12-26-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER – The New Athens Yellow Jackets pulled a mild upset on Monday night at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament when they took care of Christopher, 57-50.

But it was the scoring explosion of Blake Ragland that was totally unexpected.

Averaging just 10.1 points a game coming into the contest, the 6-foot-2 junior used his athletic ability to get going offensively in the first half near the basket.

Ragland never let up as the Yellow Jackets used his career-high 29-points and some outstanding free throw shooting to send the Bearcats into the consolation bracket with the seven point win.

Coach Marc Derwort saw his club nail the coffin shut by hitting 18-of-21 free throws for the game, which featured 10-of-12 in the fourth quarter.

Leading just 46-44 with 4:50 remaining in the final frame, New Athens went into a spread offense that forced Christopher to eventually send the Yellow Jackets to the line.

NA connected on eight straight free throws in the final minutes to ice the game.

But the real story was Ragland getting loose in the lane, using his quickness for an early start for the Jackets as they evened their record to 5-5 overall and now have a date with the host Red Devils on Tuesday in second round action.

“This was kind of a breakout game for Blake. He is very good at turning and facing the basket,” said Coach Derwort. “His quickness allows him to get around people. He is a pretty good athlete and strong around the basket. He has turned into a really nice player for us.”

Chance Wacker, a 6-foot senior, was automatic from the foul line as he hit all six of his free throw attempts (all in the fourth quarter) and added a 3-pointer and a basket for 11-points.

Six-foot-four sophomore Tyler Meyer added nine points for the Yellow Jackets as they moved on to the winner's bracket side.

The Bearcats had opportunities in the second half but couldn't get enough shots to fall late in the game and three costly turnovers in the final quarter (14 for the game) kept Christopher from getting back the lead.

“I think we only attempted eight free throws the entire game and we need to get to the rim a little bit better,” said Christopher head coach Eric Stallman. “They had the one kid (Ragland) who averaged about eight or so points a game and we made him look pretty good tonight. We gave them 18-points from the foul line and we need to attack the basket a little better than what we did tonight.”

Christopher was led by 16-points from 6-foot-6 junior center Kevin Mercks while Kolten Pedigo added 11.

Ragland got his club rolling early by being very aggressive around the basket in the first quarter.

He scored ten of his points in the opening stanza, staking his team to a 16-10 lead.

Wacker hit his only 3-pointer in the contest from the left wing and Ragland's fast break score closed the quarter after Christopher's fourth turnover of the opening eight minutes.

The Bearcats opened the second quarter with a scoring outburst, getting the first six points of the frame to take an 18-16 advantage.

Pedigo scored four of the points on a drive to the basket and later a pair of free throws.

Teammate RJ Kuh took a pass from Scott Machetti for a lay in to give the Bearcats that two-point lead with 5:10 left before the half.

New Athens took back the lead before intermission with Meyer scoring four points and Ragland again getting loose underneath the basket for yet another score and a 26-24 advantage at the break.

The Yellow Jackets changed the complete complexion of the contest with an 8-0 run to open the second half.

Ragland showed he could run the floor as well as he picked up a pair of transition baskets off of Christopher turnovers.

His fast break lay in gave New Athens its first double-digit lead of the contest at 34-24 with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter.

Every Christopher run from that point on was answered by New Athens.

Ragland scored five of his teams' seven points to close out the third quarter at 43-33.

Christopher's final move came in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.

Outscoring New Athens 11-3 during a three minute stretch, the Bearcats clawed their way back into contention.

Sophomore Eric Young scored five of those points on a conventional three-point play and a fast break lay which was followed by six points from Mercks.

His rebound basket with 4:50 to go got the deficit down to 46-44.

New Athens used its quickness to run time off the clock and forced the Bearcats to send them to the foul line.

The Yellow Jackets made the most of the opportunity to keep their championship hopes alive.

“We thought we had some advantages on the floor and we tried to expose the advantage we had with our quickness and it worked out for us,” added Coach Derwort when asked about spreading the floor. “I thought our kids did a good job of getting to loose balls, a lot better job than we did in the first half. I thought getting to those loose ball and getting to the boards was a big key.”

Christopher, down just six points in the final minute, missed three consecutive shots in one trip down the floor before Ragland grabbed an important rebound.

Free throws by Ragland, Wacker and senior Brenden Stolte sealed the win.

New Athens finished the contest just 19-of-44 overall and 1-of-8 from behind the arc. But when you hit 87 percent of your foul shots you can cover up a lot of mistakes. New Athens benefited from the Christopher foul issues.

The Bearcats were 22-of-43 from the field overall and on most nights that would be good enough to earn a “W” but they were outscored 18-to-5 from the foul line.

Christopher saw its record slip to 3-6 overall and the Bearcats will face Cobden on Tuesday night at 6:30 pm.

New Athens will face Sesser-Valier at 8:00 pm.

“We have struggled in that area (free throw shooting) but we did a nice job tonight,” finalized Coach Derwort. “It is better to be on the right side (winner's) of the bracket. This is such a great tournament and always well run. It's nice to be on the winner's side.”

New Athens (57) – Ingles 3 0 0-1 6, Stolte 0 0 2-2 2, Wacker 1 1 6-6 11, Marlow 0 0 0-0 0, Hepp 0 0 0-0 0, Ragland 11 0 7-8 29, Meyer 3 0 3-4 9.
2FG-18, 3FG-1, FT-18-21, PF-9.
Christopher (50) – Marchetti 3 0 0-0 6, Towers 0 0 0-0 0, Atchison 2 0 0-0 4, Pedigo 4 1 2-4 13, Young 4 0 1-2 9, Mercks 7 0 2-2 16, Kuh 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-21, 3FG-1, FT-5-8, PF-16.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

In other first round games at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament, defending tournament champion Woodlawn rolled past Shawnee 92-40, Goreville cruised past Elverado 60-35, Sesser-Valier topped Cobden 59-25, Marissa-Coulterville beat Zeigler-Royalton 54-47, Waltonville upset Sparta 62-50, Johnston City took down Century 42-36 and Chester ran away from Vienna 59-22