01-20-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARMI - In a game that started late in the evening – the Harrisburg Bulldogs got going early in its 61-41 win Tuesday night over Carmi-White County in the second round of the 30th Annual CWCIT.

In a contest that didn’t begin until 9:30 pm because of the 4OT slugfest in the opening game of the evening between East Richland and Mount Vernon (IN.) – Harrisburg came roaring out of the gate.

The Bulldogs blitzed CWC with an 18-of-27 shooting showing in the first two quarters as head coach Randy Smithpeters witnessed his squad pull away early from the other Bulldogs to improve to 2-0 as the only unbeaten team in the round robin tourney.

Three of the Dawgs hit for double-figures in scoring in leading Harrisburg to its 13th victory of the season.

Cain Sheldon – a 6-foot junior guard – sparked the Bulldogs with an early 3-pointer and topped the scoring parade with 14-points.

Sterling Price and Reid Roper added 11 and 10 for Harrisburg who can run the table and win the tournament outright because all the other teams in the event have at least one loss.

“We have got good shooters and maybe we don’t shoot that well every night but we got off to a good start tonight,” said Coach Smithpeters – whose club hasn’t won this event since 2001. “It is kind of a “-2 punch” with this group. If we can score then we can jump right into our press. I thought we defended well tonight. Our top goal is to defend well and our second goal is to rebound well. After that we let the offense fall where it may.”

Carmi-White County (7-9, 1-1 in the CWCIT) was led by 12-points from Clay Matheny and eight points apiece from Travis Williams and Lawson Warren.

Sheldon scored the Bulldogs first eight points in setting a tone for the contest by forcing CWC to play from behind.

His first shot of the game – a 3-pointer from the top of the arc – banked home and Carmi head coach Jarred Newell saw the sign of things to come.

That bomb sparked a 13-2 run in the first three minutes of the game and Carmi-White County never recovered.

“When he (Sheldon) banked home that first shot I knew that things were going to be tough,” said Carmi-White County head coach Jarred Newell – whose team lost to Harrisburg back in December at the Harrisburg Invitational Tournament. “You have to give those guys credit because they came out ready to play. They knocked us back on our heals and they sensed that. Our kids got frustrated because they (Harrisburg) took us out of what we wanted to do.”

Six-foot-one junior Roper also got into the long range act as he added a pair of early 3-point shots and by the time his second trifecta hit the board – HB was in command at 16-5 at the 4:26 mark.

“I think he (Roper) is operating out of the offense better and I want to talk about Cain Sheldon because he doesn’t always score a lot of points but we have asked him to be our floor general and that offense. He has done a great job of that the last two nights,” added Smithpeters. “It has made everybody better. That is the way we are trying to grow as a team.”

CWC showed a brief glimmer of hope at the end of the opening frame when Coach Newell’s club scored the frame’s last five points.

Warren spun to the basket and got his shot to fall while being fouled by Lucas Elverd with 1:43 to go. He converted the three-point play that was subsequently followed by a Jake Duvall rebound basket to close the opening quarter at 22-10 Harrisburg.

HB hit 9-of-12 shots in that first quarter and CWC never recovered.

A 10-2 run by Harrisburg to open the second quarter sealed the CWC fate as Russell Rambert led the crusade with six of the points.

Back-to-back scores from the 6-foot-3 senior forward pushed the advantage to 30-14 at the 4:00 mark.

Carmi-White County was as close as 15-points just once in the second half.

Buckets by Warren and Williams (a steal and fast break lay in) whittled the Harrisburg lead to just 52-37 with just over five minutes left.

However Coach Newell’s club watched Harrisburg close out the contest with a 7-2 run.

A steal and transition score from Bulldog 5-foot-9 junior reserve guard Payton Hodge extended the lead to 61-40 with under a minute to play.

“They (Harrisburg) controlled the tempo of the game and my hat’s off to Coach Smithpeters and his team tonight,” added Newell.

Harrisburg finished the game shooting 20-of-43 from the field overall and 4-of-7 from 3-point land.

Coach Smithpeters’ club out-rebounded CWC 29-19 and committed just eight turnovers compared to Carmi’s 14.

The depth of the Harrisburg bench made a difference as ten players wearing purple inked the book in scoring while the team as a whole was whistled for just ten personal fouls.

A couple of times in the second half Coach S used a wholesale approach as he substituted five kids at a time – which eventually wore down CWC.

