01-15-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARMI - Coming off of a couple of tough conference losses to Herrin and Massac County and clearly not playing their best basketball of the season, the Harrisburg Bulldogs weren’t looked upon as one of the favorites as the 28th Annual Carmi-White County Invitational Tournament began on Monday.

But that has all changed following the first two nights of the event.

Coach Randy Smithpeters has his club back on track after wins the first two nights and is one of two teams sitting at 2-0 in the round-robin event.

On Tuesday night the Bulldogs edged host CWC 52-50 and in the process put themselves in the position to win the tournament.

Madison Medley has come out of the gate with two huge games for Harrisburg.

Following up his 31 point, 13 rebound game Monday night in a win over Mount Carmel; Medley scored 21 points and pulled down nine rebounds in the win that moved the Bulldogs to 13-5 on the season.

“We are happy with the win because we know that every game is important,” said Smithpeters. “We played well last night and tonight was just as important. He (Medley) was a load last night and tonight and he did a nice job of working inside.”

But the story of this Bulldog battle was the defensive effort Harrisburg on Carmi’s top gun Travis Jones.

The 6-foot-4 junior scored 21 points on the night but after allowing him a 12 point first quarter, Harrisburg held him to just nine points the rest of the way.

Six-foot-three senior Jake Stevers led the defensive work on Jones by shadowing him for most of the game.

“I think we adjusted to his style a bit. He gives a very good fake and when you go by he gets his shot,” said Smithpeters. “He puts it on the floor and Jake did a good job of adjusting to that. And I give his teammates some credit because we do a lot of switching and it was more than just Jake. But that was his assignment. We did a tremendous job on him in the second half. He is an awfully good player.”

The game could have been decided much earlier but Harrisburg allowed CWC to hang around by miss three consecutive free throws in the final :54.

Carmi-White County’s Travis Williams launched a long 3-point attempt that missed at the buzzer as Harrisburg escaped with another close win over the other Bulldogs.

Harrisburg beat CWC in the quarterfinals of the Eldorado Holiday Tournament - 58-56 in 2OT - back in December.

Harrisburg and Carmi-White County both shot the ball well in the contest and the offensive output began from the word ‘go’ as Harrisburg hit 23-of-41 from the field (56 percent) while CWC hit for 21-of-45 (46 percent).

Jones held the hot hand early with a pair of 3-pointers and two 2-point scores.

His 3-pointer from the top of the arc at 4:17 of the opening stanza gave Carmi its first lead of the game.

He scored twice more in a 12-2 run that pushed the Bulldogs’ lead to 14-6 and forced a Smithpeters’ timeout.

Harrisburg responded with two buckets to close out the quarter.

Matt Smithpeters scored on a pull up jumper in the lane and Stevers picked up a rebound basket to make it 14-10 at the end of one.

Jones got help on the night by teammate Erik Rice as he scored 17 points for Carmi-White County.

Rice picked up a pair of important baskets in the second quarter as Harrisburg concentrated on stopping Jones.

In fact Rice took a pair of Jones passes and turned them into vital assists.

His second score on the baseline with 1:47 left before halftime gave his team a 22-21 lead.

Stevers – who managed to find time to score 12 points of his own despite his defensive assignment – finished off the first half with a score from the left baseline to give HB a 23-22 advantage at the intermission.

Behind Rice scoring eight points in the third quarter, Carmi rallied.

Rice and teammate Williams each scored on drives to the basket to give CWC a 26-25 advantage.

Williams added another score while Rice cashed in a pair of assists from Jones and Williams.

His second shot in the sequence made it 30-26.

However Harrisburg’s Medley did one of the things that he excels at in to help close out the third quarter.

Crashing the boards and getting open in the lane, Medley got his team back the lead heading into the final quarter.

He took an inbound pass and scored while being fouled by Luke Pyle. Medley turned it into a three-point play to cut the Harrisburg deficit to 32-31.

In a six second time frame, Harrisburg scored six points.

