03-05-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - It is difficult to imagine Lucas O'Rear having a better day than he did Tuesday, March 6, 2007.

The 6-foot-7 senior forward for Nashville awoke to find out he was named first team All-State by the Associated Press.

He then closed out his day with a 29-point – 10-rebound showing in Nashville's 76-46 demolishing of Mount Carmel at the Carbondale Class A Supersectional.

The way his day went - someone should have bought him a lottery ticket.

O'Rear – who was hitting 76 percent of his field goals for the season heading into the Supersectional – didn't hurt his percentage any against Mount Carmel.

Lucas hit on 13-15 shots and found time to dish out four assists.

In leading his top-ranked Hornets to the 'Elite Eight' for the first time since 2005 – O'Rear wowed the crowd with six dunks while turning the Supersectional contest into a blowout from nearly the opening tap.

Mount Carmel vs. Nashville turned into 'Bambi vs. Godzilla' in a blink.

Like a 'deer in headlights' – the Golden Aces didn't know what hit them as they bowed out of their wonderful season at 21-11.

Head coach Darin Lee saw his record improve to 5-0 at SIU Arena with the Hornets easy win as the 33-0 Nashville club will once again carry the banner of southern Illinois with them to Peoria.

“They had to give something and so they zoned and box-and-something on Lucas and we come out and three different guys hit three 3's,” said a victorious Coach Lee. “We've done that so many times it is like a blitzkrieg. So far this season we have found the open man and knocked down the open shots. This has been a special place for me as my dad played and later coached teams that came here and won. I'm 5-0 here as a coach and dad was 3-0 here.”

Nashville will tackle Teutopolis in the second quarterfinal contest on Friday afternoon at 1:45.
The Wooden Shoes took care of Moweaqua Central A&M. 55-45. at the Charleston Class A Supersectional on Tuesday.

Nashville topped Teutopolis back on February 10 at the Riverton Shootout 57-43.

Ten of the Nashville kids scored as this game was never in doubt after the first few moments.

Three different Hornets hit 3-pointers in the opening quarter as Mount Carmel did like nearly everyone else has tried to do this season while trying to defend O'Rear.

They came out in a zone to try and make Nashville beat them from outside.

The Hornets did just that with Matt Engele, Patrick Weathers and Tommy Pelczynski all hitting from long range in the first two and a half minutes of the contest.

By the time Mount Carmel knew what hit them – Nashville was on top 11-4 with 5:36 to go in the quarter.

“That is what we have been doing all year – when they (opponents) double down on me we throw it out and get the three,” said O'Rear. “That is just our style of basketball.”

Then as Mount Carmel had to come out and guard the perimeter – O'Rear took command.

Scoring four consecutive baskets – including a conventional three point play and the first of his six dunks – O'Rear turned a potentially close game into the blowout that most expected heading into Tuesday night.

His spin move in the lane and subsequent free throw made it 14-8 at 3:45 remaining.

A lob pass from teammate Ryan Keller, a rebound basket and a fast break dunk off of a Mount Carmel turnover had the Hornets up 22-8 with just over a minute left.

If you are looking for a plus from the Mount Carmel side – 5-foot-8 junior point guard Jensen Dardeen scored 21 points for Coach Haywood's squad and will return next season for the Aces.

He scored four early points and - along with teammate Justin Lewis' score in the lane – Mount Carmel was still within range at 24-10 at the first stoppage.

“He (Dardeen) is a tough kid to guard and we knew that we would have trouble guarding him,” added Coach Lee. “But we were able to stop enough of the other guys and get enough points.”

The Aces – winners of the Hamilton County Class A Sectional – made its only real run of the game to start the second quarter.

Dardeen scored eight of his points in that second stanza and his driving bank shot with 3:52 before the half cut the Hornets deficit to just ten points.

Outscoring the Hornets 10-6 – MC closed the gap to 30-20.

But that was the end of the road for this Mount Carmel team.

