01-10-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
MURPHYSBORO - The Nashville Hornets were mere seconds away from heading home with a non-conference road loss at Murphysboro on Tuesday night.

Leading most of the game, all coach Daryl Murphy's Red Devils had to do to seal the win was to make some free throws.

There in lies the rub.

Free throw shooting is obviously not Murphysboro's forte.

After knocking down their first three charities of the night in the second quarter, the Devils produced 'goose eggs' the rest of the way from the line.

Murphysboro missed an 'unheard of' 12-consecutive free throws, including five in a row in the fourth quarter that allowed the Hornets to get back into the game.

Taking advantage of the opportunity given to them, Nashville stayed the course.

Todd Kostecki scored on a drive to the basket with :11 left in regulation to tie the game at 46-all sending the game into overtime and a 7-0 run in the second overtime by the Hornets finally put to rest an exciting, yet mistake filled, 63-60 double overtime win by Nashville in a non-conference battle between SIRR Mississippi and Ohio Division teams.

Nearly all of the miscues came courtesy of the Red Devils at the foul line.

Having chance, after excruciating chance, to polish off Nashville in regulation and the first overtime, Murphysboro 'clanged' those five straight charities in the fourth quarter, blowing a six-point lead.

Nashville also managed to 'cough up' an advantage, having taken command in the first overtime by scoring five-consecutive points.

But the Hornets took care of their business from the foul line, making five straight attempts in the final minutes of the second extra session.

Kostecki's pair of free throws with :13 remaining gave Nashville its final winning margin.

Murphysboro had a shot to even the score again, but Jeremy King's 3-pointer from near the top of the arc fell short to end the contest.

"We missed our last nine free throws and two of them were 1-and-1's but believe it or not, I am happy again with the way we have played," said Murphysboro mentor Daryl Murphy, whose club stands at 8-7 overall after a rough start to the season. "We took another huge step forward tonight. I like the way our team is coming along. We are getting better and we are going to be ten points better in two weeks and I think we will be ten points better than that in February."

The problems of the 'Devils at the stripe slightly overshadowed the exceptional game by Lucas O'Rear.
Nashville's 6-foot-6 junior forward, after being held in check for the first half with just six points, exploded for a game-high 32-points in the hard earned win.

Other than their obvious shooting problems from the line, Murphysboro played a solid game and startled the Hornets a bit by playing straight up man-to-man; something that Nashville hasn't seen much this season.

"That surprised us some when they came out and played us man tonight," said Lee, whose team now stands at 14-3 with the victory. "We talked at halftime about how we need to get Lucas the ball more and finally we were able to get him posted up. They (Murphysboro) couldn't handle him once we could get him the ball down low. Part of it is wanting the ball and he (O'Rear) played like an all-stater in the second half."

Holding O'Rear down early and getting balanced scoring in the first 16-minutes, Murphysboro jump out to a 25-20 halftime lead.

Jeremy Landers, a 6-foot-3 senior transfer from Milwaukee's Gordon Tech H.S., scored a team-high 21 points for Murphysboro.

He got things going early for his team scoring five early points on a 3-pointer and a nice drive to the basket.

Nashville used some outside game with Brandon Reckmann hitting two long distance shots in the first quarter. His second 3-pointer made the score 12-all at the first horn.

Landers converted a conventional three-point play to open the second quarter and three different teammates dented the scoreboard.

Cortez Turner scored twice in the run on drives to the basket and his second bucket on a move in the lane between two Nashville defenders ended the first half scoring.

"He (Landers) is such a good player and he passes the ball really well," said Coach Murphy. "He got some other kids involved tonight."

O'Rear began to wear on the Red Devils in the third quarter, scoring eight points in the stanza.

His basket in the paint with 2:17 to go sliced the Murphysboro lead to 33-32.

But the Red Devils closed the quarter strong.

Three straight baskets by Landers on a drive, an offensive rebound and on a fast break opportunity gave Murphysboro some breathing room heading into the fourth quarter at 39-34.

