01-20-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE - Nashville’s Lucas O’Rear continues to improve and that is a dooming feeling to any team thinking of trying to keep the Hornets from going to state. Considering he is the best Class A player in Southern Illinois already, that is a staggering outlook for the next two months of basketball.

The 6-foot-7 senior forward broke the Nashville Invitational Tournament career scoring record previously held by Trenton-Wesclin’s Paul Lusk while scoring 40 points in a 79-47 title game victory over Freeburg Saturday night at the Assembly Hall at Nashville.

Lusk’s 234 points was a mark that lasted 17 year before O’Rear manhandled the record book the way he took care of the Midgets.

Bringing down nine rebounds along the way, O’Rear left the game to a standing ovation with 5:21 remaining in the contest.

Unaware of another scoring record that was in reach, Coach Darin Lee pulled O’Rear out of the game just two points shy of breaking the single-game standard set by Madison’s Maurice Baker.

Baker set the mark in a first round win over Waterloo Gibault in 1998.

O’Rear’s total of 40 was three better than the 37 points scored by Woodlawn’s Jerry Boldt; Waltonville’s Derek Nowicki and Mascoutah’s Kelly Norwood.

His 16 field goals is now the watermark, surpassing Boldt, Lusk and Mater Dei’s Duane Goebel who each had 15 in a single contest.

While he was at it, O’Rear yanked down 14 rebounds to round out his domination of Freeburg.

Those records broken were much more interesting that the actual game – dominated by the Hornets after the first few minutes.

Coach Norm Toejnes Freeburg club (15-5) was expected to give the Hornets a battle coming off of wins over Breese Central and Mascoutah.

But Nashville (20-0) would have none of an upset bid and became the first Nashville squad to win the title since 2000.

“We beat two really good Class AA teams in back-to-back nights that will both be seeded high in the state tournament,” Coach Lee added. “They’re two really good teams.”

Freeburg got 20 points from 6-foot-6 junior center David Ruckman but it wasn’t even a close contest of which post player was the best one on the floor.

“A lot of people can’t guard him (O’Rear) and teams have tried doubling off of people and most of our guys can shoot the ball so then it is which guy are you not going to guard?” said Coach Lee. “He got a lot of his points on offensive rebounds when they (Freeburg) tried to front him,” said Lee. “More than just size, to guard Lucas you have to have strength and he (Freeburg’s Ruckman) is a really good player but he is a year younger and not strong enough to guard Lucas.”

It didn’t take long to figure out what Freeburg was going to do defensively as they played some zone defense in the first quarter while sagging on O’Rear.

The Hornets – most notably Tommy Pelczynski, Matt Engele and Brandon Reckmann – made the Midgets pay from outside.

The 6-foot-4 junior Pelczynski hit a first quarter 3-pointer and also scored on a baseline drive while O’Rear scored his first bucket of the game as the Hornets went on an 11-0 run to erase a 4-1 Freeburg advantage.

Ruckman scored twice in the first eight minutes and when he connected on a short jumper in the paint, the score was a manageable 15-7.

Engele and Reckmann hit for 3-pointers in the frame and Nashville led 20-11 at the first stop.

O’Rear scored nine points in the second quarter and twice he put back missed shots for points in the lane.

Pelczynski took a pass from O’Rear out of a double team and he drilled home yet another 3-pointer – this one from the right corner – to make it 29-17 with 3:55 to go before the half.

O’Rear took an assist from teammate Blaine Morris and scored on a baseline drive while being fouled by Kyle Polson.

His conventional three-point play pushed the lead to 36-19.

Freeburg’s 5-foot-11 senior guard Michael Adamson had a good game with 14 points and he closed out the quarter with a mid-range shot to cut the deficit down to 36-21 at intermission.

O’Rear and the Hornets closed the book on the outcome with a 9-2 run to open the second half.

O’Rear scored six of those points and Engele hit another 3-pointer. O’Rear scored on a fast break on a pass from Engele off of a Freeburg turnover to make the score 45-23 with 6:28 remaining.

Eight more points from O’Rear the rest of the frame gave fans in attendance something to talk about this week at work.

By the time he tipped in a shot just before the third quarter horn, Nashville led 60-36.

This shoe-in for first team All-State and ABV honors scored nine more points before heading to the bench.

