11-30-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
OKAWVILLE – The Okawville Rockets christened their brand new basketball facility on Friday night, not with champagne, but with a sparkling come-from-behind tournament title victory.

Coach Jon Kraus saw his team hit the big shots that forced overtime and then took over the contest with a 6-0 run to begin the extra session to pull away from defending state champion Woodlawn in a 71-63 triumph.

Six-foot junior guard Jacob Brammeier scored 27-points and senior guard Connor Obermeier nailed a transition 3-pointer with :01.5 left in regulation to shift the momentum to the Rockets.

Once into the extra time, Okawville turned three bad possessions by the Cardinals into points and a quick 61-55 advantage.

Coach Kraus saw his club, Brammeier especially, take advantage of free throw opportunities in the contest, to seal the win.

Okawville was 22-of-29 from the line and Brammeier padded his stats by nailing eight consecutive charities in the OT.

A pair of inside baskets by Jake Hensler in overtime and a drive in the lane by senior guard Jeremy Weeke put the Rockets up for good.

Woodlawn could get no closer than six-points the rest of the way as the Cardinals saw its mark, for the second season in-a-row, fall to 3-1 with a championship game loss in this event.

“It was one of those things where we had no timeouts left. Conner has been around, he is a senior and he knows that in that situation he has to just get it (the ball) up the floor,” said Coach Kraus when talking about the shot that sent the game into overtime. “He was always looking to pass ahead but he got the point where he couldn't pass it and he knew he had to shoot it. I think it is a senior play. He knew what to do.”

The Cardinals can point to a cold shooting first two quarters and a four minute overtime for the loss.

Coach Shane Witzel saw his team go 6-of-19 in the first half while hitting just 2-of-9 attempts in what turned out to be the final four minutes.

Woodlawn ended up 22-of-57 from the field overall (5-of-17 from behind the arc) in defeat.

The Rockets weren't much better from the floor (20-of-47) but nailed the shots when they meant the most.

Coach Kraus' team hit 5-of-10 attempts in the fourth quarter and all three FG's in overtime.

Counting Brammeier's free throw parade, Okawville hit all 11-attempted shots in the extra period to put an exclamation point on the quality win.

Despite its shooting issues in the first half, Woodlawn never trailed by more than six points which was the half time deficit.

The Cardinals led 13-10 in the second quarter following a 3-point shot by Kris Harlow and mid-range bucket by Chase Phelps.

But the Rockets would go on a 11-2 march to end the half with Hensler hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner and a rebound score from Weeke.

Okawville would then spread the floor with Hensler getting free for a drive in the lane to put the Rockets up 21-15 at the break.

Woodlawn got back into the contest as they got better offensively in the second half.

Harlow nailed another 3-pointer and teammates' Logan Isaac and Phelps each netted four points in the third quarter.

When Phelps hit his second shot with just under a minute left in the quarter, the Cardinals had regained the lead at 32-30.

However Okawville, who held the ball for a final shot in the frame, got the ball to Hensler who nailed trey from the left corner with :05 left to give the Rockets a 33-32 advantage heading into the fourth.

“We were bad defensively in the second half. We didn't do anything to stop them,” added Coach Kraus. “They (Woodlawn) were great in their execution. I was disappointed in that.”

Coach Kraus' highly regarded club appeared to have gotten itself some breathing room in the final frame with a 9-2 sprint.

Brammeier and Weeke eached hit from long range and a pair of free throws from Hensler gave Okawville a 42-36 lead at the 5:20 mark.

“We got up six but we couldn't get that knockout. They got up six and then they couldn't get that knockout,” summarized Coach Kraus, using a boxing analogy. “When you play good teams you have to knock them out and we just couldn't do that.”

Woodlawn rallied behind a pair of shots in the paint by junior forward Jake Robinson and a conventional three-point play by senior guard Gabe Owens.

Owens got in the lane and his spinning shot while being fouled by Brammeier and subsequent made free throw gave the Cardinals back the lead at 47-46 with just 1:24 left in regulation.

