12-28-2018
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER – It was the year 2000. America had survived the Y2K scare and a controversial presidential election.

Red Devils' head coach Shane Garner was a guard at his Alma mater Sesser-Valier.

Something that occurred in December of that year hadn't happened again until Saturday night.

The Sesser-Valier Red Devils won their own holiday tournament championship.

Eighteen years later, the Red Devils finally got to put the top prize in their own trophy case for safe keeping.

The Red Devils won the 38th annual tournament title with a 57-54 victory over Marissa-Coulterville in front of a packed house at SVHS, ending an 18-year title game drought.

It took some great defensive work, and a big 3-point bomb by their team leader to get the job done.

Tyler Winchester led the Red Devils with 22-points and none were more important that his final three.

Trailing the Meteors by two points, the senior guard stepped up and nailed a 20-footer from near the top of the arc with just under a minute to play to give his team back the lead.

“We (the team) are not surprised. The kid (Winchester) has hit big shots he whole life. There is no one who works harder in practice than that young man,” said Coach Garner. “He has made that shot (in practice) on his own. That was just a stroke of the hand for him.”

Then junior guard Logan Kirk took a rebound away from Marissa-Coulterville junior forward Blake Steinwagner that caused a jump ball with :38.2 left.

Sesser-Valier had the possession arrow and Peyton Bates canned a pair of free throws after being fouled on the following possession to give S-V a 57-54 advantage.

Coach Garner's club still had one job left to do.

They needed to keep the ball from getting to M-C's top gun.

Sebastion Ivory-Greer led all scorers with 32-points but he didn't get a chance to add to that total.

The Red Devils, in the final seconds, kept him from getting the ball as they forced senior guard Cameron Bowlby to take a long 3-point shot as the clock ticked down.

His shot missed the mark but Meteors' junior Logan Jones snagged the rebound along the baseline.

Still needing a 3-pointer to tie, Jones passed the ball to Steinwagner but the horn sounded before he could back up to shoot a game-tying attempt.

“He (Winchester) is a great offensive player but he is an even better defensive player,” said Coach Garner. “He takes on great offensive and defensive players every night. Ivory-Greer is something else and Ty was our guy to guard him tonight. He (Ivory-Greer) hit tough shots all night long.”

The Red Devils, with this tournament championship run, improved to 9-3 on the season while head coach Scott Wine saw hit team fall to 11-2 on the season, a loss that snapped an 11-game win streak for Coach Scott Wine and his club.“Sesser did a really good job tonight defensively on us by switching on everything. I take my hat off to Sesser. They play really good defense,” said Coach Wine. “You can't win that game in the first quarter but you can lose it in the first quarter and I felt like we dug ourselves a pretty big hole. We hung in there and clawed our way back to get a lead but I think we ran out of gas.”

Besides Winchester, the Red Devils got 10-points from Bates and nine-points from senior Eli Gunter.

Gunter helped get the Devils off to a good start as this 5-foot-10 guard drained a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter.

In fact, S-V buried five trifectas in the first eight minutes, staking themselves a 20-9 lead at the first horn.

Winchester hit two of the shots and Bates banked home an arc shot to make it 14-4 with 2:49 left.

Ivory-Greer got his game going early, netting seven of his points in the frame.

Included in that run was a steal and subsequent slam dunk by the 6-foot-3 junior transfer.

Winchester and Gunter closed the book on the first quarter with their additional 3-pointers for an 11-point lead.

Sesser-Valier held a 27-17 lead after Winchester scored on a rebound and later a pair of free throws at the 2:51.

But five consecutive points by Ivory-Greer and Jones cut the deficit to just five at the break.

The lead could have been much greater but the Red Devils committed six-turnovers in the second quarter.

Coach Wine's squad tied the game up for the first time in the early part of the second half as Ivory-Greer, senior guard John Broshears and Bowlby all made shots in a 7-2 run.

Bowlby hit a 3-pointer to even things at 29-all.

Winchester and Boles both hit some key shots on the next scoring run for S-V that got them a 40-33 spread.

As it turned out, Ivory-Greer was just getting warmed up.

He scored 11 of his points in the third quarter as he closed out the stanza with two buckets; a driving lay in and then a steal and score while being fouled by Kirk.

His three-point play cut the Sesser-Valier advantage to just 42-41 heading the championship deciding final eight minutes.