He slammed home a nice two-handed dunk to make it 67-40.

The two coaches emptied the benches to finish off the final few minutes in the title game victory by the Hornets.

After O’Rear’s 40 Nashville got 10 points from Pelczynski and eight from Engele.

Nashville was 24-of-43 from the floor and committed just eight turnovers – four of which came in the final quarter by reserves.

Coach Lee’s team held a commanding 38-23 rebounding edge and allowed the Midgets just four offensive rebounds.
Ruckman and Adamson led Freeburg but no other player hit double-figures. The Midgets were 21-of-50 from the floor.

Had O’Rear shot a bit better from the foul line (8-of-13) he would have broken the single-game mark.

“We are doing a good job of finding him (O’Rear) and getting him the ball,” added Lee. “We are also knocking down some outside shots. It takes a lot of guys to get him the ball and we didn’t turn it over much. We wanted to win this tournament in Lucas’ era here and we did that for him and these seniors.”

Freeburg (47) – Adamson 7 0 0-1 14, Reis 0 1 0-0 3, Moddrell 0 0 0-0 0, Polson 0 1 0-0 3, Ruckman 9 0 2-2 20, Wobbe 0 0 0-1 0, Kamper 0 0 0-0 0, Otten 1 0 1-3 3, Sehr 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Halloran 0 0 0-0 0, Eckert 1 0 0-0 2, Reitzell 1 0 0-0 2, Baird 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-2, FT-3-7, PF-15.
Nashville (79) – Reckman 1 1 0-0 5, MOrris 0 0 0-0 0, Weathers 0 0 0-0 0, Harre 1 0 0-0 2, Engele 0 2 2-2 8, Pelczynski 1 2 2-2 10, Sneed 0 0 2-2 2, Spenner 0 0 0-0 0, Moeller 0 0 0-0 0, Conner 1 0 0-0 2, York 1 0 0-0 2, O'Rear 16 0 8-13 40, Keller 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-24, 3FG-5, FT-16-21, PF-13.
Fouled Out – Moddrell, Freeburg.
Technical Fouls – None.

BREESE CENTRAL 62, TRENTON-WESCLIN 58 (OT)
The Central Cougars stayed within striking range for the whole game and rallied to force overtime before edging their Clinton County rivals to win the championship game of the consolation bracket.

Six-foot-six junior Sean Rakers nearly carried the Warriors to the win with 25 points on the afternoon while guard Nate Fuhler added 13 points for Coach Brent Brede’s team.

But Central’s 6-foot-6 senior Greg Schulte score 19 points and senior guard Alex Reilman added 15 points – including a game-tying 17 footer from the right wing with :08.0 left in regulation.

The Cougars took control of the overtime after Wesclin had taken a 55-53 lead on a rebound basket by Wesclin’s Obie Farmer, a 6-foot-7 senior.

Central’s Nick Fischer hit a 3-pointer to give the Cougars the lead for good with 1:36 left.

“It was like a heavyweight fight and we took some blows early and it looked pretty bleak,” said Central’s head coach Stan Eagleson. “But we hit some big shots in the fourth quarter and we got a little lift off our bench at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth. Sometimes in basketball it just comes down to who makes the open shots and today we made some and they missed some.”

The Cougars closed the game with 2-of-4 free throws and they turned a Wesclin turnover into a fast break score by Patrick Strieker to seal the win with :09 left.

The Warriors can point to a poor shooting afternoon as a part of their demise.

Wesclin was just 21-of-61 overall and 4-of-16 from behind the arc - which included hitting their first two 3-point attempts in the first quarter and 3-of-5 in that opening eight minutes.

Fuhler hit two first quarter trifectas and his second one – which rattled around and fell through – gave Wesclin a 13-7 advantage.

Rakers was a handful in the lane for Wesclin.

He hit three successive shots in and around the lane to open the second quarter.

But again Central hung around, getting to within 23-20 at the half on the strength of a 3-pointer by John Book and baskets by Schulte and Galen Gaffner.

Wesclin’s best chance to finish off their rivals came at the end of the third quarter.

A 7-2 run which included three straight made free throws by Fuhler after being fouled while attempting a 3-pointer.

Another Rakers score in the paint sent the teams to the final quarter at 37-31.

