01-21-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - For the Pinckneyville Panthers, all was well for the first three quarters of their contest against Mounds Meridian on Wednesday night at the 42nd annual Benton Invitational Tournament.

The Panthers were in complete control having pulled away from the Bobcats and led by as many as 20-points, headed for a sure victory and a 2-0 start to an event that this Perry County team had dominated in recent seasons.

However the fourth quarter turned nightmarish for Coach Bob Waggoner's club as he witnessed a frantic rally by Meridian.

Trailing 54-34 after a pair of free throws by Pinckneyville's Nolan Luke just seconds into the final frame, Coach Erik Griffin's Bobcats got on a roll.

More like a steamroll.

Meridian hit all 10 of their fourth quarter field goal attempts while the Panthers were trying to run out the clock.

As it turned out, this was a bad combination for Pinckneyville.

Meridian managed to cut the deficit down to just 68-65 in the final seconds.

But as it turned out, the Panthers managed to survive from the foul line, hitting 18-of-24 free throws in the final frame (26-of-36 overall) to get the victory.

Brian Taylor, a 5-foot-11 senior, hit a pair of charities with :05.6 left to finally settle the issue in a 70-65 win.

For Pinckneyville it was a game that they had complete control of only to see the Bobcats produce a furious comeback.

Pinckneyville improved to 16-4 on the season and are now 2-0 in the BIT.

“One of the things that Meridian does so well is that they keep battling. They are deep and play 10 or 11 kids and I think we wore down a bit. They really kept taking it to us. We missed some shots and some free throws late in the game but at the same time we played well enough early to make sure we had enough to win,” said Coach Waggoner.

Meridian, in its first year at the invite, fell to 1-1 in the tournament and 15-4 overall.

For the Panthers, they got 19-points from senior Tristan Fisher and 17-points from Nolan Luke in the hard-pressed triumph.

Sophomore Tyler Rulevish (12) and Taylor (10) each hit for double-figures.

Meridian was led by senior guard David Davis with 17-points while classmate Davare Edmonds added 14.

Tyrone Nesby chipped in 13-points for the Bobcats.

All three of the Meridian double-digit scorers were part of the big rally in the fourth quarter.

In fact the Bobcats pounced on the Panthers with a 14-1 run, started by Nesby and ending with Caylen Ballard, who finished with eight-points, hitting a pair of free throws.

In the middle of this march was a pair of fast break scores by Edmonds and a 3-pointer by Nesby.

Nesby had eight of these points and he hit 1-of-2 free throws in the stretch.

Ballard added an offensive rebound off of that Nesby missed free throw and his stick back continued the run.

When the 6-foot-1 senior Ballard converted his two charities, suddenly the Bobcats were back in contention at 55-48 with 4:14 left.

“They got us in foul trouble in the first quarter and they (Pinckneyville) got the ball to the right people and scored baskets early,” said Coach Griffin. “We made some adjustments and made a comeback, but it was too late by then.”

The one constant in the fourth quarter for the Panthers was their ability to make free throws.

In fact Fisher converted eight-consecutive free throws at one point to help keep the Bobcats from taking the lead.

Pinckneyville appeared to have weathered the storm with one possession of :41 that ended the Fisher free throw run.

When he converted two more at 1:09 remaining, the Panthers could take a deep breath at 66-55.

But the Bobcats had one last gasp in them and put another scare in the Panthers.

Davis and reserve Daniel Valentine each scored baskets in transition and when Davis nailed a long 3-point shot from the left wing, Meridian was down just 67-62 with :39 left.

After Fisher hit 1-of-2 foul shots, Edmonds hit his only 3-pointer of the game to get the score to 68-65.

But at this point, the Bobcats were out of time outs and also out of time.

Taylor hit those final two FT's to end the scoring.

In a contest that looked over at the beginning of the final stanza, the Meridian club made it more than interesting in the final seven minutes.

“We knew coming in that they were really going to protect the middle of the court,” said Coach Griffin. “They wanted to keep Davis and Edmonds from getting to the basket. We knew coming in it would be tough because they are solid fundamentally.”

The Panthers, even though they were shooting the ball well early, never seemed too comfortable offensively.

Pinckneyville ended up with 14-turnovers and were out-rebounded by the Bobcats 27-24.

Jumping out to a 16-8 first quarter advantage, the Panthers got an early 3-pointer by Luke and scores by Fisher and junior guard Jackson Brand to close the quarter.

The second quarter featured two teams trading baskets and turnovers.

Valentine, who always provides a spark off of the bench for the Bobcats, scored six of his points in the second quarter.

But the Panthers closed the second with a basket Fisher on an assist from Luke for a 30-22 halftime edge.

After Meridian scored the first three points of the second half on a basket by Edmonds and a free throw by Davis, Pinckneyville scored the next nine points.

Fisher stepped up and nailed a 3-pointer along with buckets by senior Adam Banach and Luke.

When Luke closed the sprint with a score in the lane, Pinckneyville led 39-25 with 4:26 to go.

Davis and Edmonds continued to get the the basket, with Edmonds converting a three-point play and Davis scoring on fast break.

Nevertheless, the Panthers closed the quarter with a 10-4 run and separated themselves from Meridian.