A 3-pointer by Maurice Brown early in the fourth gave Murphysboro what appeared to be game ending 42-36 advantage.

However that lead would evaporate, due to the Red Devils problems from the free throw line.

Murphysboro missed all five of its fourth quarter free throws attempts, combined with eight more points from O'Rear, and the two teams headed for overtime.

After Kostecki's drive to the basket evened the score late in the frame, Landers 3-point look at the basket misfired at the regulation buzzer.

Nashville seemed to have the game wrapped up, snatching momentum away from their hosts in the early part of the first OT.

O'Rear scored twice on shots from the right block. His second basket, while being fouled by Turner, resulted in a three-point play and a 51-46 lead with 2:53 left.

But Murphysboro responded with Landers again coming up big. Two baskets on a short shot in the paint and score on a fast break, thanks to a steal by Jeremy King, evened the game at 52-apiece with 1:22 remaining.

Blaine Morris and Jebray Moore traded baskets setting up the final seconds of the first overtime.
Again, Murphysboro had victory within reach.

Moore missed on an attempt at the buzzer, however, leaving the teams tied at 54-all heading to the second overtime.

"Murphysboro is a good team and they are really tough to beat here at their place," added Lee. "I think that they (Murphysboro) are going to be a factor in the state tournament."

Landers connected on a 3-pointer just nine seconds into the second overtime to give Murphysboro a 57-54 lead.

Then Nashville put together its final run of the night to secure the win.

Two Kostecki free throws, a three-point play by O'Rear and a backdoor lay in by Reckmann made it 61-57 Hornets with less than two minutes left.

The final two tosses from Kostecki (four total in the second overtime) at the end gave Nashville just enough cushion to escape with the win.

"Todd Kostecki saw an opening and made a big shot for us late in regulation," Lee added. "Everybody has to step up when they get a shot or a drive to the basket. The difference in this game was that we were 11-of-13 from the line and they were 3-of-15 from the line."

O'Rear's 32 led all scorers and three of his teammates, Morris, Reckmann and Kostecki all added eight points each to the Nashville production.

The Hornets were 25-of-50 from the field and were 11-of-13 from the foul line, a sharp contrast to what happened at the other end of the floor for coach Murphy's club.

The Red Devils, after Landers' 21, got 10 points from Turner and nine from Moore. Jarrin Agnew tossed in eight points for Murphysboro, who finished up a respectable 26-of-62 (42 percent) from the floor.

But being 3-for-15 from the free throw line 'Red Flagged' the Devils and it wasn't nearly good enough to finish off a home victory.

Murphysboro failed to capitalize on a 33-26 rebounding edge.

"In our last four ballgames, we are 2-2 and I am very impressed," added Murphy. "We make the free throws tonight and we get out of here with a very good win. That (free throw shooting) is something that hopefully can be fixed."

Murphysboro heads back into Ohio Division action on Friday, hosting Massac County while Nashville hosts rival Pinckneyville in a highly anticipated matchup on the same night; Friday the 13th.

"Confidence wise, we needed a close win," finalized Lee. "I can't remember the last time we were in an overtime game. A non-conference win like this on the road helps our team. It gives us some added confidence heading into a big conference game on Friday."

	1	2	3	4	1OT	2OT	Final
Nashville	12	8	14	12	8	9	63
Murphysboro	12	13	14	7	8	6	60

Nashville (63) - Reckmann 1 2 0-0 8, Morris 4 0 0-0 8, Engele 0 0 1-2 1, Kostecki 2 0 4-5 8, York 2 0 0-0 4, O'Rear 13 0 6-6 32, Keller 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-23, 3FG-2, FT-11-13, PF-15.
Murphysboro (60) - Wright 0 0 0-0 0, J. Moore 3 1 0-2 9, King 2 1 0-0 7, Turner 5 0 0-3 10, Brown 1 1 0-0 5, Landers 7 2 1-4 21, Agnew 3 0 2-6 8.
2FG-21, 3FG-5, FT-3-15, PF-18.
Fouled Out - J. Moore, Murphysboro; Keller, Nashville.
Technical Fouls - None.