03-07-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
DU QUOIN – On Friday night at the Du Quoin 2A Sectional championship game, the Mount Carmel Golden Aces rolled the dice.

Coach Tyler Buss instructed his team to pack in their 2-3 zone defense on the big front line of Nashville and dared the Hornets to beat his club from the outside.

This roll turned up “snake eyes” for these “cards.”

The Hornets came out firing away from the 3-point line and junior guard Daniel Thorson made Mount Carmel pay for their defensive strategy.

The 6-foot-1 Thorson nailed three wide-open 3-pointers in the opening frame as the Hornets built a double-digit advantage.

Despite a late rally in the fourth quarter, the Golden Aces never got closer than seven points the rest of the way in a 63-55 defeat in front of a large crowd at Anders Gymnasium.

Thorson finished with 18-points as Nashville advanced to the Carbondale Supersectional for the first time since 2007 while improving their record to 25-7 with the win.

Coach Brad Weathers’ club, which was at one time 7-5 on the season after Christmas, has gone 18-2 since the Mater Dei Tournament.

Six-foot-six sophomore forward Royce Newman helped the Hornets with 14-points while senior guard Keegan Anderson chipped in 11.

“I think our length bothered them (Mount Carmel) on both ends of the floor,” said Coach Weathers. “On the boards and on the inside on offense. They had to adjust on some of the things that they would do trying to get to the basket. The fast start was huge. Even though they were able to make a run it was big that we had that lead. We prepared for their 2-3 zone and expected that.”

Mount Carmel closed its season at 22-9 with senior forward Reece Metcalf closing out his career with a game-high 22-points while junior point guard Levi Laws finished with 10.

In a contest that was nearly statistically even in every aspect, the first quarter turned out to be the difference as Nashville exploited the Mount Carmel defensive decision.

Thorson and Anderson nailed their long-range shots as part of a 12-2 run to begin the contest.

Thorson’s first shot of the contest, just twelve seconds into the quarter on the first possession, gave Nashville an advantage that it never squandered as Mount Carmel failed to lead at any point of the game.

Anderson added his early 3-point shot from the left corner and Thorson followed that with two more bombs, one in which banked home from the top of the arc.

By the time his third trey found the mark, the Aces needed a timeout with 4:35 to go in the quarter down double-digits.

“We knew we were going to have to protect the inside and throw some extra bodies in there (the lane) to try and control Newman,” said Coach Buss. “We missed some rotations there on our zone and gave them too many wide open looks. It seemed like everything they shot up there went in and everything we shot in the first half were ‘in and out’ and I think with the combination of both of those things our kids got a bit frustrated. But we battled back in the second half and a couldn’t be prouder of this group.”

When Mount Carmel tried to extend its zone, the Hornets then went inside with Anderson and Thorson scoring on drives to the basket and score in the lane by Newman gave the Hornets a 20-8 lead with under a minute left in the quarter.

Laws and Metcalf accounted for all ten points in the first quarter for the Aces as they trailed by 10 after one period of play.

Nashville was 8-fo-13 in the opening quarter and added to the lead the remainder of the first half.

Going inside after forcing Mount Carmel’s zone to expand, Nashville extended its lead.

Newman added a pair of baskets and 3-of-4 free throws in the quarter as Nashville led 33-17 at intermission.

While the Aces zone defense struggled to stop Nashville, it was the other end of the floor that hurt the Mount Carmel chances the most.

With the height and length of the Hornets 2-3 zone, the Aces found it difficult to mount any sort of half-court offense.

Coach Buss saw his club hit just 2-of-15 shots from the floor in the second quarter as they trailed by 16-points at intermission.

Offensively the Aces finally got going in the second half.

Metcalf got to the foul line (4-of-4) and hit a 3-pointer to close the quarter for Mount Carmel.

But in the middle part of the frame, the Aces’ foul trouble in put the Hornets on the charity stripe.

Four Hornets (Newman, Thorson, Anderson and senior forward Hunter Beetley) combined to make 9-of-10 free throws in the third quarter as Nashville led 46-34 heading to the fourth.

Mount Carmel finally got to within striking distance in the early part of the fourth quarter when Metcalf scored twice and senior Austin Thompson scored on a fast break lay in to cut the Nashville lead to 48-41 with 6:48 left.

But Nashville responded with six-consecutive points, four from the foul line and a basket by Newman in close to the rim to extend the advantage back to double-figures.

Six-foot-six junior Dylan Mueller got open in the lane and scored while being fouled by Thompson. His made free throw converted the three-point play in conventional style for a 57-43 advantage with 3:04 to go.

Mueller has come up big for the Hornets this season, playing on the perimeter on defense and making things difficult for opposing teams to match up against.

“He (Mueller) has done a tremendous job for us on the point of our zone,” said Coach Weathers. “With being 6-foot-6 and having that wing span. He is a very heady player and he was a guard when he was younger and actually played the point in grade school so he has ball handling skills.”

The last push by the Aces came in the next minute and a half as senior Thomas Allen hit a pair of 3-pointers as Mount Carmel climbed back to 58-51 with 1:33 left.

However 6-foot-6 senior Clint Johannes grabbed a rebound for Nashville for a put back and added a pair of free throws on the next possession to extend the lead.

Metcalf and Laws each scored in the final :40 but it was too little too late as the Golden Aces saw its season come to a close.

Statistically the contest turned out to be closer than what was shown on the court.

Each team finished with 26 rebounds and 13 turnovers.

The Hornets were more efficient on the offensive end in a game where neither team (overall) shot the ball well.

Nashville finished 18-of-41 (43.9 percent) while hitting 5-of-14 from beyond the arc. Four of the five-made trey’s came in that opening quarter blitz.

Mount Carmel, on the other hand, hit just 19-of-51 from the floor (37.2 percent) and were just 5-of-25 from 3-point range.

Trying to shoot over those long arms of the Nashville defense turned out to be too big of an obstacle for the Aces, who lost just their third game to an Illinois team as they play a predominately Indiana schedule, as they are part of the Big Eight Conference in the Hoosier State.

“Their length just shrinks the floor and there just isn’t much room to work,” added Coach Buss. “We tried to get the ball in the middle and work it around but every shot is affected by their length. Give them (Nashville) credit. Coach Weathers does a great job and Nashville will be a tough out going forward. They just pose some many different problems. The length and the size is just something you can’t prepare for.”

Nashville ended up with a point differential that came from the foul line as they converted 22-of-31 chances while the Aces were just 12-of-17.

“Late in the game when they were coming down and needing to score points we actually got a couple of steals because of our length. With our size, even though they shot the ball well late, we were able to get some big rebounds,” said Coach Weathers.

The Hornets will play Teutopolis in the 2A Supersectional at SIU Arena on Tuesday night at 8 pm.

The Wooden Shoes were a 64-53 winner over Greenville at the Vandalia Sectional on Friday night.

“We know they are awfully good (Teutopolis) and this speaks highly of our Nashville Invitational Tournament,” added Coach Weathers, referring to the Wooden Shoes being a part of the tourney along with Waterloo Gibault who also won on Friday night in the 1A Okawville Sectional.

Mount Carmel, noted more for its football success over the years, have been very good on the hardwood in the last four seasons.

“They (seniors) did a lot of good things for this program and in our school history that hadn’t been done before,” finalized Coach Buss. “Getting to 22-wins, winning the Capital Classic, winning the Carmi Tournament and back-to-back regional championships. This group has a lot to be proud of and hopefully they laid a nice foundation for the future of Aces basketball.”