01-13-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
CENTRALIA - To say that the first quarter of the Okawville/Metro-East Lutheran game was sort of ugly would be like saying Rush Limbaugh is sort of a conservative.

The Rockets and Knights combined for 1-for-16 from the field and 1-for-4 from the free throw line. The quarter mercifully ended at 3-0 Metro-East Lutheran.

But when the Knights got warmed up, Okawville didn’t.

Going on a 14-2 run to finish out the second quarter - which included a trio of 3-pointers by guard Adam Robinson – Coach Chad Ambuehl’s Metro-East Lutheran squad won its 16th game of the season with a 50-37 triumph in the first boy’s game of the Centralia Shootout.

Metro-East point guard and Centralia native Andy Wolff was playing his first meaningful prep basketball game in his hometown and showed some early shooting jitters.

But he settled down and showed that he is more than just a scorer.

Spreading out the Okawville offense, Wolff scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out five assists for the 16-3 Knights.

“We don’t play pretty basketball. We play hard defensively and we know we have to make games a tad bit ugly but we play hard and our guards pushed the ball up the court tonight and penetrated,” said Coach Ambuehl. “Andy is more than just a scorer – he is a complete player. Every night he comes out and gives us everything he has. He is one of those kids that gets everyone else involved.”

On the other end of the benches, Okawville mentor Jon Kraus wasn’t happy with his team.

Coming off a tough loss to Trenton-Wesclin on Friday night, the Rockets clearly weren’t in the mood for a basketball game.

Making just one real offensive push in the contest, the Rockets never made a game of it in the final quarter.

“We were lousy all night tonight,” said a disappointed Coach Kraus. “I don’t know if it was a hangover effect from the Wesclin game or not but we just didn’t show up to play tonight and you can’t do that.”

As if the first quarter wasn’t bad enough, Metro-East Lutheran committed five turnovers but Okawville was in no position to take advantage with a 0-for-9 effort from the field.

Robinson hit one shot for the Knights in the opening stanza. M-E was just 1-for-6 from the field, which included five misfires from behind the arc.

Wolff gave the Knights the lead for good with a drive to the basket with 3:46 to go before halftime – part of the 14-2 sprint mentioned earlier.

Then Robinson canned consecutive 3-pointers – one from the right corner and the next from the left corner.

Okawville (7-10) didn’t help their own foundation when they missed three straight free throws during the M-E run.

The Knights closed the half with Wolff and Robinson combining for 3-of-4 from the foul line to make the score 19-9.

Okawville received some scoring from Lucas Greten and Brandon Brammeier.

Greten triggered the Rockets best run of the night in the third quarter as he scored 11 of his team high 12 points. Brammeier added 10 points and guard Kyle Heckert finished with eight.

Greten hit back-to-back baskets that cut the Metro-East lead to 22-18 with 4:53 remaining in the third.

Conversely the Knights regrouped and essentially put the game away with a 7-2 quarter ending jaunt – highlighted by five points from guard Mike Mentz (a 3-pointer and two free throws).

Wolff came alive late in the game and picked apart the Okawville man-to-man defense.

With drives to the basket, Wolff picked up three late assists setting up teammates for easy buckets in the lane.

Brian Rocca reaped the bennies in the final three minutes for M-E – scoring three times on two of the Wolff passes with one assist coming from Mentz.

“We got going a bit in the second half but we got behind and had to come out and get after them (Metro-East Lutheran) and we didn’t want to have to do that,” added Kraus. “But then we couldn’t get any stops and we didn’t execute very well.”

Okawville was a horrendous 13-of-47 from the floor Saturday night. They did manage to make 3-of-9 from behind the arc with Brammeier, Greten and Clark Weeke hitting those long-range shots.

Metro-East had their share of blemishes with 20 turnovers on the night.

However a 19-of-34 showing from the field and hitting 8-of-12 free throws were plenty good enough for a victory on this rainy evening in Centralia in a rare game featuring Southern Illinois Independent schools.

Robinson topped all scorers with 17 points while Rocca added nine points with Wolff and Mentz each hitting for eight points.

“We’ve struggled all year against a zone defense because our shooting hasn’t been the best,” added Ambuehl. “We’ve been working on the past few weeks. Adam Robinson had been in a shooting funk since the second game of the season but he came out tonight with a lot of confidence and hit a couple of shots and that is important with us heading into the Litchfield Tournament next week.”

While Metro-East Lutheran tackles a tough field at Litchfield, Okawville will open the always-difficult Benton Invitational Tournament on Monday night with a date with long-time rival Carlyle.

“I just didn’t like our effort tonight that was the main thing,” added Kraus. “There are going to be nights that you don’t shoot it well and other things don’t go well but I still think you have to give a better effort and we just didn’t give a good effort.”

Okawville (37) – Heckert 1 0 6-8 8, Brammeier 3 1 1-3 10, Greten 4 1 1-3 12, Meentemeyer 0 0 1-2 1, Leadendecker 0 0 0-0 0, Wagner 1 0 0-0 2, Weeke 0 1 0-0 3, Clary 1 0 0-0 2
2FG-10, 3FG-3, FT-9-16, PF-13.
Metro-East Lutheran (50) – Rocca 4 0 1-2 9, Mentz 1 1 3-4 8, Schnietz 1 0 0-0 2, Hoffman 0 0 0-0 0, Robinson 3 3 2-2 17, Langendorf 0 0 0-0 0, Wise 0 0 0-0 0, Wolff 3 0 2-4 8, Rodgers 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-15, 3FG-4, FT-8-12, PF-15.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.