03-02-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
HERRIN - The last time that the Nashville Hornets beat Pinckneyville three times in the same season was 1978.

That season the Hornets won the Class A state championship.

Coach Darin Lee hopes that Friday night's 52-43 win over the Panthers is a good omen.

Proving without doubt that the top-ranked team in Class A are more than a one-man team – Nashville has once again booked themselves a spot at the “Sweet 16.”

Facing yet another obstacle course of combination defensive strategy – Coach Lee's unbeaten club adapted as they had in their previous 31 games.

With Lucas O'Rear getting most of the Pinckneyville Panthers' defensive attention – a pair of his Hornet teammates came up with big offensive games.

Brandon Reckmann and Ryan Keller put together 24 points combined and made the Panthers pay dearly for throwing a blanket on O'Rear.

Reckmann stepped off the bench for 14 points while Keller hopped off the Nashville bus ready to go with 10 points.

O'Rear managed 12 points and nine rebounds in the Hornets' win in front of a SRO crowd at Herrin High School.

The end result was another victory over their long time rivals – the third such decisive win in 2006-07 - and now a trip to SIU Arena for the Carbondale Class A Supersectional.

Pinckneyville had a fantastic season but the end result was that they failed to insert any drama into any of the three contests against Nashville and bowed out of the sectional at 26-5.

“It is very difficult to beat a team three times – especially a team like Pinckneyville,” said Coach Lee. “We had a few chances to put them away early but we didn't. But that is because they are such a good basketball team.”

Pinckneyville had bright spots in the contest with Kyle Cassity topping all scorers with 17 points and Thad Hawkins hitting some big second half shots to finish with 12.

However the huge Panther run that was needed never happened as Pinckneyville saw its season end on Friday night after trailing nearly the entire game.

Pinckneyville enjoyed just one lead at 2-0 following a score from Zach Hawkins to open the games' scoring with 7:28 remaining in the opening stanza.

But by getting off to a good beginning in front of a loud crowd of fans – the Hornets set the tone by making Pinckneyville pay for its coverage of O'Rear.

Tommy Pelczynski matched Hawkins with a drive to the basket to even things at 2-apiece.

Then Keller took advantage of being left alone.

Keller connected on a pair of 12-foot baseline shots from nearly the exact spot on back-to-back trips into the offensive end.

Keller scored six first quarter points and - when he turned an O'Rear pass into an assist in transition – Nashville led 10-4 with 4:57 remaining in the opening quarter.

“Everyone has stepped up on different nights this year for us,” said Keller – a 6-foot-6 senior forward. “We knew that they (Pinckneyville) would double-team Lucas and that put a lot of pressure on us to score and we did. I think we were really balanced tonight.”

Cassity scored on a drive to the basket while being fouled by Keller with 1:17 left. His made free throw converted the three-point play and the Panthers trailed just 14-10.

But Reckmann scored his first two points of the night on a reverse lay up to close the quarter at 16-10.

Five consecutive points to open the second quarter gave Nashville its first double-digit advantage.

Reckmann buried a 3-pointer from the right corner and Blaine Morris hit both of his foul shots after being fouled by Thad Hawkins to make it 21-10.

T. Hawkins netted five points of his own in the second quarter with a nice drive in a lane and 3-pointer from the top of the arc which whittled the Nashville lead down to 24-17 – and forced Coach Lee to burn a timeout.

Cassity scored on another drive to the basket – but like Hawkins previous score – Cassidy couldn't convert his free throw attempt after the bucket.

Nashville took full advantage and closed the quarter with a flourish.

O'Rear scored six points in the first quarter but was held scoreless in the second quarter until he hit a pair of important shots in the final two minutes of the half.

He connected on a spin move on the right side of the lane.

Then - after another 3-pointer from Reckmann pushed the lead back to double-figures – O'Rear was the recipient of what turned out to be a controversial assist from Morris.

Following a Pinckneyville missed shot by Hayden Hicks – Morris grabbed the ball and headed up the left side of the court as time was running out.

This 6-foot-3 senior guard instinctively gave up the ball with a lob to O'Rear who slammed home a two-handed dunk that clearly beat the buzzer and gave Nashville a 33-21 margin at intermission.

“I saw the ball going down the sideline and I knew I had to get to the basket for a rebound and he (Morris) threw me the ball,” said Lucas O'Rear. “I tried to dunk it as fast as I could because I knew we were running out of time.”

Many Pinckneyville fans and even head coach Dick Corn thought that Morris traveled but there was no violation called and the Panthers went to the locker room trailing by 12.

The Hornets had the look of sectional champs when they opened up their biggest lead of the contest just a minute into the second half.

Both Keller and O'Rear got loose for shots close to the basket as the lead expanded to 37-21 with 7:08 left in the period.

However the Panthers wouldn't give up in a game in which they could have folded.

Thad Hawkins scored eight points in the quarter and his 3-pointer with :02 cut the Hornets' lead down to 42-31 heading into the fourth quarter.

Pinckneyville got as close as five points in the final stanza but couldn't get past its poor shooting night that was magnified in a 4-of-15 performance in the final eight minutes.

The only thing that kept the game close was the Hornets failure to finish their rivals from the foul line.

Nashville was just 3-of-11 in that fourth quarter – a fact that allowed the Panthers to stay in the game until the final moments.

A long rebound off of a Pinckneyville missed 3-pointer turned into a fast break lay in by Reckmann with :48 to go to make it 50-41 Hornets.

Then the chants of “S-I-U, S-I-U” had now begun from the Nashville fan contingent as their team was now destined for Carbondale Tuesday night and a game against Mount Carmel.

The Golden Aces will play in the school's first ever supersectional after beating Vienna 51-50 to capture the Hamilton County Class A Sectional title.

“They (Mount Carmel) are going to be excited because they haven't won a sectional in a long time,” said Lee. “I haven't seen them but I know they are a good basketball team. We will need a crash course on them the next few days and get ready.

Nashville was a scorching hot 20-of-32 overall from the field and 4-of-9 from behind the arc.

Although they hit just 8-of-15 free throws in the game – the Hornets made enough big plays on both ends to keep themselves unbeaten.

The Panthers saw their stellar season end after hitting just 16-of-44 shots from the field and only 3-of-19 from 3-point land.

Nashville held a 23-18 rebounding advantage that was much greater heading into the fourth quarter.

Pinckneyville grabbed nine of their rebounds in the fourth quarter - six on the offensive end with long rebounds coming off of missed 3-pointers.

Nashville returns to the supersectional – a place that Coach Lee has never lost a postseason game.

“That arena has been special to us the past few years,” added Lee – who is 4-0 in supersectional's at SIU Arena.

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Nashville	16	17	9	10	-	52
Pinckneyville	10	11	10	12	-	43

Nashville (52) – Reckmann 2 2 4-6 14, Morris 1 0 2-2 4, Weathers 0 2 0-2 6, Engele 1 0 0-0 2, Pelcznski 2 0 0-0 4, Conner 0 0 0-0 0, York 0 0 0-0 0, O'Rear 6 0 0-3 12, Keller 4 0 2-2 10.
2FG-16, 3FG-4, FT-8-15, PF-16.
Pinckneyville (43) – Moore 1 0 0-0 2, T. Hawkins 3 2 0-1 12, Hicks 2 1 1-3 8, Cassity 6 0 5-6 17, Woodside 0 0 2-2 2, Rushing 0 0 0-0 0, Z. Hawkins 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-3, FT-8-12, PF-17
Fouled Out – Cassity, Z. Hawkins - Pinckneyville.
Technical Fouls – None.