“We didn't get into much of a flow (offensively) in the first half but fortunately we guarded well and that kept us in the game,” said Coach Witzel. “I was really pleased in the second half offensively. We moved much better and our screens were much better. Our passes were better. We were just much better in the second half.”

Okawville, trailing 53-52 after a Weeke basket, was forced to press which created an open look for Phelps in the lane.

Phelps got a pass underneath the basket by Isaac to give Woodlawn what appeared to be the game winning bucket.

With no timeouts remaining, Okawville inbounded the ball, which ended up with Obermeier open from the right wing.

His 20-footer found the mark to tie the score at 55-all.

Owens' desperation 3-point attempt was short after a Woodlawn timeout as the two teams headed to extra minutes to decide the championship.

Okawville decided the outcome in the first two minutes with Brammeier, Weeke and Hensler all scoring.

Hensler's shot, on a pass from Brammeier on a back door move to the basket, gave Okawville a 61-55 lead.

Hensler later added another lay in off the Rockets' spread offense and Brammeier sealed the outcome from the line.

“I think the first two possessions of the overtime were big,” added Coach Kraus. “We got some easy scores and anytime you can get easy ones your momentum and intensity level on defense seems to pick up. That was a big part of it.”

Following Brammeier in scoring for Okawville was Hensler with 20-points and Weeke with 16.

Each of them hit two 3-pointers each and accounted for nearly all of the Okawville offense.

For Woodlawn Harlow, with his four 3-pointers, finished with team-honors with 18-points while Owens and Phelps netted 12 and 11.

Woodlawn held a slight 31-29 rebounding edge in the closely played game and the turnovers for the contest were even at seven each.

“I just told the kids (after the game) that they (Woodlawn) are the class of 1A in my opinion. They're the state champions, they have been to the state tournament and Shane does an outstanding job with those kids. I don't know, it (the game) was just fun,” said Coach Kraus. “I thought it was a good atmosphere and the kids enjoyed playing. I know I enjoyed coaching it. It is a great win. Anytime you can beat a team as good as they are it makes you feel good early in the year.”

Woodlawn (63) – G. Owens 2 1 5-5 12, Hapman 0 0 6-8 6, harlow 2 4 0-0 18, Isaac 3 0 0-0 6, Coleman 1 0 0-0 2, Robinson 4 0 0-2 8, Phelps 5 0 1-2 11.
2FG-17, 3FG-5, FT-12-19, PF-23.
Okawville (71) – Obermeier 0 2 0-0 6, Brammeier 4 2 13-15 27, Weeks 5 0 3-5 16, Hensler 5 2 4-6 20, Wisneski 1 0 0-0 2, Yehling 0 0 2-3 2, Rossel 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-6, FT-22-29, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Hapeman - Woodlawn.
Technical Fouls – None.

New Athens (2-2) broke open a close game with an 18-4 second quarter to get the win.

Senior Blake Ragland led the Yellow Jackets with 14-points followed by 13 from Nick Ozier and 11 from Tyler Meyer.

Marissa-Coulterville got 14-points from Brandon Conway and 11-points from Austin Place as the Meteors fell to 1-3.

New Athens (54) – Marlow 1 0 0-0 2, Hepp 2 0 1-1 5, Ragland 7 0 0-3 14, Ozier 0 4 1-2 13, Meyer 4 0 3-4 11, Kiefer 0 0 0-0 0, Ragland 0 0 0-0 0, Reuss 3 1 0-0 9.
2FG-17, 3FG-5, FT-5-10, PF-6.
Marissa-Coulterville (37) – Phelps 2 0 0-0 4, Huff 0 0 1-2 1, Decaney 0 0 0-0 0, Reuss 0 0 0-0 0, Mixon 1 0 0-0 2, Conway 1 4 0-0 14, Baird 2 0 0-0 4, Place 6 0 0-0 12.
2FG-12, 3FG-4, FT-1-2, PF-15.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.