12-26-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER – There are many ways in which a team can cough up a big lead in a basketball game.

On Thursday night, Vienna used a combo of missed field goals, missed free throws and turnovers to turn the trick.

Leading 45-35 with 5:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, Coach Cory Waters’ club looked primed for a championship side bracket advancement.

Instead they allowed New Athens to claw their way back into contention.

Vienna committed five costly turnovers, hit just 3-of-9 fourth quarter field goals and failed to convert their final four free throw attempts (5-of-12 for the game).

All of these variables added up for a devastating defeat for the Eagles.

New Athens scored the game’s final 11-points with 6-foot-4 senior Tyler Meyer scoring five late quarter markers.

Meyer grabbed a rebound on his own missed shot with the game tied at 45-all.

Vienna’s Nathan Gearing with fouled him :01.0 remaining.

Meyer made the first of his two shots for a 46-45 lead. He missed the second shot and Vienna got the rebound and called a time out with :00.7 left.

By rule there was enough time for a “catch-and-shoot” for the Eagles so they had hope of getting off a shot.

However on the in-bounds play, New Athens Nick Ozier deflected a length of the court pass as the buzzer sounded for the Yellow Jackets’ win.

Head coach Marc Derwort saw his team survive an upset scare with Meyer leading the scoring for New Athens with 17-points.

“We will move on. I can’t give enough credit to what Vienna did the whole game. I think they are extremely well coached and their kids played very hard,” said Coach Derwort. “We are very fortunate to be where we are at.”

Teammate Ryan Reuss added 14-points while Jimmy Kiefer pitched in 11.

Vienna had chances galore, leading for most of the second half, but failed to capitalize on New Athens poor shooting.

The Jackets shot like they were in straight jackets for most of the game, hitting just 17-of-51 from the floor (33.3 percent) and just 4-of-14 from beyond the arc.

But the Eagles weren’t much better (17-of-44) and just 6-of-15 from long range.

The good news for the Yellow Jackets was that the large front line of New Athens rebounded with a vengeance on the offensive end, grabbing 20-offensive rebounds and out-boarding Vienna overall 42-18.

“We try to crash the boards and we do have some size. We do try to take advantage of that the best that we can,” said Coach Derwort. “But then again, our concentration levels and our execution levels have to be better game-in and game-out if we win big games.”

With that edge, second chance points overcame the bad shooting night.

“We knew they (New Athens) were big and that is an area where we are going to struggle with,” said Vienna head coach Cory Waters. “That is what we told the boys. You’ve got to win the rebound war to win this game.”

Vienna shot the ball pretty well until the second half and used 20-points by junior Quinnton Bent to forge a lead for most of the final three quarters.

Bent, a 5-foot-11 guard, nailed four 3-pointers in the first half as the Eagles led 28-24 at intermission.

His trey from the left wing in the first quarter gave Vienna first lead at 8-6 with 3:38 remaining in the opening quarter.

He would score twice more in the frame on another trifecta from the right wing and a drive to the basket for a score and a 16-11 first quarter advantage.

The Jackets managed to stay close in the first half with Ruess doing some damage from the outside as well.

This 6-foot-2 junior hit a pair of long-range bombs in the second, while his two late free throws cut the Eagles lead to just four points at the break.

In the first half the rebounding pattern developed and Vienna could do nothing to keep NA off the glass.

Twice in the opening frame New Athens got a single possession that resulted in four missed shots and four offensive boards.

Both ended up with Yellow Jackets’ points.

The Eagles had a multitude of chances to pull away from New Athens but couldn’t step on the jugular.

Leading 30-24 in the early part of the third quarter Vienna went cold, as they were only 3-of-11 from the field.

This helped spur a Yellow Jackets rally.

Baskets by Meyer and junior guard Wyatt Hespen got New Athens close and then Meyer closed the quarter on a unique play.

Meyer was fouled by Bent (3rd foul at 2:23) and he missed both free throws.

However this power forward muscled his way for an offensive rebound as Vienna failed to check him off the boards.

Meyer made one of his two attempts as the teams headed to the fourth quarter at 36-34 Vienna.

Zachryn Moore, a 5-foot-11 freshman starter for the Eagles, scored nine points in the contest and two baskets in the early going of the fourth.

A drive to the basket and a tip-in off a missed fast break lay up by Gearing gave Vienna a seemingly safe 45-35 spread.

The Eagles would fail to score the rest of the way as they fell into the consolation bracket.

New Athens improved to 4-5 overall on the season and will face Johnston City at 5 pm on Friday in the quarterfinals.

“The kids fought and played hard and I give them credit for that. But our mental approach needs to go up,” finalized Coach Derwort.

Vienna will play Marissa-Coulterville on Friday at 3:30 pm.

“We had some turnovers and some missed shots and they (New Athens) just kept chipping away,” added Coach Waters. “These guys are making strides but they still haven’t turned that corner to learn how to win. The last two years we have a combined six wins.”

WOODLAWN 71, VALMEYER 50
The top-seeded Cardinals struggled early but pulled away from the Pirates in the second half for the victory.

Coach Shane Witzel saw his club improve to 5-1 on the season behind 16-points from Jake Robinson and 15-points each from Ross Owens and Jayson Hapeman.

Valmeyer got a game high 26-points from junior Zach Williams in the loss.

CHRISTOPHER 66, CENTURY 51
The Bearcats stayed unbeaten with the win over the Centurions.

Christopher (8-0) received 18-points from junior Luke Saeger and 15-points from senior Dustin Hammonds in the triumph over Century.

A 19-6 second quarter by Christopher gave Coach Eric Stallman’s ‘Cats a cushion they wouldn’t relinquish.

Century (4-4) was topped by 16-points from Caden Hight in the loss.

The Spartans converted just 4-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Winless Marissa-Coulterville (0-7) was led by freshman Kyle Smith with 15-points.

Sophomore D’anthony Pruden led the Pharaohs with 15-points.

The Appleknockers (2-5) got 11-points from JT Moore in the loss.