03-11-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA - It only took a few possessions; a few moments; a few shots, but it happened finally in the fourth quarter of the Hales Franciscan 65-57 win over Nashville Friday afternoon at the Class A State Quarterfinals.

When Hales made its big move in the final stanza, Nashville was unable to respond.

Going on a 13-0 scoring burst, the top-ranked Spartans took control of a close game and sent the Carbondale Supersectional champs home with a loss that ended the Hornets season at 28-6.

First team all-stater Nate Minnoy proved his incredible worth in this contest, hitting for 18-points, including two huge baskets to open the fourth quarter that was part of a 20-2 Spartan scoring blitz that turned a 44-36 deficit into a 56-46 lead.

The Hornets, despite 29-points from 6-foot-6 sophomore Lucas O'Rear, bowed out after seeing their 12-game winning streak snapped by the 2003 State Champs.

While Minnoy gets most of the Hales 'ink' it was Michael Robinson who got his team rolling in the second half.

After having trailed for most of the game, Robinson brought his team out of its scoring lull with two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

His first one of the quarter with 4:56 to play gave the Spartans the lead for good.

Coach Darin Lee's team missed eight straight field goal attempts during Hales' run.

"They (Hales) hit some shots in the fourth quarter and we didn't have anything to come back with," said Lee, whose teams are now 0-4 at Peoria. "A couple of times we didn't get a man on them or a hand in the face and they hit the shots and made a run on us."

The Hornets did manage to get within five points late in the contest at 58-53 at the 1:45 mark. Forcing a five-second inbound violation on Hales, Nashville had the ball with a chance to cut into the lead again.

However two straight turnovers used up valuable time, combined with Hales converting 7-of-9 free throws in the final 1:13 of the game sealed the Hornets fate.

The Washington County club failed to produce enough from the free throw line in the final quarter, going just 4-of-8 in the final minutes which added to the problems.

What could have been a turning point of the game was Coach Lee waiting on a media break instead of using one of his allotted time outs.

"When they made their run I probably should have burned a timeout or two," added Coach Lee. "I was waiting for a media timeout but it didn't get there quick enough."

Nashville took the game right to Hales in the early going, setting a tempo more condusive to what Coach Lee wanted to do against a much quick team.

The first quarter saw four lead changes.

Lucas O'Rear got going early, scoring the Hornets first six points.
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A 3-pointer from Andrew Wilson got Nashville even at 14 with 1:44 until the first horn.

But Hales scored the final four points on a rebound basket by Minoy and a fast break lay in Jerome Randle who took a pass from Austin Chapital after a Nashville turnover.

The Randle bucket ending the first quarter scoring at 18-14 Hales.

The Hornets put together a solid second quarter to take the lead heading to intermission.

After spotting the Spartans a 24-18 lead, Nashville scored the games next six points, highlighted by a drive to the basket by Calvin O'Rear for a conventional three-point play to make it 24-all with 1:29 to go.

Lucas O'Rear scored again in the paint on a nice finger roll lay in and backed by two made free throws from Wilson, the Hornets lead 30-25.

"At halftime we spent a lot of time discussing picking up the tempo," said Hales coach Gary London. "The tempo of the first half was definately in their (Nashville) favor. They were very well prepared and did a good job against our press in the first half."

Five points to start the third quarter, another Minnoy basket and a 3-pointer from Jeff Wilson, evened things at 30-apiece at 6:39.

But Nashville weathered that original scoring storm.

The O'Rear brothers combinded for eight straight points for the Hornets to give them some distance at 40-32. Calvin scored on a short jumper to start the run and finished it off with a baseline drive.

Brother Lucas hit a lay in and then took a baseline inbound pass to bank home another shot.

After the second Calvin shot, Hales took a timeout with 2:48 to go.

The two teams traded baskets in the final minutes.

But what turned into a bad omen for Nashville gave Hales a big lift heading into the fourth quarter.
Robinson buried a long 3-pointer from the top of the arc to send the teams to the bench at 44-39 Nashville.

That 'trifecta' triggered the above mentioned 20-2 sprint to the finish line that Nashville couldn't stay with.

For the contest Nashville shot a better than average 22-of-54 from the field (41 percent) but if you subtract Lucas O'Rear's 13-of-15 from the field, the rest of the Hornets ended up 9-of-39.

Hales was everything that was advertised. Hitting on 23-of-52 from the field and 7-of-20 from the 3-point line, the Spartans advanced to play Seneca on Saturday afternoon.

Nashville outrebounded Hales 37-32 but committed 17 turnovers.

Minnoy and Robinson shared team honors with 18-points each. Minoy 'muscled in' for 12 rebounds and Randle dished out six assists to go with his 14 points.

Andrew Wilson added 12-points and Calvin O'Rear chipped in 10 for Coach Lee's Hornets.

"He (Jerome Randle) hit a big shot at the end of the third period," added Lee. "We didn't panic but when he hit that shot it made you think about a run. In the fourth quarter we had some good looks at the basket but they would rim out or they just wouldn't fall."

