02-17-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
HERRIN – The Herrin Tigers gave some hope to SIRR Ohio Division rival Massac County for the first quarter of their league contest on Friday night.

That hope didn't last long for the visitors.

Using a big second quarter run the Tigers rolled passed the Patriots, 63-47 in the conference finale for the 2011-12 regular season for both teams.

Coach Irv Lukens saw three of his players notch double-figures in scoring in the contest as Herrin improved to 21-8 overall, 8-2 in the Ohio.

Alex Davis, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, topped all scorers with 19-points while classmates DeMarlo Harris and Bobby Mannie helped celebrate “senior night” with 12-points each.

Herrin finished in second place in the league standings behind Harrisburg, who topped Benton on Friday night to win the league title outright.

But on this evening the Tigers, after spotting the Patriots an early advantage, rolled to victory in front of a big crowd who honored all of the senior athletes and cheerleaders in the final home game of the year.

“I thought our defense really picked up in the second quarter and started shutting them down,” said Herrin head coach Irv Lukens. “It was senior night and the kids were kind of keyed up but I thought we settled down, especially on defense. We forced them into some bad looks.”

Massac County saw its mark slip to 16-12 overall and 5-5 in the SIRR Ohio.

Coach Joe Hosman's team can point to a poor shooting outing as the main contributing factor in the loss to close the regular campaign.

The Pats connected on just 17-of-54 shots from the floor, a paltry 31 percent.

Malcom Amos, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, hit for 18-points for Massac while Ross Devers added 10.

“Physically they just beat us up. I thought the rebounding was worse than what it was,” said Coach Hosman. “The kid (Alex Davis) that has been their X-Factor all year played great. He is either really good or just average and tonight he was real good. When he, Harris and the other Davis are in the game we just have no chance against them.”

The Patriots caught Herrin napping early in the contest while the Tigers were still caught up in the hoopla of the “senior night” festivities.

Massac jumped out to an 8-2 advantage with Amos scoring four points a Devers hitting on a rebound bucket for a six-point lead at the 4:59 mark.

Herrin got back into the game quickly with 3-pointer by Mannie and a couple of inside baskets by Harris and Antuan Davis.

Davis' score gave Herrin a 15-14 lead.

Devers got loose in the lane for a rebound stick-back while being fouled by Davis and his conventional three-point play put Massac up 17-15.

However Herrin got a drive to the basket by Alex Davis for an tying score in what proved to be a omen of things to come for Massac County.

Davis turned out to be a Tiger that the Pats couldn't handle on this night.

“I thought that he (Alex Davis) did a great job taking the ball to the hole tonight. A couple of times he even pulled up and hit some jumpers,” added Coach Lukens. “He was very positive and playing at a positive level.”

In the second quarter, Davis took the ball to the basket with authority.

He delivered on three drives to the goal and his steal and fast break finish forced a Massac County timeout at 24-19 with 3:43 to go before intermission.

Two different times Davis made moves in the Tigers' half court offense that got him easy baseline drives for scores.

After Massac had closed the gap to just 26-23 with a bucket by Devers, Herrin closed the second quarter strong.

Davis went down the baseline for a reverse lay in using his left hand to finish while Mannie delivered a trifecta from the top of the arc to close the half at 31-23 Herrin.

“We were 0-for-6 on open 3's in the first half and we have to make shots,” added Coach Hosman. “Tonight we didn't make shots and tonight we needed to do two things. Defensive rebounding, which we did not. And transition defense, which we did not. That's the story of the game.”

A 10-4 run to open the second half put the Tigers in command.

Harris scored twice in the run on a rebound score and later on a fast break, taking a nice assist from Mannie for a transition score and a 39-27 advantage.

Justin Lukens got into the scoring act with a bucket just seconds later off a Massac turnover to force a Patriots timeout as Coach Hosman's club trailed 41-27.

Nathan Lukens, Justin's cousin, drove the right baseline and his runner found the bottom of the net as the Tigers continued their domination in halfcourt sets.

“He (Lukens) made some runners that I haven't seen him make all year,” Hosman added. “He just kind of threw them up there and they went in. They've got a lot of weapons.”

Massac watched Herrin end the drama with a pair of mini scoring spurts in the final quarter.

Alex Davis was part of both sprints, hitting a rebound basket of his own missed shot.

He then drove the baseline again for yet another reverse lay in to make it 52-38 Tigers with 4:30 to go.

Herrin pushed the lead to its pinnacle when Harris scored six consecutive points for Coach Lukens' club and Davis added some icing on the cake.

Harris stepped out and nailed a mid-range shot and also added yet another offensive rebound score.

Davis scored on a fast break for a 60-40 spread with 2:08 left.

Massac County got a pair of 3-pointers from reserves Dalton Korte and Ryan English to make the score more presentable.

Herrin won the game on the offensive end by hitting a solid 28-of-57 shots (49 percent) while, most of which came from in close shots.

The Tigers cleaned the glass by grabbing 15-offensive rebounds while holding a 28-24 rebounding edge overall.

Herrin managed to overcome 14-turnovers to pick up the victory.

Massac shooting woes were especially noticeable from the outside as the Pats found the mark just three times in 20 tries from behind the arc.

“That (dribble drives from Amos) is their offense. They (Massac) want him to get in the lane and I thought we did a good job of making it look like its not there,” explained Coach Lukens. “We force them into some bad shots.”

Massac next plays at the Vienna 2A Regional Monday night against the host Eagles while Herrin gets a rest that wasn't expected when the schedule came out last fall.

Herrin will play at Carterville on Saturday night to close the regular season and then they will have to wait a week before playing again.

The Tigers were bumped up to 3A this season and Herrin has no scheduled game next week as the 1A and 2A state tournaments begin.

Herrin will play Monday, February 27 against Carbondale at the 3A Marion Regional.

Massac County (47) – Beck 0 1 1-2 4, Mitchell 1 0 2-2 4, Amos 7 0 4-4 18, Bazor 1 0 0-0 2,. Devers 4 0 2-3 10, Schulte 1 0 0-0 2, English 0 1 0-0 2, English 0 1 0-0 3, Korte 0 1 0-0 3, Fort 0 0 0-0 0, McNichols 0 0 1-4 1. 2FG-14, 3FG-3, FT-10-15, PF-13.
Herrin (63) – N. Lukens 3 1 0-0 9, Al. Davis 9 0 1-2 19, J. Lukens 2 0 0-0 4, Mannie 3 2 0-2 12, Harris 6 0 0-0 12, Hoague 0 0 0-0 0, An. Davis 1 0 2-2 4, Hampleman 0 0 0-0 0, Butlewr 0 0 0-0 0, Butler 0 0 0-0 0, Bolen 1 0 1-1 3. 2FG-25, 3FG-3, FT-4-7, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.