“There is – with a couple of switches here and there – not much difference in the starting five and that next five for us,” added Smithpeters. “With the way that we try to pressure and the intensity that we try to play with it is very, very important to us.”

Carmi-White County was just 16-of-43 from the field and just 3-of-11 from behind the arc.

Both teams play Thursday night with Harrisburg playing Mt. Carmel at 5:30 pm while Carmi-White County taking on East Richland at 7 pm.

Harrisburg (61) – Rambert 1 0 1-2 3, Price 5 0 1-2 11, Sheldon 5 1 1-1 14, Boatright 1 1 1-2 6, Roper 2 2 0-0 10, Owens 0 0 2-2 2, Elverd 2 0 0-2 4, K. Rasch 0 0 1-2 1, Smithpeters 1 0 0-0 2, King 0 0 0-0 0, D. Rasch 0 0 0-1 0, Hodge 3 0 2-2 8.
2FG- 20, 3FG-4, FT-9-16, PF-10.
Carmi-White County (54) – Williams 1 2 0-0 8, Watts 0 0 0-0 0, Matheny 6 0 0-0 12, Warren 3 0 2-3 8, Duvall 3 0 0-0 6, Thompson 0 0 1-2 1, Cox 0 0 1-2 1, Immel 0 0 0-0 0, Rogers 0 0 0-0 0, Capps 0 1 2-2 5, Masterson 0 0 0-0 0, Krummel 0 1 2-2 5.
2FG-13, 3FG-3, FT-6-9, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Duvall - Carmi-White County.
Technical Fouls – None.

MOUNT CARMEL 53, FAIRFIELD 47
The Golden Aces picked up just their second win of the season with a victory over the Mules Tuesday night.

Head coach Ryan Haywood received a great effort from his players - especially 5-foot-10 senior guard Jordan Browning.

Browning poured in a game-high 30-points in the win.

The Aces (2-14) nailed 16-of-19 free throws in the contest and shot 17-of-35 from the field.

Faifield (6-11, 0-2 in the CWIT) squandered a grandiose game from Aaron Wallace - a 6-foot-3 senior.

Wallace scored 24-points and snared 18-rebounds in the game.

Mt. Carmel faces Harrisburg on Thursday night while Fairfield will square off with Mt. Vernon (IN.).

Mt. Carmel (53) – Browning 5 2 14-16 30, Grant 3 1 0-0 9, Hale 0 0 0-1 0, Hicks 1 0 0-0 2, Marcotte 4 0 0-0 8, Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Carpenter 0 0 2-2 2, McCarty 0 0 0-0 0, Griffin 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG- 14, 3FG-3, FT-16-19, PF-21.
Fairfield (47) – Xanders 3 0 1-2 7, Moore 1 0 0-0 2, Read 1 0 1-2 3, Wallace 9 0 6-12 24, Simpson 1 0 0-0 2, Lee 2 0 1-3 5, Greifzu 1 0 0-0 2, Attebery 1 0 0-1 2. 2FG-19, 3FG-0, FT-9-20, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Hale - Mt. Carmel; Simpson - Fairfield.
Technical Fouls – None.

MT. VERNON (IN.) 80, EAST RICHLAND 79 (4OT)
Those Wildcats from the east side of the Wabash River outlasted the Tigers in a tournament record four overtimes for the win to improve to 1-1 in the tournament.

MV (5-6) was led by 25-points from Ryan Ploetz and 12-points each from Wyatt Newman and Kyle Goebel.

East Richland head coach Rob Flanagan was led by a game-high 39-points from 6-foot-4 junior guard Brandon Berry in defeat.

The Tigers (12-6, 1-1) were 9-of-21 from behind the 3-point line and 25-of-52 overall - which would be good enough on most nights.

Charlie McDowell added 17-points while Christian Kabbes chipped home 15.

Mt. Vernon (IN.) (80) – Newman 2 2 2-4 12, Goebel 2 2 2-4 12, Hamblin 2 0 3-4 7, Wallis 3 1 2-4 11, Ploetz 11 0 3-5 25, Seifert 2 0 0-2 4, Ferguson 1 1 4-5 9, Schroeder 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-23, 3FG-6, FT-16-28, PF-19.
East Richland (79) – McDowell 4 2 3-4 17, Pampe 0 0 2-2 2, Schonert 1 0 0-2 2, Berry 7 5 10-12 39, Kabbes 4 1 4-4 15, VanGundy 0 0 0-0 0, Groves 0 1 1-3 4. 2FG-16, 3FG-9, FT-20-27, PF-22.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.