Nashville (57) - Wilson 3 1 3-4 12, Forys 0 0 2-2 2, C. O'Rear 4 0 2-4 10, L. O'Rear 12 1 2-3 29, Harre 0 1 1-2 4, Price 0 0 0-0 0, Kostecki 0 0 0-0 0, Patton 0 0 0-0 0, York 0 0 0-0 0, Keller 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-19, 3FG-3, FT-10-15, PF-21.
Hales Franciscan (65) - Chapital 1 1 2-3 7, Wilson 2 0 1-3 5, Randle 4 2 0-0 14, Robinson 2 3 5-7 18, Minnoy 7 0 4-7 18, Melchor 0 1 0-0 3, Yerger 0 0 0-1 0, McCrimon 0 0 0-0 0.
Fouled Out - C. O'Rear, Nashville.
Technical Fouls - None.

SENECA 45, FLORA 39
The Wolves made a great postseason run to reach Peoria.

Unfortunately for Coach Phil Lieb and his club, their stay didn't last long.

Falling behind against the Fighting Irish 20-12 at the half, Flora never could get control of the game as they saw their season end at 25-10.

Hitting just 13-of-42 shots and only 5-of-18 from 3-point land, the Wolves trailed for the whole game although they got within a single point early in the second quarter at 12-11.

But for every brief run by Flora, Seneca answered.

"I'm so proud of our kids, they fought hard and played hard. They had opportunities but just couldn't get the ball in the hole when we needed to," said Coach Lieb. "You have to give Seneca the credit on the defensive end of the floor."

A basket late in the game by Blaine Headlee cut the Seneca lead to 42-39.

But that was all of the scoring for the Wolves as Seneca improved to 31-1.

"It was a 'grind-it-out' type of game, a lot of defense and not a lot of rhythm on offense," said Seneca coach Doug Evans. "I think a lot of it was two teams that knew each other well. They were well-prepared for us."

Lucas Stanford, Flora's 6-foot-1 senior scoring leader, was held scoreless in the first half but finished with 14-points on 5-of-10 shooting. Headlee finished with 12-points on 4-of-10 from the field.

Seneca got 20-points from Robert Rexroade and 14-points from Garrett Callahan.

Seneca (45) - Griffin Callahan 1 0 2-2 4, Rexroade 4 2 6-6 20, Anderson 1 0 3-4 5, Smith 0 0 2-2 2, Garrett Callahan 1 2 6-8 14, Hetelle 0 0 0-0 0, Shelton 0 0 0-2 0.
2FG-7, 3FG-4, FT-19-24, PF-13.
Flora (39) - Stanford 3 2 2-2 14, Tyler McGrew 1 0 2-4 4, Cartright 3 0 0-0 6, Forth 0 0 2-2 2, Headlee 1 3 1-2 12, Putbrese 0 0 0-0 0, Caswell 0 0 1-2 1, Harrell 0 0 0-0 0, Trevin McGrew 0 0 0-0 0, Hintz 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-8, 3FG-5, FT-8-12, PF-16.
Fouled Out - Headlee, Flora.
Technical Fouls - None.

WINNEBAGO 71, BREESE CENTRAL 66
The Cougars completed the Deep South 'collapse' with a loss in the final game of the quarterfinals.
Winnebago took off on a 10-2 run to start the third period, turning a 26-21 halftime advantage into a 36-23 lead.

At one point in the third quarter, Winnebago hit eight consecutive shots.

First team all-stater Devan Bawinkel scored 21-points in the game.

But it was teammate Wes Reinke who provided the big offensive push that gave Breese Central the most fits.

He scored six points in that big third quarter by the Indians, which ended at 48-33.

Coach Stan Eagleson's club made a valiant run in the final quarter, getting as close as 61-56 with 1:34 remaining.

However Winnebago, who hit 17-of-27 free throws in the game, closed the door by connecting on 3-of-4 late charity attempts.

A rebound and pass from Bawinkel to Brennan Crull resulted in a fast break score as Winnebago improved to 28-3 while Central saw its season come to a halt at 30-3.

"The two big differences in the game, I thought, was their penetration that hurt us a lot," said Coach Eagleson. "Their number 13 (Reinke) was able to get to the basket several times and they just shot the lights out in the third quarter."

Winnebago shot 25-of-43 for the game (58 percent) while Central shot well connecting 25-of-49. But the Cougars were just 2-of-10 from behind the 3-point line in the loss.

After Bawinkel and Reinke, the Indians received 13 additional points from Crull.

Central's Ken Detmer topped the Cougars in scoring with 23 while Adam Brichler tossed in 13.

Winnebago (71) - Snyder 1 0 0-0 2, Griseta 3 0 0-0 6, Crull 4 1 2-3 13, Reinke 7 0 9-14 23, Bawinkel 5 3 2-4 21, Nelson 1 0 4-6 6, Meacham 0 0 0-0 0, Brooks 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-21, 3FG-4, FT-17-27, PF-19.
Breese Central (66) - Meyer 1 0 5-6 7, Brichler 6 0 1-1 13, Detmer 10 0 3-3 23, Baro 3 1 0-1 9, Petterson 0 0 3-6 3, Zurliene 2 1 0-0 7, Dawson 1 0 2-2 4, Norrenberns 0 0 0-1 0.
2FG-23, 3FG-2, FT-14-20, PF-23.
Fouled Out - Zurliene, Breese Central.
Technical Fouls - None.