03-03-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO

In the championship game with a trip to the Carbondale Supersectional on the line, his Bulldogs showed both of those qualities in the first quarter and their opponents, the Pinckneyville Panthers, didn't handle the result.

Harrisburg jumped out to a quick 14-1 advantage and then held on throughout the last three quarters to advance to SIU Arena with a 54-47 win in front of over 2,500 fans at a packed Duff-Kingston Gymnasium.

The Bulldogs forced Pinckneyville into 22-turnovers in the contest, including seven early ones in the first quarter as Harrisburg improved their mark to 27-5 and will now take on the Breese Central Cougars on Tuesday night at SiU,

“I thought that we defended their shooters well. I thought that they didn't have a lot of really good looks at the basket,” said Coach Smithpeters. “We wanted that 'energy' and 'intensity' when we started because we didn't want Pinckneyville to have possessions where they would make 20 or 30 passes.”

Coach Bob Waggoner's Panthers felt the pressure of the Harrisburg press in the early minutes and didn't get their first made field goal until the 2:24 mark.

By that time, the Panthers had committed those seven turnovers and missed five FG attempts.

“I thought we were ready and we had a great walk through today but you should give Harrisburg credit, I really think that their kids rose to the occasion and during these trying times for them that they really played well,” added Coach Waggoner. “There were no surprises, we knew they would come out and press. But today is not indicative of how we play or have played this season.”

Harrisburg's 18-2 avalanche to close the quarter gave them a lot of room for error the rest of the way.

Capel Henshaw and Tyler Smithpeters, the Bulldogs high-scoring backcourt tandem, led the way into the Elite Eight with 22 and 16-points.

Those two combined for 13 of those first quarter points.

Smithpeters connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the arc after teammate Ryne Roper nailed a long three from the right corner.

Kashmere Barners, another of the talented Harrisburg guards, also found the mark from behind the arc in the first quarter.

Henshaw scored on a fast break lay in after another Pinckneyville turnover and he converted that score into a three-point play to close the frame at 19-3.

Harrisburg hit a lull in its game during the second quarter, but the Panthers didn't capitalize on the Bulldogs' drought.

Harrisburg scored just two points in the second quarter, being outgunned 11-2 while also committing nine turnovers.

But their was really no momentum shift as Pinckneyville trailed 21-14 at the break.

“We told the kids we needed to get the score down to under eight points at the half and we did that,” said Coach Waggoner. “But we had some costly turnovers and our game plan at the end of the game concerning free throws was going to work but we couldn't get any shots to fall late.”

One of the bright spots for the Panthers was Chris Priebe, a 6-foot-3 junior forward, who helped get Pinckneyville going in the paint in the second quarter.

He scored a pair of buckets in the period and finished with a 12-points, the only one to hit for double-figures for the Perry County contingent.

Senior guard Bryant Shute hit an off balanced shot to beat the buzzer for Pinckneyville to close the half with the Panthers down just seven.

Smithpeters got back on track in the third quarter, scoring seven points.

His two free throws with 2:40 to go extended the Harrisburg lead back over double-figures at 37-25.

A three-point play by Dylan Hardin and back-to-back scores by Justin Bumann and Hunter Queen gave Pinckneyville some hope heading into the fourth quarter down just 41-32.

The Bulldogs faltered mightily at the free throw line in the fourth quarter but did just enough to win.

A key possession for Harrisburg gave a huge lift to their sectional championship effort.

With 6:38 left, the Bulldogs spread the floor and ran over a minute off the clock while Pinckneyville gave chase.

The result was a drive to the basket by Henshaw and a 45-36 advantage with 5:12 to go.

“The one thing that makes us what we are is that we have the athletes to do those kind of things (run clock),” added Coach Smithpeters when talking about his team. “They're skilled and know the game. And we made good decisions and that (score) was a big trip.”

Harrisburg opened up the door to let the Panthers back into the game but Pinckneyville failed to take advantage of the path to victory.

With a 51-40 lead the Bulldogs missed nine straight free throws during a 1:30 stretch.

But Coach Waggoner's crew couldn't get any shots to fall.

By the time Shute hit a 3-pointer, there was just :32 remaining.

“I've said all year that our margin of error on our team is very minimal and we played over that today against a very good ballclub,” said Coach Waggoner. “We didn't do a good job attacking the rim, we missed some easy shots today which is uncharacteristic of us.”

Eli Taborn-Scott, a 6-foot-4 sophomore forward, was intentionally fouled by Pinckneyville's Luke Miller.

While his teammates struggled at the line, Taborn-Scott nailed both of his chances and Smithpeters added another free throw moments later to put the game out of reach.

“We're just tickled to death to get back to SIU. We're still taking the hopes and dreams of Harrisburg with us,” added Coach Smithpeters, discussing the tragedy of the Harrisburg Tornado aftermath. “You know Tuesday night the problems in Harrisburg won't be over. I know the Bulldog fans will be at the arena and we hope we can bring them some joy.”

Harrisburg was 13-of-37 overall but hit 5-of-10 from behind the arc.

Pinckneyville finished 19-of-42 overall, 3-of-10 from deep as their season closed at 26-5.

The battle of the boards was even at 23-each while Harrisburg turned it over 15-times.

Harrisburg will now get a rematch with the state's top-ranked team and ABV number-one Breese Central on Tuesday night.

The Cougars beat Harrisburg back on December 10, 62-49

“We played them (Breese Central) earlier and got off to a bad start. They have perhaps the best player in the South (Brandon Book) who is an inside-outside player,” Coach Smithpeters added. “We have a good group here and hopefully we can create some problems for them. That is one thing that we have talked about in the course of our season. When we played Breese and when we played T-Town we never got in that situation where we could pressure on them having a lead. We never got to find out how they would play when they're behind. We were fortunate enough to get a good start here today.”