02-24-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARLYLE - The Nashville Hornets have begun a journey that they hope will end up with another trip to the state finals in Peoria.

They passed the first obstacle on Tuesday night at the Carlyle 2A Regional.

Behind 24-points and 11-rebounds from 6-foot-7 junior center Royce Newman and another nearly mistake free effort (just seven turnovers) the state-ranked and ABV fourth ranked squad (in the final regular season rankings, top ranked in the ABV Preseason Rankings) took care of business with a opening 8-0 run and held off all the challenges of Trenton Wesclin in moving to the title game with a 59-47 triumph.

Coach Brad Weathers' Hornets added a big defensive effort, forcing the Warriors to bomb away from the outside which proved to be futile as Wesclin saw its season come to a close.

Coach Brent Brede's team, despite a good beginning, hit just 8-of-23 attempts from long range as their season ended at 21-9.

Wearing the bulls eye of a team capable of getting back to Carver Arena has been a burden this season for the Hornets but the club has survived the gauntlet of adversaries in 2014-15 and are on the verge of another regional crown.

Senior guards and leaders Daniel Thorson and Dylan Mueller each chipped in points (12 and 10 respectively) for the Hornets who picked up another win to improve the mark to 26-3.

“Give Wesclin credit. They shot it well early and I think maybe fatigue played a factor in the second half after playing last night (beating Carlyle) they didn't shoot it quite as well and we needed to make sure that we gave them just one opportunity,” said Coach Weathers. “Because they have some really good shooters.”

As for the Warriors and Coach Brede, they knew coming in that the outside shots were going to have to fall for them to have a shot at pulling the upset.

But the fourth-seeded club didn't get enough of them to fall as their season came to a close.

Senior guard Justin Goff and junior guard Jared Steenbergen were the leaders of the long-range game, scoring 13 and 11 points for the Warriors as each hit a trio of trifecta's.

Unfortunately for Wesclin this wasn't nearly enough.

Nashville put together an overall defensive effort that stymied any upset chances, especially a fourth quarter blockade that forced Wesclin to miss their first six shots at the Hornets pulled away.

Coach Weathers' club “weathered” another storm and will now face another one on Friday as they will take on the winner of the Breese Mater Dei-Breese Central semifinal showdown in arguably the toughest 2A regional in the state.

The Hornets hit three shots early, a pair of 3-pointers by Mueller and Newman and a steal and subsequent fast break lay in by Thorson to set the tone at 8-0 just 1:20 into the game.

Mueller had eight points in the quarter, adding another long rang bomb and scoring on a rebound basket as he grabbed his own miss for a follow up score and a 17-10 advantage.

Steenbergen and Goff tried to keep the Warriors close, each hitting from the 3-point arc.

Steenbergen's second trey, a bomb from the left wing, cut into the lead but Nashville's Hunter Cooper, a 6-foot-5 senior, hit a mid-range shot to close the frame at 19-13 Hornets.

The best run by the Warriors occurred in the second quarter and it helped that it was their best shooting stanza of the night (3-of-7).

Wesclin, trailing 24-15, went on an 9-2 burst to cut the lead to just two.

Another 3-pointer by Goff and baskets by 6-foot-7 junior Jake Stephens and 6-foot-1 senior guard Brendan Bernhardt fueled the push.

Bernhardt made a steal in the Nashville offensive end and sprinted to the other end of the floor for a lay in to force a Hornets timeout at 26-24 with 2:15 left in the half.

Newman was fouled while scoring in the lane by junior Quinn Belva.

Newman missed the free throw but Mueller battled and got the offensive rebound.

He found teammate senior Troy Pedtke with an assist for a score to take back control of the game.

Thorson added a pair of free throws as the Hornets went to the break up 32-24.

“We came out of the gate hard. Wesclin is a good team. Their big kids have come a long way and we knew that their guards were really good,” said Coach Weathers. “Our size paid off tonight down low, we got some blocked shots and made our free throws late.”

Wesclin didn't change its game plan in the second half as the Warriors hit two more 3-pointers; one each by Goff and junior Jared Timmermann.

Timmermann's bucket from the top of the circle got Wesclin to within 36-31.

Newman took over for the next 3:46 of the quarter, scoring eight consecutive points.

On three of the four baskets by this junior, he crashed the offensive boards to clean up the messes.

He grabbed his third straight rebound off a missed 3-pointer by by junior Brady Bultman and his field goal with :06 left in the quarter made it 44-35 Nashville.

The first six points of the fourth quarter was netted by the Hornets, removing the drama as they pushed the lead to double-digits.

Newman scored four of the points on an inbounds play from halfcourt as Thorson lobbed the ball to the junior center and his turnaround shot found the mark to open the final run that the Hornets needed.

Thorson added a fast break as Newman returned the favor with an outlet pass for a transition score.

Newman added a pair of free throws as Nashville smelled victory with a 50-35 lead with just 4:31 remaining.

The Warriors never got closer than 10-points the rest of the contest.

Nashville hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:50 to close the deal as the 2013-14 2A second place finishers took the first step in returning to Peoria with a big win on Tuesday.

Behind Goff and Steenbergen, the Warriors got eight points and eight rebounds from Stephens.

But the real story for Coach Brede's bunch was their inability to make enough long-range shots which was clearly the game-plan on the night.

Wesclin was just 8-of-23 from the 3-point arc and 16-of-44 overall (36.3 percent) and committed 12-turnovers in the game.

When they needed points in the fourth quarter, the Warriors were just 4-of-14, missing the first half dozen attempts.

“We did our best to surround him (Newman) but they were just better than us tonight,” said Coach Brede. “In order to win we were going to have to make 3-point shots. We felt 10 to 12 at least because we knew we would have a hard time scoring inside. We had a hard time finishing around the rim. If you are going to beat them, you are going to have to make 3-pointers. We can shoot them, but we didn't make enough of them.”

Nashville was much better overall, hitting 22-of-46 (47.8 percent) and hit 4-of-10 from the arc.

Nashville held a slight rebounding edge at 27-26.

No matter who wins the Battle of Breese on Wednesday night, the Hornets know they will have their hands full on Friday.

The Hornets hold two wins this season over each of the teams.

Nashville topped them both on consecutive days at the Mater Dei Holiday Tournament and defeated them both again at the Nashville Invitational Tournament.

Whomever comes out of that game, the Hornets will have to defeat them for the third time to advance to the East Alton-Wood River Sectional.

“We are getting used to expecting that (performance) from Royce. He had a really nice night tonight and I thought Hunter Cooper had a good night, also, as we were able to post him up,” said Coach Weathers. “We were strong and took care of the ball tonight. It was a pretty physical game and we handled that. We played well and that is great, but we have to get ready for the winner tomorrow night on Friday.”

Wesclin (47) – Brendan Bernhardt 3 1 0-0 9, Goff 2 3 0-1 13, Combs 0 3 2-2 4, M. Thoele 0 0 0-0 0, N. Thoele 0 0 0-0 0, Belva 0 0 0-0 0, Timmermann 0 1 3-5 6, Stephens 3 0 2-2 8, Blake Bernhardt 0 0 0-0 0, Cathcart 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-8, FT-7-10, PF-19.
Nashville (59) – Heggemeier 0 0 0-0 0, Harper 0 0 0-0 0, Bultman 1 0 2-3 4, Dalman 0 0 0-0 0, Thorson 3 0 6-8 12, Pedtke 1 1 0-0 5, Mueller 2 2 0-2 10, Cooper 2 0 0-0 4, Wolf 0 0 0-0 0, Newman 9 1 3-6 24.
2FG-18, 3FG-4, FT-11-19, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.