02-23-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
LEBANON – For the Okawville Rockets, one of the many goals set forth after last season's loss to Brimfield at the Jacksonville Supersectional probably centered around getting even further along the state tournament trail.

Head coach Jon Kraus saw his club take that first step towards the school's first ever trip to Peoria and its eighth trip total to the state finals with a decisive win over Marissa-Coulterville on Tuesday night at the Lebanon Class 1A Regional.

The top-seeded Rockets who are also state-ranked and the ABV 1A Preseason and Current top-ranked club, took no prisoners on its opening night as the quest for a "Final Four" began with a relatively easy win over the over-matched Meteors.

The Rockets improved to 26-4 with the win, getting points from nearly everyone in uniform to advance to the regional title game on Friday night.

As a prohibited favorite heading into the state tournament, the Rockets wasted little time putting away a team they had bested 70-30 back on February 9.

Okawville charged ahead and never looked back in starting the trek north on the right track.

“We don't talk about it much (Peoria) I hope the kids do but we (coaches) don't. We have a lot of guys back from the last few years that I hope is a drive for them to get back to the super, it is our goal every year as coaches,” said Coach Kraus.

For the Meteors, the season ended abruptly after picking up an opening night win over Valmeyer.

Having lost twice to the Pirates, Marissa-Coulterville topped Valmeyer on Monday to get to the semifinals.

Although it wasn't the best performance of the season for Okawville, it was more than enough for them to advance.

Shane Ganz and Noah Frederking netted 17 and 15-points leading the way for the Rockets.

Frederking grabbed eight-rebounds and dished out five-assists.

Senior guard Alec Wisneski tossed in seven-points while Brad Fuhrhop added six.

Despite some early shooting issues the Rockets won the battles on defense and rebounding, which allowed them to pull away early in the contest.

“We know for the most part that Noah is going to get his buckets, his points. So we don't worry about that much, we just try to get the other guys going. When we get two or three other guys scoring double-digits we become just that much more difficult to beat,” said Coach Kraus. “We always want to play good defense but we are always looking to get better. We talk in the post season about guarding and rebounding. I think you will find as teams go through the postseason that teams that guard the best and rebound the best are for the most part going to end up playing at the end. We want the mindset to be defense and rebounds.”

The Meteors were in trouble early with the mistakes adding up in a hurry.

However it had more to do with the Rockets taking the pressure to the Meteors, forcing 22-turnovers and allowing only three offensive rebounds.

Coach Scott Wine saw his Meteors get out-rebounded 28-19 on the night, with just three offensive rebounds.

The Rockets grabbed 28-rebounds compared to 19 from Marissa-Coulterville.

In a game in which they never trailed, the Rockets got as pair of buckets by Frederking, part of a 10-2 run that ended with a Fuhrhop lay in with 3:09 left.

Baskets by Mason Drury (a 3-point bomb) and a drive to the goal by Wisneski pushed the advantage to 15-4 at the first buzzer.

In that eight minute stretch, M-C committed eight-turnovers.

Okawville made more of a gradual move as they led by 15 at the half.

Frederking nailed his only 3-pointer of contest and Ganz nailed a trey from the left wing for a 29-14 lead at intermission.

The Rockets put the game away with an 11-0 run in the middle of the third quarter.

A fast break lay in, as a result of one of M-C's eight turnovers in the third quarter, by Ganz turned into a three-point play.

Then Frederking scored on consecutive trips on drives in the lane.

When Ganz added a lay in on a wide open drive down the middle, Okawville led 44-19.

Seven more points at the end of the quarter finished the frame at 51-21 Rockets.

One of the few bright spots for the Meteors was the play of junior guard Kyle Smith, a 5-foot-9 point man who netted 13-points.

“They are way deeper, I told someone their JV team could probably win our conference,” said Coach Wine. “Kyle (Smith) has had a really good year for us, averaged 22-points a game for us. He shot the ball well for us this year.”

Blaine Knope added seven-points for Coach Scott Wine's club whose season ends at 9-19.

Ganz added two more scores in the final quarter and Frederking added a pair of free throws before heading to the bench with 3:54 left.

The Rockets finished up 25-of-56 from the field (44.6 percent) while added six 3-pointers, including three by Drury who finished with nine-points.

Marissa-Coulterville hit 15-of-31 overall, 2-of-5 from 3-point land.

However the 22-turnovers compared to just five from the Rockets spelled doom.

The Rockets will face either Lebanon or Lovejoy, who will square off on Wednesday night.

“We can't simulate what they do in practice, we can't simulate how they play or beat you off the dribble. We don't have anybody that can do that,” said Coach Wine. “I told the kids, that's a team (Okawville) that could be playing in Peoria in three weeks. Believe it or not that was way better than how we played them two weeks ago."