars held the ball for a final shot, consuming almost all of the final :43 of the quarter, produced a 22-9 first quarter spread.

For Thompsonville, after a slow beginning the Tigers rallied to make a game of it before halftime.

Coach Smith got 10-points each from juniors Kade Shelby and Hayden Linhorst as each scored in the second quarter.

Senior Brody Rone scored seven-points while senior Skylar Woodring added six.

All four put up points in the second quarter where Thompsonville got to within eight-points at intermission.

Included in the quarter were 3-pointers from Woodring and Lindhorst in the early part of the frame and then an 8-3 run to close the half.

Rone added a basket on a drive down the lane and Shelby closed the scoring getting inside on the Cougars' defense.

His bucket made it 31-23 Hardin County after two quarters of play.

“We talked about that (rebounding) at halftime. We were just down eight-points and if it weren't for the second chance points off of their offensive rebounds we would have probably been in the lead,” said Coach Smith. “We felt like our zone kind of affected them but they hit some outside shots and they are a really good team, arguably the best team in our conference. To come on the road and play them like we did in the first half I was proud of our boys.”

The Tigers would get just a bit closer in the third quarter, with scores from senior Cedric Peter and Rone.

A basket by Rone and two free throws from the senior guard got Thompsonville to 36-29 with 4:47 left in the third.

Things didn't go well from that point on for the Tigers.

Hardin County went on a 14-0 rampage to close the third quarter and begin the fourth.

The Vaughn's scored nine points of the final 10 in the quarter.

Ben added another long range 3-pointer and added a drive in the lane off of an offensive rebound by Ditterline.

Jake also got inside for a basket and Cullum hit 1-of-2 foul shots as the stanza ended at 46-29.

When Jake added a basket to open the fourth and Cullum scored inside, Hardin County led by 21.

“We got tired in the second half, we just ran out of gas. I thought our effort was pretty good tonight and I don't think the final score was an indication of how hard we played,” said Coach Smith. “We'll learn from this and we are getting better. We are working towards the regional in February. We are just going to keep growing and learning.”

Lindhorst broke the Tigers' dry spell with a 3-pointer.

However this is the point where Cullum started finding the range.

Spreading the floor on the offense end with skip passes over the Thompsonville zone, the 6-5 senior hit three consecutive 3-pointers, all from the right side of the court.

His fourth trifecta came from the left wing.

This shot with 1:25 left in the contest made it 64-35 when both coaches went to their reserves.

Two of the kids off of the pine; one for each school, added points in the final moments.

Thompsonville freshman Lucas Parrish and Hardin County senior Billy Goins each made baskets to close out the scoring.

The Cougars ended up a misleading 26-of-61 from the floor, 11-of-32 from the arc

Ten of those missed shots, however, came in the final minutes, including five 3-pointers, with reserves on the floor.

Thompsonville had some bright spots but the mistakes kept them from making a better second half run.

Seven of the turnovers came in the final frame and they ended up just 12-of-29 overall from the floor.

The Cougars will be Road Warriors for the next three weeks of the season.

Coach Lane's group will hop on the bus for trips to Galatia, Cobden (at Unity Point in Carbondale), Pope County, Massac County and Gallatin County before the GEC tournament begins at Southeastern Illinois College January 24-29.

Hardin County's next home game will be February 1 against Pope County.

For those who might not be aware of the Cougars' schedule, five of the six losses this season have come against 2A teams and the lone 1A loss was 74-70 in overtime to Goreville at the Goreville Invitational Tournament.

Four of the 2A losses were by 10-points or less.

Thompsonville will play at Century next Friday in their only game of the week.

The Tigers put together a good showing after Christmas with a 2-2 mark at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament as they reached the consolation bracket title game.

“We didn't have nearly the intensity tonight as we normally have. We had a couple of snow days and we kind looked lethargic out there most of the game,” said Coach Lane. “But it is a win, a conference win and that is what counts.”

Thompsonville (37) – Rone 3 0 1-2 7, Woodring 0 2 0-0 6, Shelby 3 0 4-5 10, Pond 0 0 0-0 0, H. Linhorst 0 2 4-4 10, Wenzel 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Sandy 0 0 0-0 0, Peter 1 0 0-2 2, Parrish 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-8, 3FG-4, FT-9-13, PF-8.
Hardin County (66) – B. Vaughn 1 4 0-0 14, J. Vaughn 6 0 0-1 14, Smith 1 2 0-0 8, Cullum 2 4 1-3 17, Gerdes 2 0 0-0 4, J. Austin 0 0 0-0 0, Ditterline 2 1 0-1 7, Bebout 0 0 0-0 0, N. Austin 0 0 0-0 0, Goins 1 0 0-1 2, Fricker 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-15, 3FG-11, FT-1-6, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.