A 10-2 run – which included four buckets in transition – ended the drama of the evening for the large crowd at SIU Arena.

Matt Engele scored on an inbounds play and then Pelczynski scored on a fast break lay in.

On the next Mount Carmel possession – O'Rear stole an Aces pass and brought the crowd to its feet with a two-handed reverse dunk with 2:42 left.

He would have four steals on the night two more second quarter dunks.

By the time he finished his second quarter onslaught – Nashville led 40-22 at the break.

O'Rear put the finishing touches on his night with eight more points in the third quarter.

Three more baskets – including another slam on a pass from Keller – and a pair of free throws expanded the Hornets advantage to 50-26 at the 4:28 mark.

Brandon Reckmann and Blaine Morris scored late baskets as the quarter ended at 58-32 Nashville.

O'Rear ended his evening with a drive to the basket and yet another dunk on an assist from Keller to make the score read 67-43.

Both teams used their reserve units to run out the clock.

“He (O'Rear) is just a man down low and he wears you out,” said Mount Carmel head coach Ryan Haywood. “I had five tapes on them (Nashville) and in each one of them they looked like the number one team in the state and I saw them tonight and they are a heck of a club. We picked our poison tonight and we thought that maybe with the arena and the depth perception that they would miss some shots early before we hop into our man defense. But when they hit some three's and we ended up having to go man.”

The 30-point margin tied for the second biggest margin in the history of the Carbondale Class A Supersectional.

Ridgway defeated Ullin Century 79-49 in 1974.
Cairo holds the record with a 77-42 shellacking of Pinckneyville in 1981.

The Hornets shot 60 percent from the floor (30-of-50) and outrebounded Mount Carmel 28-17.

Reckmann was second on the Nashville hit parade with nine points while Keller added eight.

Mount Carmel was just 21-of-44 from the field and 0-of-10 from behind the 3-point line.

Following Dardeen's 21 points – Justin Lewis finished with 10 and Steven Alka added six.

Mount Carmel won the school's first sectional title since 1944 and its Supersectional appearance was their first.

O'Rear – who made it to state as a sophomore – is aware of the importance of returning to Peoria.

“We know we have to represent southern Illinois and be ready on Friday,” added O'Rear.

The Hornets opponent is Teutopolis – a team that knocked off Nashville in the quarterfinals back in 2000 and is familiar to Nashville after their meeting back in February.

“He (Lucas) got his hands on so many basketball's, altered so many shots, found open people this year,” Lee added, talking about his all-stater. “You have to half strength down there to guard him because he is a 'horse' and they (Mount Carmel) didn't have the physical strength to guard them. We had a great game tonight and we need to focus on Friday at 1:45.”

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Mount Carmel	10	12	12	12	-	46
Nashville	24	16	16	20	-	76

Mount Carmel (46) -J. Deisher 1 0 1-2 3, Lewis 5 0 0-0 10, Buss 1 0 0-0, 2, Dardeen 9 0 3-5 21, Alka 3 0 0-0 6, Drone 0 0 0-0 0, Browning 0 0 0-0 0, Vargo 0 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Burton 0 0 0-0 0, Bumpus 0 0 0-0 0, Beckerman 1 0 0-0 2, D. Deisher 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-21, 3FG-0, FT-4-7, PF-11.
Nashville (76) - O'Rear 13 0 3-5 29, Keller 3 0 2-2 8, Weathers 0 1 0-0 3, Engele 1 1 0-0 5, Pelczynski 1 1 0-0 5, Reckmann 3 0 3-3 9, Morris 3 0 0-0 6, Harre 0 0 0-0 0, Snead 0 0 0-0 0, Spenner 1 0 0-0 2, Moeller 1 0 0-0 2, Carson 0 0 0-0 0, Conner 0 1 0-0 3, York 0 0 4-4 4. 2FG-26, 3FG-4, FT-12-14, PF-9.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.