The Central rally began with a pair of long-range bombs by Gaffner and Strieker that forced a Wesclin timeout at 41-40 with 6:43 to go in regulation.

Four points from Rakers, a bucket by Farmer and two more free throws by Fuhler gave the Warriors a winning look with just :44.2 and ahead 51-46

But Schulte converted a three-point play and Reilman hit the big shot to send the teams into the extra session.

Central shot pretty well from the field, hitting on 24-of-54 (44 percent) and outrebounded the much bigger Warriors 36-27.

After Schulte and Reilman the Cougars received ten points from Gaffner and eight from Strieker.

“We are one of those teams that will never beat people by 15 or 20, we’re going to have to hang around and win a lot of four and five point games,” added Eagleson.

Breese Central (62) – Gaffner 2 1 3-4 10, Voss 0 0 0-0 0, Strieker 2 1 1-2 8, Book 0 2 0-0 6, Bach 0 0 1-2 1, Reilman 6 1 0-0 15, Fischer 0 1 0-1 3, Schulte 8 0 3-6 19.
2FG-18, 3FG-6, FT-8-15, PF-15.
Trenton-Wesclin (58) – Dunning 1 1 0-1 5, Sopiars 1 0 4-4 6, Fuhler 0 3 4-5 13, Bair 0 0 0-0 0, Farmer 4 0 1-3 9, Rakers 11 0 3-4 25.
2FG-17, 3FG-4, FT-12-17, PF-15.
Fouled Out – Schulte, Central.
Technical Fouls – None.

MADISON 47, WATERLOO GIBAULT 44
The Trojans hung on for a victory and seventh place in the bracketed event and withstood a comeback by the Hawks.

Cornelius Chatt scored 18 points to lead both teams while teammates Marcus Lewis and Chas Wallace added nine points each in a low scoring affair in the afternoon on Saturday.

Gibault (5-11) trailed 33-25 heading into the final quarter but scared the Trojans with a big run at the end.

Six-foot-seven sophomore Michael Hoffman topped Gibault with 12 points while Dakota Schutt chipped in 10 including eight points in the fourth quarter during that comeback.

Tyler Beckerle scored six points for the Hawks and his last second shot rimmed out at the buzzer as Madison improved to 10-8.

Waterloo Gibault (44) – Stumpf 0 0 0-0 0, J. Kovarik 0 2 0-1 6, Kremmel 0 0 0-0 0, Beckerle 2 0 2-2 6, T. Schutt 3 0 2-2 8, Posey 0 0 0-0 0, Lane 1 0 0-0 2, Nieman 0 0 0-0 0, D.Schutt 4 0 2-2 10, Hoffman 4 0 4-6 12.
2FG-14 3FG-2, FT-10-13, PF-14.
Madison (47) –Brown 0 0 2-3 2, Gregory 0 0 0-2 0, Chatt 6 2 0-0 18, Lewis 4 0 1-3 9, Mason 1 0 0-0 2, Green 0 0 0-0 0, Emerson 1 0 1-2 3, Wallace 4 0 1-2 9, Johnson 2 0 0-0 4, McClendon 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-18, 3FG-2, FT-5-12, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

BREESE MATER DEI 48, MASCOUTAH 41
The Mater Dei Knights rebounded from a loss to Nashville in the semifinals to nip Mascoutah in the third place contest.

Scott Restoff topped the scoring in the game with 15 points for head coach Brian Perkes while Josh Donnewald and Kyle Thole added 11 and ten.

Mascoutah got 13 points from Robbie Rudy and ten points from Mark Wehmeyer.

Mater Dei improved to 18-4 on the season while Mascoutah slipped to 16-3.

Mascoutah (41) – Milton 2 0 0-0 4, Wehmeyer 2 2 0-0 10, Butler 0 0 0-0 0, Rudy 4 1 2-3 13, Smith 1 0 4-7 6, Wager 0 0 1-2 1, Pfasterer 1 1 2-2 7.
2FG-10, 3FG-4, FT-9-14, PF-18.
Breese Mater Dei (48) – Restoff 5 0 5-6 15, Donnewald 4 0 3-6 11, Thole 0 2 4-4 10, Dulle 1 0 0-0 2, Tschannen 1 1 1-3 6, Deiters 2 0 0-0 4, Fuchne 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-3, FT-13-19, PF-142.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.