The Meteors, behind a quick shot by Ivory-Greer, grabbed a 43-42 lead just seconds into the fourth.

He scored 10 of his teams' 13-points down the stretch.

“He (Ivory-Greer) is difficult to guard. He gets lost on defense sometimes because he is new to our system, but you get the ball in his hands going up and down the floor, he can score,” said Coach Wine.

After Winchester scored and reserve sophomore Garrett Gunter converted an “And-One”, Marissa-Coulterville made a final move.

Steinwagner converted a three-point play and three-consecutive baskets by Ivory-Greer gave the Meteors their final lead.

Ivory-Greer took a pass for a back door score; he added a steal and lay up and then his final points came on a rebound basket with 1:17 left to give his club the lead at 54-52.

Winchester, Kirk and Bates took care of the rest of the business in the final minute as Coach Garner got to be on the floor for the last two S-V championships at this tournament.

“I think our defender got caught ball watching there and he didn't see the back screen so that (shot) was a heart breaker,” said Coach Wine about the Winchester shot. “But a shot in the first half means the same as a shot at the end of the game.”

Besides Ivory-Greer the Meteors got 10-points from Jones and seven-points from Bowlby.

“I didn't know at the beginning of the season how good he (Ivory-Greer) would be because he was new to the program. I didn't know he would play this well for us,” said Coach Wine. “He is fitting in, they all like each other. The kids don't care who scores. They are working well together.”

Both teams were exceptional offensively on this night, statistically.

Statistically the Meteors “blazed” the nets at 58.9 percent from the floor (23-of-39 overall) while hitting 3-of-8 from the arc.

Sesser-Valier ended up a bit less successful shooting the ball from the field (46.1 percent) hitting 18-of-39.

But the hit 7-of-20 from the arc and they out shot Marissa-Coulterville from the foul line.

The Red Devils hit 14-of-20 while M-C was only 5-of-10.

“We did what we came to do tonight. We wanted to be close at the end and Ty made the big shot and we hit the free throws,” said Coach Garner.

This turned out to be one of the key stats that swung the championship to the hosts.

Marissa-Coulterville held a slight 19-18 rebounding edge and the two teams were even with 12-turnovers each.

“I was a junior in high school. December of 2000. This is pretty cool to do this now as a coach,” said Coach Garner. “And we have had some good teams since then so this is special.”

WOODLAWN 69, THOMPSONVILLE 43
Thompsonville head coach Pete Gordon had one of those “be careful what you wish for” moments on Saturday.

After losing their first game of the season on Friday night to the host Red Devils, the Tigers were looking to get right back on the floor.

Being in the same sub-sectional for the postseason with Woodlawn, this game was a chance to show that the Tigers belonged in the same conversation with the highly regarded program.

Thompsonville, who came into the tournament undefeated, were looking to play a higher level of competition.

What Coach Gordon found out is there is a lot more work to be done.

They ran into a squad on Saturday afternoon who had just lost a semifinal game and were in no mood to mess around.

Woodlawn, who had lost the previous day to Marissa-Coulterville, dissected Thompsonville's defense like a laboratory cadaver on Saturday afternoon in the third place game.

Coach Brian Gamber got 28-points and seven-rebounds from junior guard Blake McKay and 20-points and eight-rebounds from senior Jake Martin.

Martin was very important on this day as he took the ball right at Thompsonville 6-foot-7 senior center Anthony Darge and more than held his own.

“We have seen moments of that but as a whole, for the whole game, this was without a doubt his best game,” said Coach Gamber as he was talking about Jake Martin. “I think he is capable of doing that and I think he is still trying to find his place here. I think he is going to get better and better as the year goes on. Tonight he went right at him (Darge) today and when he plays like that, we are pretty dangerous.”

But on the other end of the floor, Martin and his teammates held Darge without a field goal in the victory.

Woodlawn (12-2) out-rebounded the Tigers 36-29, with 14 of the boards coming on the offensive end as they were in “attack” mode until the dust had settled.

Sophomore reserve Hunter England tossed in eight-points while Coach Gamber got five-points each from senior Jackson Bennett and junior Chase Hollenkamp.

Thompsonville saw it's mark slip to 14-2.

The Tigers received 17-points from senior guard Tyson Kessler and 10 from sophomore Grady Furlow.

