03-07-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELIZABETHTOWN - On Saturday night at the Hardin County 1A Sectional title game, the Meridian Bobcats came to play defensively.

Forcing the Cairo Pilots into a poor shooting night, Coach Erik Griffin's club raced out to an 18-7 first quarter lead and stayed the course in moving to the super-sectional on Tuesday night at SIU Arena with a convincing 70-57 win that wasn't as close as the final score would indicate.

The Bobcats out played Cairo in every facet, and put eight players in the scorebook in a game in which they led by as many as 24-points before Cairo rallied late to make the final result more presentable.

Coach Brian Brandtner's Pilots started out the game shooting poorly and the shots never fell until the fourth quarter when they made a brief run.

By then the game was already in the bag for the Bobcats.

Cairo saw its season end at 12-14 in a sectional title game for the second year in a row.

The Pilots got 20-points from Demtrius McGee and 17-points from sophomore Dave Taylor.

But little else went right for Cairo as they shot just 22-of-60 from the field (36.6 percent) and they were beaten on the boards, 40-28.

“It wasn't our night, we came out and dribbled too much and missed too many shots,” said Coach Brandtner. “A lot of credit to Meridian. We knew we had to play well to beat them tonight but we didn't.'

Meridian saw its mark improve to 25-7 under Coach Griffin, in his first season leading the Bobcats.

Meridian is seeking the school's first trip to the finals in boy's basketball since the first season of two-class basketball back in 1971-72.

They will face Casey-Westfield on Tuesday night at 6:00 pm at SIU Arena.

The Warriors took care of Nokomis, 60-42 to win the Effingham St. Anthony 1A Sectional on Friday night.

David Davis, despite picking up three early fouls, came on strong in the second half and led the Bobcats with 18-points while 12-points each were scored by Caylen Ballard and Davarae Edmonds.

Tyrone Nesby chipped in 11 as Meridian broke away from the Pilots with a big second quarter flourish of shots.

Meridian used an 11-2 run to get the separation that they needed.

Ballard scored twice in the run and when he found the mark on a steal and fast break lay in, the Bobcats bulged the lead out to 30-11 with 5:02 remaining in the half.

The foul plagued Pilots put the Bobcats on the foul line for most of the first half and Meridian hit 5-of-8 in the quarter that ended at 33-17.

Meridian jumped out on Cairo to take the drama away with an 11-0 run early in the third quarter, sparked by Davis who had came off the bench after sitting nearly the entire first half after picking up his third foul with 6:13 left in the opening quarter.

Davis, a senior guard and team leader, led the way on a third quarter scoring blitz.

Nesby and Edmonds also added points and when those two scored on consecutive trips after Cairo missed shots, Meridian led 52-29 heading to the final quarter.

Cairo finally made a move in the fourth quarter, making it interesting but not really close.

Coach Brandtner's club went on a 13-2 burst, its best of the night with a trio of 3-point shots by Ladaruis Woodson and Demarious Taylor (2) in the run and also a steal and fast break lay in by McGee.

But that run, which got the score to 56-42, was the best shot that Cairo made.

Meridian settled down and made the Pilots pay by spreading the floor and getting open cuts to the basket.

"Down the stretch we have to execute to be successful. When those defenses get tired with have to do the right things with the ball,” said Coach Griffin. “We need to get good shots every time down the floor and we did that tonight.”

McGee scored two more times for Cairo but Meridian got 6-of-9 free throws in the fourth quarter, including 4-of-5 by Davis to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2012.

“It has been that way all along this season, we have kids that step up when one of us gets in foul trouble,” said Coach Griffin. “Out kids have all the faith in the world of those guys sitting on the bench.”

Meridian shot the ball better than Cairo, hitting 25-of-59 from the floor, with all but three of those shots coming inside of the arc.

Meridian committed 15-turnovers but many of those were in the second half after the game was decided.

Meridian's opposition on Tuesday night, Casey-Westfield sports a 19-12 mark but they had been on a roll with back-to-back lopsided wins over Patoka and Nokomis.