Taylor canned a 3-pointer from the left corner and Luke scored on a steal and fast break.

Then on a set out-of-bounds play in the final seconds, Luke in-bounded the ball to Taylor, who got it back to Luke for a shot from the left corner.

His 3-point bomb found the bottom of the net right before the buzzer for a 52-34 advantage.

Then the Panthers had to hold off the Bobcats in the final eight minutes, which they did in panic mode.

Coach Waggoner's team finished the night 19-of-44 from the field (43.1 percent) but they did hit 6-of-10 from long range.

“Number 32 (Davis) we knew he was going left because he is left-handed, but we still couldn't stop him from going left. He is athletic as any kid that we have seen this year,” said Coach Waggoner about David Davis. “They have a quality ballclub and they are as good as anyone around in southern Illinois athletically. They do a great job with their ball pressure and they wore us down a little bit. But I'm really proud of our guys. We were able to withstand their run and we came up with a win.”

Coach Griffin saw his club hit for a better percentage (49 percent) at 25-of-51.

However they were just 3-of-14 from beyond the arc.

Meridian dug themselves a hole using a turnover shovel that was “Size 19” with six of those miscues coming in the first quarter as they fell behind.

Both teams get right back in the saddle on Friday night.

Pinckneyville, who has won 9-of-the-last-10 Benton Invitational Tournament championships (2013 they finished third) including last season, will play Hamilton County at 9:00 pm.

Meridian will face Carlyle at 6:00 pm Friday.

“Right now we would love to be 2-0 but in these two games we are better than we were two games ago,” said Coach Griffin. “That was our whole goal, play good people to make us better so we can make some noise in the postseason. Getting better is what we need to do.”

Meridian (65) – Ballard 3 0 2-2 8, Davis 4 1 6-8 17, Edmonds 5 1 1-3 14, Nesby 4 1 2-3 13, Weldon 0 0 1-2 1, Valentine 5 0 0-0 10, Nicholson 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-22, 3FG-3, FT-12-18, PF-26.
Pinckneyville (70) – Taylor 1 1 5-6 10, Brand 1 0 0-0 2, Luke 4 2 3-6 17, Rulevish 0 2 6-6 12, Fisher 3 0 10-14 19, Banach 2 0 2-4 6, Bauersachs 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-13, 3FG-6, FT-26-36, PF-15.
Fouled Out – Weldon, Valentine - Meridian.
Technical Fouls – None.

SESSER-VALIER 57, CARLYLE 52
The Red Devils overcame a double-digit deficit in their rally past the Indians in the Wednesday night opener behind 24-points from senior guard Nick Marlo.

S-V improved to 1-1 in the tournament with the victory.

Coach Shane Garner's club also received 12-points from Jacob Vanwey in the win, in which they trailed 31-19 at halftime.

Coach Andy Palmer's club (0-2) was led by 22-points by 6-foot-4 sophomore Connor Toennies.

Carlyle (52) – Becker 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor 0 2 0-0 6, Cahoon 0 0 1-3 1, Cox 1 0 0-0 2, Bretz 1 0 0-0 2, Peebles 1 0 2-4 4, Foos 0 0 0-0 0, Diekemper 1 0 2-2 4, Johnson 3 0 5-6 11, Toennies 9 0 4-6 22.
2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-14-21, PF-19.
Sesser-Valier (61) – Barrett 2 0 1-5 5, Vanwey 2 2 2-3 12, Marlo 3 4 6-8 24, Galloway 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 4 0 1-2 9, Lance 0 0 0-0 0, Miller 2 0 0-0 4, Wilson 1 0 1-2 3.
2FG-14, 3FG-6, FT-11-20, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Johnson - Carlyle.
Technical Fouls – None.

BENTON 58, HAMILTON COUNTY 30
The host Rangers removed all doubt in the Wednesday night nighcap by jumping out to a 25-12 halftime advantage and then outscoring the Foxes 21-9 in the third quarter.

Coach Ron Winemiller got 16-points from Bryden Ritchason in the win while Kruz Hayes added 14.

Hamilton County and head coach Keith Welch fell to 0-2 in the event and were topped by 10-points from sophomore Oakley Dial.

Hamilton County (30) – Vaughan 0 0 0-0 0, 0 0 0-0 0, Lueke 0 0 0-0 0, Dodson 0 0 0-0 0, Barnard 0 0 0-0 0, Dial 2 2 0-0 10, Scattone 0 0 2-2 2, Kelly 0 1 0-0 3, Rexing 0 0 0-0 0, Cravens 2 0 0-0 4, Craddock 1 0 0-0 2, Potter 0 1 0-0 3.
2FG-6, 3FG-4, FT-6-7, PF-12.
Benton (58) – Richardson 0 0 0-0 0, Owens 0 1 1-2 4, Torres 1 0 0-0 2, Wills 0 2 4-4 10, Henson 0 2 0-0 6, Oxford 0 2 0-0 6, Hayes 4 2 0-0 14, B. Picklesimer 0 0 0-0 0, Hoaughland 0 0 0-0 .
2FG-12, 3FG-9, FT-7-9, PF-7.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.