12-02-08
BY JACK BULLOCK
MARISSA – Getting off to a fast start on Tuesday night – the Woodlawn Cardinals showed why they should be considered a serious threat in the postseason after they demolished New Athens, 66-40 at the Marissa Post Turkey Day Tournament.

With balanced scoring with four players in double-figures – head coach Shane Witzel saw his club force the Yellow Jackets into 20-turnovers in the win.

Defensive pressure turned into easy points for Woodlawn in the comfortable victory to open the season and its part of tournament.

A trio of Woodlawn players scored 11-points.

Bronson Verhines, Kyle Boldt and Casey Hammond all rolled 11’s - which turned the New Athens night into “snake-eyes” at the tournament table.

The Yellow Jackets (1-1) were led by Ryan White with 17-points while Vince Kiefer added 14.

However the balance and depth from Woodlawn turned the game into a route early.

“This is a good way to start the season and you never know what can happen in your first game,” said Witzel. “We got off to a fast start and that is always a positive thing when you can get out to an early lead. Defensively we kept the pressure on and we were able to create some easy offense. Going deeper into our bench kind of wore them (New Athens) down.”

New Athens hit on just 14-of-41 shots from the field and connected exactly once from behind the 3-point line (1-of-7).

Woodlawn - on the other hand – hit 44 percent of their shots (24-of-55) and 16-of-23 from the foul line.

Jase Green was the fourth Cardinal player with double-digits with 10 points while Josh Wiggs – a 6-foot-7 sophomore center – added nine points for Woodlawn.

“They (Woodlawn) are a real nice team and you are talking about a team that is a regional winner and who has almost everyone back from that team,” said New Athens head coach Marc Derwort. “They did a real good job of taking us out of what we wanted to do tonight. We have to do a better job executing. I was really disappointed tonight with our effort and I hope that doesn’t happen again.”

Woodlawn’s Dawson Verhines and New Athens’ Ben Junge exchanged early scores before the first Cardinals’ offensive run put Woodlawn in charge.

A driving lay in by Boldt while being fouled in the lane by Kiefer started the 15-5 quarter finishing sprint. Boldt’s three-point play made it 5-2 with 5:41 left.

Woodlawn forced six first quarter miscues by New Athens and turned four of those turnovers into points.

Hammond scored on a fast break lay in after a steal to make it 14-5 with 1:15 to go.

Kiefer scored twice in the opening frame – driving the lane both times for buckets.

But Woodlawn answered each score with points.

Woodlawn held the ball for a last shot in the quarter and Bronson Verhines grabbed a misfire by Hammond for a reverse lay in just before the horn to give the Cardinals a double-digit (17-7) advantage.

“We did a good job containing him (Kiefer) tonight,” said Coach Witzel. “He is a strong kid and does a good job getting into the lane.”

The Yellow Jackets had opportunities to get back into the game in the second quarter but couldn’t find the bottom of the net.

NA hit just 3-of-12 from the floor in that second quarter despite grabbing six offensive rebounds.

White hit all three of the shots for New Athens and he triggered a brief run that cut Woodlawn’s lead down to just 27-16 with 2:18 left before intermission.

He finished a couple of drives to the basket for scores and hit a pair of free throws late in the quarter.

“I think they (New Athens) will be a handful for some teams,” said Coach Witzel. “They have some athletic kids that are strong and big.”

Woodlawn went to the lockerroom with a 33-18 lead as Bronson Verhines once again beat the buzzer with a shot – a 10-footer from the left baseline – to make it 33-18 at the break.

The Cardinals finished off New Athens with a 7-2 run in the first three minutes of the third quarter.

When Wiggs finished a transition score on a lay in – the Cards led 40-20.

New Athens would get no closer than 17 the rest of the game.

Kiefer picked up his fourth foul and headed to the bench for New Athens shortly after the Wiggs bucket – sealing the deal for Woodlawn.

With Kiefer on the bench – the Cardinals pulled away.