Darge ended up with just two made free throws and junior guard Corbin Fitch scored just six.

Both starters were well below their seasonal averages.

“They (Woodlawn) are very good and we were really bad today. I don't think they are 30-points better than us. I think if we play better, it's a much closer game,” said Coach Gordon. “It gives us something to work on. McKay is very good and Martin took it right to us. We've got to match him better than that. Hopefully we will get a chance to play them again (postseason). It is what it is; we stunk and they are really good.”

The story of the game was the defensive blanket and McKay scoring at will.

The 6-foot-2 junior, who is on everyone's all-state radar, nailed four of his team's eight 3-pointers in the game.

England canned two of the long range shots while Bennett and Hollenkamp hit one each.

Martin, however, manned up on the inside as he took his game up a notch with the challenge in front of him.

The 6-foot-3 senior scored 11 of his points in the opening quarter as Woodlawn jumped out to a 20-14 lead.

Part of the offensive brilliance on display for the Cardinals was being able to finish drives to the basket and being able to find the open teammate underneath the basket.

Martin was the recipient of three different assists in the early going of the contest.

Passes by McKay, twice, and Bennett turned into points from Martin with the final one giving the Cardinals a 20-10 lead at the 1:50 mark.

Thompsonville stayed within range for a while, mainly due to Kessler.

The 5-foot-10 guard, who went over the 1,000-point plateau on Friday night, hit a pair of free throws and his second field goal of the first quarter as they trailed 20-14 at the first quarter end.

McKay padded his numbers with three more baskets in the second quarter.

He made a steal and a fast break lay in to begin the frame and his drive to the right baseline for a 10-footer that found the mark before the buzzer closed the stanza at 32-23 Woodlawn.

Coach Gordon's club was down just nine at the break but things got out of hand in a hurry at the end of the third quarter.

Leading just 33-25, the Cardinals hit another gear.

Woodlawn closed the quarter and began the fourth with a 15-0 run.

McKay had a hand in four of the made baskets.

Martin started the run with perhaps the best move of the night.

He took a pass on the left baseline while being defended by Darge.

Martin fake a shot and then drove past Darge for a reverse lay in off of the glass for a 41-29 lead.

McKay followed that up with back-to-back 3-point bombs and they he dished the ball to Bennett who had spotted up on the right side of the arc.

His 20-footer beat the horn for a 50-29 advantage.

“We wanted to prove today that we can play better. Today I think we showed what we are capable of when we guard right, guard smart and are under control then the offense flows,” said Coach Gamber. “Today you saw the good version of us.”

It didn't get a bit better for the Tigers the rest of the game.

England, a key reserve for Woodlawn, nailed consecutive 3-pointers to push the lead to its largest at 69-39 with 2:36 to go.

This 30-point margin triggered the mercy rule continuous clock.

The numbers proved the result in this game.

Woodlawn ended up 26-of-60 for the day (43 percent) but they were 8-of-17 from the 3-point line.

On the contrary, Thompsonville was just 30.6 percent (15-of-49) and just 5-of-20 from long range.

Woodlawn took better care of the basketball as they had just nine turnovers compared to the Tigers' 12.

“This was a great effort. It's a great bounce back, obviously. They (Thompsonville) are a really good basketball team. They have a lot of weapons,” said Coach Gamber. “Anytime you come up short in a tournament and you're not playing in the championship game, which is one of the goals of the tournament, you never know what kind of response you're going to get (from the players). I tried to build it up by telling them that they (Thompsonville) are in the same sub-sectional as we are and they are going to win a lot of games. This is our one chance to play them. So we can go into the seeding and say 'this is what happened head-to-head.'”

Coach Todd Tripp's club was paced by senior Logyn Frassato with 20-points and 16-points from junior forward Landon Albright.

Goreville improved to 8-6 with the win.

Sparta and head coach Jon Norton are now 7-7 on the season, despite getting 27-points from 5-foot-10 junior Carlos Keen.

Cobden (10-7) got the win with 6-foot-5 junior Joe Brumleve tossed in a career-high 31-points for Coach Wendell Wheeler.

Six-foot-five sophomore Noah Franklin added 18-points in the win.

Odin (7-9) got 16-points from from Dylan Friend in the loss for Coach Tyler Mitchell.