12-09-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
OKAWVILLE – Winning your own tournament never gets old and the Okawville Rockets added yet another trophy to the case with a win over rival Woodlawn on Monday night in a weather-delayed Post-Thanksgiving Tournament.

However it might have proved to be the coming out party for freshman Noah Frederking, even though it came three days late.

This 6-foot-3 forward showed that he was ready for prime time with a 31-point performance in the Rockets’ 72-61 win over the Cardinals in a battle of perennial 1A powers in southern Illinois.

Frederking proved to be the difference as he scored early and late in the 11-point win.

Scoring from the outside (four 3-pointers) and inside (seven 2-pointers) this freshman provided enough offensive spark to help Okawville hold off Woodlawn late in the game to start their season 3-0.

Coach Jon Kraus’ club survived a 32-point explosion from Woodlawn sophomore Ross Owens in a contest in which both teams shot the ball extremely well.

“I’m not going to trade him, that is for sure,” said Coach Kraus, referring to his freshman. “He definitely has high-level skills. The biggest thing will be consistency. He is a freshman so there will be some nights that he is going to struggle. But so far, so good. They (Woodlawn) have a pretty good young kid (Owens) themselves.”

Okawville senior Jacob Brammeier, a 6-foot senior leader, added 17-points to the total as did 6-fooot sophomore guard Alec Wisneski for Coach Kraus.

Woodlawn (2-1) received 12-points from senior Jayson Hapeman and nine points from Chase Phelps in defeat.

“On both ends of the court we were a little inconsistent. We are obviously disappointed and it is early in the season, but still I think we should execute better then what we actually did with the guys that we have on the court,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel.

The Rockets were 25-of-49 from the floor (51 percent) while hitting half of their 3-point attempts (8-of-16).

Woodlawn was equally offensive, connecting on 23-of-47 (48.9 percent) and 9-of-19.

So what ended up being the difference in this evenly matched championship game?

Woodlawn committed 15-turnovers, with four of them being crucial during a late first half stretch.

After using a 13-0 run to take the lead back in the second quarter, Woodlawn committed those mistakes in the final 2:27 of the second quarter that allowed the Rockets to take back the lead.

Following Frederking’s second trifecta of the night gave Okawville a 20-13 advantage, Woodlawn held the Rockets without a point for the next five minutes.

Owens nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner to begin the blitz.

Phelps and Hapeman each scored four points in the run while Owens added yet another score.

When Phelps drained a short baseline jumper with 2:27 remaining, Woodlawn led 26-20.

“We struggled for quite a while there in the second quarter and I knew we didn’t score,” said Coach Kraus. “But we put a little pressure on them (Woodlawn) at the end of the quarter and we were just trying to get to halftime down by less than 10 but then we got a couple of scores and got the lead back. That made a big difference.”

But the Rockets responded and took back the lead before intermission.

Okawville scored the next six points (Frederking scoring five on a drive on a fast break and another 3-point bomb) and a pair of free throws by Brammeier closed the half at 30-28 Rockets.

The Cardinals and Rockets traded long-range bombs to open the second half with Woodlawn getting back the lead at 41-39.

Owens, Wisneski (2), Brammeier and Hapeman all connected from beyond the arc.

“Alec (Wisneski) was a huge key tonight. Jacob (Brammeier) is a senior and he has been a four-year starter so he is pretty steady. He missed a few free throws tonight but I’m not worried about that. He will straighten that out. But Wisneski hit some huge shots to start the second half and they (Woodlawn) stayed in their zone so we tried to get them to extend their zone and Alec starting the second half with a couple of 3’s was a huge lift for us.”

When Owens converted a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Brammeier and 6-foot-3 senior Jake Robinson scored in the paint, the Cardinals had recaptured the lead at 41-39 with 4:18 left in the third quarter.

But at this point, Okawville made a game and momentum changing 10-2 sprint to close out the stanza.

Frederking nailed yet another shot from 20-foot plus and Wisneski got loose for a pair of drives to the basket for points.

A steal and fast break lay in by Frederking closed the third at 49-43 Rockets.

“They (Okawville) have some guards that are quick and they have some shooters and that makes them difficult to guard,” added Coach Witzel. “They are obviously not just one guy (Frederking) although he had really good first half and it’s not like we didn’t know that. We lost him a few times in the first half, particularly from the perimeter.”

Seven consecutive points to begin the fourth quarter proved to be too much to overcome for Woodlawn.

Brammeier converted a fast break score just seconds into the final frame and the Woodlawn bench was assessed a technical foul.

Frederking canned both charities and, on the ensuing possession, Wisneski drilled home his third 3-pointer and Okawville was up 56-43 with 7:10 left.

“We had a bad stretch there at the end of the third quarter where we let them (Okawville) get some separation. It is hard to get them out of control on offense and when you get behind eight or nine points then you try to create some things,” added Coach Witzel. “We had a couple of opportunities to get steals but we couldn’t get them. Then they got to the free throw line and made their free throws.”

The Cardinals couldn’t muster any extended runs, despite Owens scoring 12 of his points in the fourth.

Owens nailed four 3’s in the final eight minutes but the Cardinals could get no closer than eight points in the final seven minutes.

The Rockets closed the contest and wrapped up the title by converting 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:05.

Okawville held a slight 18-15 rebounding edge. With so few missed shots, there weren’t a lot of rebounding opportunities.

The Rockets committed just nine turnovers, as they stayed unbeaten on the season.

“We need to shore up our defense some but we’re starting two sophomores and a freshman so we have a lot of work to do,” Coach Kraus explained. “Anytime you can beat Woodlawn, it is a good start because they have a great program, they are always good and it just builds momentum for our team. The way we won this game made me happy.”

Woodlawn (61) – Owens 5 7 1-1 32, Hapeman 3 2 0-0 12, Robinson 2 0 0-0 4, Phelps 3 0 3-10 9, L. Wollerman 1 0 0-0 2, Sanders 0 0 0-0 0, Renaud 0 0 0-0 0, Harris 0 0 0-0 0, Bullard 0 0 0-0 0, B. Wollerman 0 0 2-2 2. 2FG-14, 3FG-9, FT-6-13, PF-23.
Okawville (72) – Bryn Fuhrhop 0 0 0-0 0, Brammeier 4 1 6-12 17, Wisneski 3 3 2-3 17, Brad Fuhrhop 0 0 1-2 1, Riess 0 0 0-0 0, Frederking 7 4 5-6 31, Kwiatowski 0 0 0-0 0, Rossel 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-17, 3FG-8, FT-14-25, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Woodlawn Bench.

Marissa-Coulterville (0-3) was led by a game-best 20-points by freshman guard Kyle Smith and eight points from sophomore Ryan Howie.

Marissa-Coulterville (37) – Mixon 2 0 1-4 5, Smith 4 4 0-0 20, Stoddard 0 0 0-0 0, Wright 0 0 1-2 1, Reuss 0 0 2-2 2, Dieterich 0 0 1-4 1, Howie 1 2 0-0 8, Kern 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-7, 3FG-6, FT-5-12, PF-12.
New Athens (74) – Mueller 0 2 2-2 8, Zapfe 1 1 0-0 5, Ozier 0 0 0-0 0, Hespen 1 0 0-0 2, Toedte 1 2 0-0 8, Woolford 0 0 0-0 0, Kosarek 0 0 0-0 0, Ruess 7 0 3-4 17, Kiefer 5 0 1-2 11, Meyer 5 0 5-6 15, Ragland 3 0 2-2 8. 2FG-23, 3FG-5, FT-13-16, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Dieterich - Marissa-Coulterville.
Technical Fouls – None.