03-04-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
WEST FRANKFORT - Like a track and field sprinter – the Massac County Patriots were the first out of the blocks in each of the four quarters in their sectional semifinal contest against Herrin on Wednesday at West Frankfort.

Leaving the Tigers at the starting line – Massac put together enough quick runs to pull away from Herrin in defeating their SIRR Ohio Division rivals for the fourth time this season, 66-50.

Forcing Herrin into 19-turnovers and turning most of the Tigers’ mistakes into points – head coach Joe Hosman is now two wins away from his second trip to Peoria as Massac County now stand at 30-1.

“The thing with this team this year that you can’t leave our kids unguarded because everyone on our team that we put on the floor can score,” said Hosman. “That has helped us all year long and we know that we have an advantage there. We give all of them (the players) the Green Light when they get the ball. We want them to shoot their shot.”

Byron Bailey – Massac County’s catalyst on both ends of the floor this season – has been a bit under the weather but he came up with some big numbers in helping his teammates get involved offensively.

The 6-foot-4 senior guard scored 11 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out nine assists.

Just an assist and a rebound away from a triple-double – Bailey was a tough matchup for Herrin.

Corey Ayala led all scorers with 20 points on the night for MC while Dustin Korte came off the bench and delivered 12 points for the Pats.

Zack Kester and Bailey followed up with 11-points each for a balanced team that showed that they have many offensive weapons.

The future looks very good for a Herrin team that saw its season come to a close at 16-17.

“I thought Massac County played outstanding tonight. The third quarter we came back but we couldn’t get over the hump,” said Herrin head coach Irv Lukens. “We controlled the tempo the last time down there but tonight we couldn’t control it.”

The top three scorers for Coach Lukens’ club are all underclassmen and will return next season.

DeMarlo Harris is a 6-foot-2 freshman who played around the basket most of the evening ended up with 14-points while David Mallow and 6-foot-8 junior Alex Brown tossed home 12 and 10-point respectively.

But on this night the Tigers had to take a backseat to the Massac County experience factor and their ability to score in transition.

Ayala started the game strong with a pair of scores with his second one coming on a fast break lay in on a pass from Bailey to stake Massac County to a quick 4-0 lead.

Another run midway through the first quarter by the Patriots gave them their first double-digit advantage.

Ayala, Bailey, Jarelle Johnson and Zach Kester all produced points in a 10-2 sprint that gave Coach Hosman’s club an 18-7 lead with 1:25 remaining.

Massac kept the pressure on the young Tigers with another run to open the second quarter.

A rebound basket by Ayala ended a 6-0 second quarter beginning and a 24-11 Patriots lead.

Harris cut into the Massac lead by scoring eight points in the second quarter including six-straight to close the half at 37-25 Patriots.

Every quarter of the contest produced an early MC run and the third quarter saw a 5-0 scoring march in the first minute with Kester and Matt Lang scoring points.

Kester’s 3-pointer from the left corner on a pass from Bailey pushed the lead to 42-25.

Herrin got its crowd back into the game with one final push.

Harris scored on a shot in the lane that closed the gap to just 51-43 with 7:12 remaining.

However that would be as close as the Tigers would get.

Massac put down Herrin with an 11-2 run with Bailey once again having a hand in the scoring spree.

Johnson scored twice in the surge – once on a nice pass from Bailey and another on an offensive rebound.

Massac County went into a delay on offense and ran over a minute off of the clock.

Then Bailey found Korte with a nice behind-the-back pass to Dustin Korte for a lay in and a 62-45 lead with 2:15 left.

“We really didn’t execute it very well tonight,” added Lukens in talking about his offense. “We lost focus on what was going on. I thought we had a couple of opportunities in the third quarter but they (Massac) capitalized on everything that we did wrong. They are a very good ballclub and I think that they are going to represent us from the South at state.”

The Patriots finished the night 26-of-51 overall and committed just 11-turnovers.

Defensively they held Herrin to just 23-of-53 from the floor and forced 19-miscues.

Massac County will now face Hamilton County on Friday night in a sectional title game between two familiar coaching greats.

“They’re (Hamilton County) great program with a great coach and it doesn’t surprise me a bit that they are in the sectional championship game,” added Coach Hosman. “We are going to have to be really focused defensively and be on our toes. They will want to slow the game down.”

Herrin (50) – Frattini 0 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Guebert 0 2 0-0 6, Timmons 0 0 0-0 0, J.J. Hart 0 0 0-0 0, Curran 0 0 0-1 0, Jo. Hart 2 0 0-0 4, Gottberg 1 0 0-0 2, Mallow 5 0 2-5 12, Brown 5 0 0-0 10, Benjamin 1 0 0-0 2, Harris 7 0 0-0 14.
2FG-21, 3FG-2, FT-2-6, PF-17.
Massac County (66) – Bailey 4 0 3-7 11, Ayala 8 0 4-6 20, Johnson 3 0 0-0 6, Johnson 3 0 0-0 6, Kester 4 1 0-0 11, Morse 0 0 0-0 0, Korte 4 0 4-4 12, Maxie 0 0 2-2 2, Sommer 0 0 0-0 0, Lang 2 0 0-0 4, McManus 0 0 0-0 0, Thigpen 0 0 0-2 0.
2FG-25, 3FG-1, FT-13-21, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.