02-25-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE – For the Nashville Hornets on Tuesday night, it was just a matter of imposing their will on Red Bud.

And it only took a few minutes into the contest on Tuesday night for this to happen.

Coach Brad Weathers’ team took flight in the first quarter and never looked in the rear view mirror on their way to an 80-40 romp over the Musketeers at the Assembly Hall.

The top seed of their own 2A Regional, the Hornets rolled up some impressive offensive numbers in improving to 22-7 on the year.

But the defensive end of the floor is where the damage initiated as Nashville forced Red Bud into 17-turnovers and a 14-of-41 shooting night as they ended the Musketeers’ season at 7-24.

The Hornets put four players in double-figures in scoring during the romp as Keegan Anderson, a 6-foot senior guard, led the way with 18-markers.

His backcourt mate, 6-foot-1 junior Daniel Thorson tossed in 10.

Up front, the paint play of Royce Newman and Clint Johannes was too much for the Musketeers.

The 6-foot-6 sophomore Newman added 17-points while the 6-foot-6 Johannes added 15.

“I thought it was a good team win. And at this time of the year, that is what you want to do, just win,” said Coach Weathers. “We did take care of the ball and overall it was a good defensive effort.”

Coach Dave Gillingham’s squad was no match for the long and athletic Hornets and it was apparent from the midway point of the first quarter that this was going to be a long night for the visitors.

One player in double-figures, 6-foot-1 senior Josh Snyder, led Red Bud.

After a basket by sophomore Addison Gunter, who totaled four points in the opening quarter, Red Bud trailed just 9-7 with 4:35 left in the opening frame.

At this point of the proceedings the Hornets stung Red Bud with a defense-turned-offense explosion.

Nashville scored 12-consecutive points to take command, forcing five Red Bud turnovers in the process.

Anderson scored five of those points with a conventional three-point play and a fast break lay in off of a steal by junior Dylan Mueller, another 6-foot-6 forward.

Newman scored in the lane and 6-foot-3 senior Hunter Beetley nailed a trey from the left wing for a 21-7 Hornets lead.

“They (Nashville) present a lot of problems with that (size). It is hard to look through and look over and look around that much size. They get their hands on a lot of passes and if you do get a little penetration there are 6-5 or 6-6 guys waiting for you and you have to figure you’re only going to get one shot,” said Coach Gillingham. “And if is not a good shot, it is like committing a turnover because they will come up with a defensive rebound. If you look at their (Nashville) scores in the last month or so and they have beaten some good teams with good records so it is not surprising that they are playing well.”

When Newman tipped in one of the few Nashville missed shots on the night right before the first quarter horn, the Hornets were in the driver’s seat at 24-9.

With both Anderson and Thorson turning up the perimeter pressure to begin the second quarter, Nashville extended the lead quickly in the opening minutes of stanza number two.

A pair of free throws by Thorson and fast break scores each by the guard duo pushed the lead to 30-9.

Eight consecutive points in the middle of the period by the hosts took the drama out of the contest before intermission.

Johannes scored four of the points on a pair of nice moves near the basket.

One more fast break lay up by Thorson, who scored eight of his ten points in the quarter, pushed the lead to 43-13 with 2:40 remaining.

Red Bud managed to get some points before halftime, creating their only good run of the game with a 9-2 run.

Snyder scored on a rebound basket to start the brief rally and backcourt specialist Caleb Grohmann added three straight free throws after being fouled in the left corner by Newman on a 3-point attempt.

He made all three tosses and a drive to the basket by junior guard Nick Huggins ended the half at 45-22.

Nashville removed all doubt with a 7-0 crusaded to begin the third quarter.

An Anderson score on a pass from Newman started the fun.

Two free throws by Mueller and a Johannes trifecta from the left wing made it 52-22 with 6:12 left.

Newman and Johannes added two scores each at the end of the quarter and, when Johannes hit a 10-footer just inside the paint with :07 left, the Hornets led 65-31.

One more run, a 6-0 sprint with Newman, Beetley and Johannes all scoring pushed the lead to its pinnacle at 76-35 with 5:07 left.

Nashville emptied its bench soon after while Red Bud followed suit.

The Hornets have played their best basketball since the first of January, going 15-2 to improve to 22-7 on the year.

“We’ve been through some adversity, some injuries, especially at the Mater Dei tournament. But we’re healthy now and hopefully we will stay that way,” added Coach Weathers. “We hope we can play our best ball now.”

The Hornets were a scorching 33-of-47 from the floor (70.2 percent) and hit 6-of-11 from the 3-point line.

The Hornets held a 23-18 rebounding edge and took care of the basketball, committing just four turnovers in 32-minutes.

Red Bud, besides Snyder, had six points each from Grohmann and Huggins.

“One of the things we stressed at practice was not turning the ball over but we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” added Coach Gillingham. “Give them (Nashville) the credit. They got their hands on balls and once we got behind it snowballed.”

Coach Weathers’ club will face either Pinckneyville or Sparta on Friday night in the regional title tilt.

The Panthers and Bulldogs play on Wednesday night at 7 pm.

“Both he (Thorson) and Anderson had strong games for us tonight and they both anticipate really well,” added Coach Weathers. “Again it is a team defense, and the fact that we are 6-6 and 6-7 on the back side, we are able to gamble a little bit more. It all plays in and hopefully we are getting better and better.”

Red Bud (40) – Dobbs 2 0 0-0 4, Richards 0 0 0-0 0, Grohmann 0 2 3-3 6, Huggins 2 0 2-4 6, Hentis 1 0 0-0 2, Snyder 1 3 2-2 13, Gunter 2 0 0-0 4, Kucker 0 0 0-0 0, Mehring 0 1 0-0 3, Zimmer 0 0 0-0 0, Hooten 0 0 0-0 0, Schneider 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-9, 3FG-5, FT-7-9, PF-15.
Nashville (80) – Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Heggemeier 0 0 0-0 0, Bultman 0 0 0-0 0, Dalman 0 0 0-0 0, Thorson 4 0 2-2 10, Jasper 0 1 0-0 3, Anderson 7 1 1-1 18, Pedtke 0 0 0-0 0, Mueller 2 0 4-6 8, Meier 0 1 0-1 3, Beetley 0 2 0-0 6, Cooper 0 0 0-1 0, Newman 7 0 1-2 15, Johannes 7 1 0-1 17.
2FG-27, 3FG-6, FT-8-14, PF-9.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.