Boldt scored twice in the final minutes of the third quarter.

He took a nice assist from Wiggs underneath the basket for a deuce and followed up that score with a conventional three-point play to put the Birds up 53-29.

“I give them (Woodlawn) all the credit in the world,” said Coach Derwort. “They are deep, strong, quick and they play awfully hard.”

Hammond picked up a pair of assists feeding teammates Dawson Verhines and Green for points to begin the final stanza.

When Green buried a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:19 to go – Woodlawn led 62-37.

Both coaches emptied the cupboard in the final minutes.

The Cardinals finished with 10 turnovers but five of those came late in the game when the decision was no longer in doubt.

New Athens was out rebounded by Woodlawn, 33-27.

“Overall what is important is that the pace we play at we can’t turn it over and tonight we did a good job,” added Coach Witzel when talking about his teams’ up-tempo/pressing approach. “We can’t be content. We still have a lot of things to work on. It was a good way to start the year and our guys are excited about playing. At this point of the year you just have to get out there and see where you are at and find out what you need to work on. Play as many good teams as you can early in the year and see what progresses.”

Woodlawn returns to action at Marissa Wednesday night at 6 pm with a game against Valmeyer – who lost to New Athens 44-17 on Monday night at the tourney.

The Yellow Jackets next play on Friday night in the third place game barring a Valmeyer upset Wednesday. They will play the loser of the Wednesday night contest between Okawville and Marissa-Coulterville.

“We will head back to the drawing board and hopefully we will play better Friday night,” finalized Coach Derwort. “We have to get better.”

New Athens (40) – Gaubatz 0 0 0-0 0, Hoffman 0 0 0-0 0, Ingles 0 0 0-0 0, Junge 2 0 2-4 6, Kiefer 5 1 1-5 14, Meketa 0 0 1-2 1, Weber 0 0 0-0 0, White 6 0 5-6 17, Womack 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-1, FT-11-19, PF-20.
Woodlawn (66) – D. Verhines 2 0 2-2 6, Hammond 4 0 3-4 11, Boldt 3 0 5-6 11, B. Verhines 4 1 0-0 11, Green 2 1 3-4 10, Wiggs 3 0 3-7 9, Hart 2 0 0-0 4, Simmons 0 0 0-0 0, McNeil 0 0 0-0 0, Aparicio 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-22, 3FG-2, FT-16-23, PF-19.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

MARISSA-COULTERVILLE 49, CHESTER 39
The Meteors (1-1 overall, 1-0 in the tournament) outscored the Yellow Jackets 23-13 in the fourth quarter to earn the victory.

Chester (0-2) sent M-C to the line too many times as head coach Andy Johnson witnessed his club hit 16-of-21 FT’s in the final eight minutes.

Heath Choate topped the Meteors with 14-points while Michael Lloyd and Chris Fullerton tossed home 12 and 11 points respectively.

The Yellow Jackets were paced by Adam Lutz with 10-points. Matt Roth and Alex Lankford pitched in eight points apiece in the loss.

M-C will need a win over Okawville on Wednesday to reach the title game.

Okawville has won both of the previous tournaments.

Chester (39) – Baughman 0 0 0-0 0, Winters 0 0 0-0 0, Lawrence 0 2 0-0 6, Roth 1 2 0-0 8, Lochhead 1 1 1-2 6, Lutz 3 1 1-1 10, Wallace 0 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0 1-2 1, Slavens 0 0 0-0 0, Lankford 3 0 2-3 8, Grah 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-8, 3FG-6, FT-5-8, PF-23.
Marissa-Coulterville (49) – Mahon 0 0 0-0 0, Fullerton 1 1 6-7 11, Choate 4 0 6-10 14, Lloyd 2 0 8-11 12, Parkinson 1 0 3-8 5, Tabor 0 0 0-0 0, Pitchford 1 0 1-2 3, Pannier 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-11, 3FG-1, FT-24-38, PF-12.
Fouled Out – Lawrence, Chester.
Technical Fouls – None.