03-11-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - For the Nashville Hornets, a club that sports three players 6-foot-6 or taller, it was a play making catalysts in the backcourt that led the squad to victory on Tuesday night at the 2A Supersectional at SIU Arena.

Six-foot-one junior guard Daniel Thorson scored 25-points in hitting 7-of-9 shots from the field and connecting on 11-of-14 free throws as he led Nashville back to Peoria with a 51-45 win over Teutopolis in front of a large crowd at Carbondale.

While the Wooden Shoes were able to slow down the front court of the Hornets, Coach Brad Weathers’ club got most of its points from its guards.

Six-foot senior Keegan Anderson also stepped up, scoring 13-points for Nashville (9-of-11 from the foul line) as they improved to 26-7 on the season as they will play Petersburg PORTA on Friday afternoon at Carver Arena.

“He (Thorson) has really done a nice job for us since the Nashville Tournament, he got some things done. He stepped up and knocked down some free throws tonight,” said Coach Weathers. “Both he and Anderson have done a great job for us.”

Defensively, the Hornets length and size bothered Teutopolis (21-10) forcing the Wooden Shoes into a tough shooting night.

T-Town was only 15-of-41 from the floor (36.6 percent) and hit 7-of-20 shots from beyond the 3-point line.

Senior guard Cody Will stepped up and led the Shoes with 12-points with sophomore Brett Mette adding eight points.

“It is really difficult for teams to play against us because of our length and size advantage,” added Coach Weathers. “Teams just can’t practice and prepare for that.”

Despite the shooting issues and 16-turnovers, Teutopolis rallied and took a brief fourth quarter lead but couldn’t sustain the momentum as their season came to an end at the same part of the state tournament as the previous three seasons.

The Wooden Shoes have now reached four consecutive “Elite Eight’s” but haven’t been able to get back to Peoria since back-to-back appearances in 2006 and 2007.

The Hornets survived the late scare and 17-turnovers in a contest that was far from pretty at times.

Six-foot-six sophomore Royce Newman was third on the scoring list for the Hornets (with eight points) who have just two loses in their last 21-games.

“T-Town was up in us and they forced some turnovers but we survived that,” said Coach Weathers. “We’re going to take what the defense gives us.”

But the story of the night from beginning to end was Thorson and Anderson.

Thorson’s bucket on a drive to the basket opened the scoring for Nashville and he and Anderson shut the door on the win with some final second free throws in the fourth quarter.

Teutopolis started the contest by getting a 10-5 first quarter lead with Brock Mette scoring his only two baskets of the game on back-to-back drives to the basket.

When junior forward Jordan Thoele put back a rebound late in the frame, the Wooden Shoes led by five at the first horn.

The lead could have been larger had Teutopolis took better advantage of six first quarter Nashville turnovers.

But a big run by the Hornets in the second quarter gave Nashville back the lead.

A 7-0 sprint by Nashville opened the second frame with buckets by Thorson and Newman and a pair of free throws by Anderson giving the Hornets a 12-10 lead.

Will stopped the bleeding momentary for T-Town with a 3-pointer to give back the Shoes the lead at 13-12.

But seven consecutive points by Nashville got back the lead with Thorson scoring four of the points on two freebies and yet another drive to the basket.

He took the ball down the baseline and his reverse lay in forced a Teutopolis timeout at 19-13 with 1:59 left before halftime.

T-Town’s Bobby Wenthe scored on a nice move driving down the middle of the lane with 1:02 left before the break.

But as it turned out, the Wooden Shoes were just 2-of-7 from the field in the quarter and committed seven turnovers as they trailed 22-16 at intermission.

Coach Andy Fehrenbacher’s club got back in contention early in the third quarter, scoring twice with Will hitting a 3-pointer from the right wing and Brett Mette scoring on a rebound off a missed Will shot.

But again Nashville responded with a run.

The Hornets got four points each from Thorson and Anderson in an 8-0 scoring burst.

Each scored on a fast break and each converted drives to the basket.

Despite missing a free throw on his steal and fast break score while being fouled by Brett Mette with 5:16 to go, Thorson’s second score made it 30-21.

Teutopolis got two more long distance baskets from Michael Drees and Reed Hardiek in the third quarter.

However Thorson continued to be able to get to the basket and his converted conventional three-point play put Nashville up 37-29 heading to the fourth quarter.

Teutopolis, despite its problems, made a big push in the fourth quarter and took back the lead.

Forcing Nashville into six more turnovers and hitting some big shots, the Wooden Shoes rallied to take a brief one-point lead.

The run began in the early stages of the final frame with a 9-0 run that tied the score.

Will hit a pair of 3-point bombs for the Shoes and a 1-of-2 trip to the foul line from Drees evened the contest at 39-all at the 4:12 mark.

After Thorson got back to the foul line to give the lead back to Nashville, Hardiek nailed his second 3-pointer of the game and suddenly the Wooden Shoes had back the lead at 42-41.

Thorson then delivered the goods once again, hitting four consecutive free throws.

The Shoes managed one last tie at 45-each when Brett Mette scored on a rebound with 1:40 left.

T-Town wouldn’t score again as Nashville closed out the game from the charity stripe.

The Shoes had a final gasp, trailing just 48-45 with :11.9 remaining, but Thorson again came up big with a steal.

He converted 1-of-2 from the foul line after being fouled by Drees.

A missed 3-pointer by Will and two more made free throws by Anderson made the final a six-point spread.

While Teutopolis shot 20 3-pointers in the contest, Nashville shot just one (a miss by Anderson) while doing its offensive damage inside.

The Hornets were 14-of-26 overall from the floor (53.8 percent) and hit enough free throws to survive and advance to Peoria to take on the Petersburg PORTA (co-op) on Friday after the Bluejays took care of Paris, 58-49 to win the Springfield 2A Supersectional on Tuesday night.

“We got down early and we don’t want to play from behind. But we were able to get to the line and we had a really strong second quarter,” added Coach Weathers. “And we had the fortitude to survive their run in the fourth quarter.”