After the Medley conversion, his teammate Kody Weatherington stole the Carmi throw in and was fouled driving to the basket.

He made the first one of a two shot opportunity. Medley then grabbed the second free throw rebound and stuck it back in the basket for a 34-32 Harrisburg lead.

A Stevers bucket and two free throws from Rice ended the third quarter at 36-34 Harrisburg.

Medley found another offensive gear in the fourth quarter and gave Harrisburg enough distance to weather the Carmi comeback attempt.

He produced eight fourth quarter points – and combined with four points from Garrick Piche – Harrisburg capped a 12-4 run to give themselves a seemingly comfortable 50-40 lead with just over two minutes remaining.

A furious rally from CWC fell just two points shy.

Jones hit a 3-pointer with :21.4 left and - after Stevers missed the front end of a one-and-one chance – Pyle closed the gap to 52-50 with just seven seconds left.

Matt Smithpeters missed Harrisburg’s third consecutive free throw.

But after a Carmi timeout and a Harrisburg foul in which there was no bonus in effect for HB – Carmi’s Williams off-balanced shot at the buzzer fell short.

Medley and Stevers were the only Harrisburg players in double-digits. Smithpeters added eight points from the Bulldog backcourt.

Following Jones and Rice; Williams, Pyle and Clay Kittinger scored four points apiece.

Out of our eight losses this season five of them were one possession games at the end," said Carmi-White County head coach Jarrod Newell. "They did a good job defensively on Jones and they (Harrisburg) are big and athletic which gave us some problems."

Harrisburg held a 22-21 rebounding edge while CWC committed 14 turnovers compared to HB’s 12.

“We should have done a better job protecting our lead. We gave up some shots that we shouldn’t have and we took some shots we shouldn’t have,” finalized Coach Smithpeters.

Harrisburg heads back into action taking on Mount Vernon, Indiana while Carmi-White County (0-2) must regroup against old NEC rival Mount Carmel. Both of those games will be played on Thursday night.

Harrisburg (52) - Smithpeters 2 1 1-3 8, Piche 2 0 0-0 4, Stevers 6 0 0-1 12, Medley 10 0 1-1 21, Carver 1 0 2-2 4, Hawkins 0 0 0-0 0, Weatherington 1 0 1-3 3.
2FG-22, 3FG-1, FT-5-10, PF-9.
Carmi-White County (50) - Kittinger 2 0 0-0 4, McVey 0 0 0-0 0, Williams 2 0 0-0 4, Pyle 2 0 0-0 4, Jones 5 3 2-3 21, Rice 6 1 2-3 17.
2FG-17, 3FG-4, FT-4-6, PF-13.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.

MOUNT CARMEL 58, FAIRFIELD 46
Jumping out to a 21-11 first quarter lead, the Golden Aces jumped back into the championship chase with a win over the Mules in the Tuesday night opener.

Four players hit the double-digit level for Coach Ryan Haywood as MC now stands at 1-1 in the tournament.

Justin Lewis – a 6-foot-7 senior – led the way with 15 points while teammates Jacob Deisher and Jensen Dardeen added 13 points each.

Steven Alka pitched in 10 points in a game in which Mount Carmel outrebounded Fairfield 30-20.

Fairfield – one of the tournament favorites having won the Eldorado Holiday Tournament back in December – saw its mark slip to 0-2 in the CWCIT.

Derek Tucker topped the Mules (11-6) with 12 points as Fairfield struggle with the Aces defense – hitting just 16-of-52 shots from the field (31 percent).

No other Fairfield player hit for double-figures.

Mount Carmel (11-5) finished 20-of-41 from the field.

OLNEY EAST RICHLAND 71, MOUNT VERNON (IN.) 51
Overcoming a tough first half, the Tigers roared to a relatively easy win in spite of trailing 22-17 at the half.

Six-foot-eleven junior center Keane Thomann connected on his first eight shots on the way to a game-high 25 points in the victory.