02-26-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
ODIN - The Patoka Warriors, in search of their second consecutive regional championship, made the plays in the fourth quarter to stay in the title chase.

Getting another big game from sophomore guard Jered Cain and a zone defensive effort that force Christ Our Rock Lutheran into a lot of missed long-range shots, the Warriors won their 20th game of the season while advancing to the Odin 1A Regional finale with a 45-42 victory.

Cain, a sophomore who is averaging over 20-points a night, also padded his assist total's as he got his teammates involved.

Garrett Belcher, a sophomore classmate, converted several of the Cain passes into points.

Cain ended up with 25-points while Belcher notched 11 in the low scoring defensive struggle.

Coach Joe Eddy saw his club reach another regional championship game by forcing the Silver Stallions into a 7-of-25 performance from beyond the arc.

Although the Warriors didn't light the night on fire from the field themselves, they made enough shots and got enough stops to improve to 20-9.

Patoka will face Odin, the host team, who topped Mulberry Grove on Wednesday night to reach the regional title game.

It is a rematch of last season's Mulberry Grove regional where the Warriors prevailed last February.

“It was one of those games where you felt that whoever had the ball last would win the game,' said Coach Eddy. “We have struggled all year from the free throw line but Jered stepped up and made the shots and we got rebounds when we needed to. It was a clean played game overall. He (Cain) makes us go and everyone knows that.

Christ Our Rock Lutheran saw its season come to a close at 17-9 despite a big game from 5-foot-11 senior Leo Bowen, who lead all scorers with 28-points points.

Bowen nailed five 3-point shots and his final one came from well past the arc at the top of the circle as he was falling back.

His shot found the mark and evened the score at 42-all with just :29 remaining in the fourth quarter.

But much to the chagrin of the Silver Stallions Bowen, on the ensuing Patoka possession fouled Cain 35-feet from the basket with :16.7 remaining.

Cain calmly put down both foul shots for a 44-42 advantage.

CORL had a final chance to end the score but Bowen, after being fouled by Dylan Back, missed both free throw attempts with :05.5 left.

Belcher snagged the rebound and was fouled immediately by CORL's Caleb Boehne.

Belcher managed to make the first of two free throws to stretch the lead to three.

His second one misfired and Boehne grabbed the rebound and got the ball up the court to Bowen who launched a 3-pointer from the right wing.

His shot rimmed out at the buzzer as the Warriors got the victory.

“He (Cain) always does that so that wasn't a surprise. We talked about it and worked on it in practice. We've played them twice and we've seen him play a couple of other times. That surprised me that we didn't adjust to that better,” said Coach Perkes. “He comes from one side and they flood guys on the backside. I was disappointed that we didn't handle that better.” said CORL head coach Brian Perkes. “And the last shot that Leo (Bowen) let go, we got a look and that was what we wanted. "

Behind Bowen the Silver Stallions got nine points from junior Eli Palm in the low scoring contest dominated by Cain and Bowen.

The Warriors, although they were in control for most of the game, didn't pull away as their largest lead occurred in the third quarter.

It was when Cain got to show off his passing skills and made sure that Belcher got points in the paint.

Belcher scored eight points in the quarter, all within a few feet of the basket on passes from Cain.

When Cain drove to the basket and converted a conventional-three point play and teammate Tyler Back added a pair of made foul shots, Patoka had its biggest advantage at 36-29 with :27.5 left in the frame.

Bowen, as Cain had done in the third quarter, took command in the fourth as he nearly led a big comeback to completion.

He nailed his fourth 3-point shot to begin the final countdown and his back-to-back scores on a fast break lay in and a drive down the middle of the lane evened the score at 39-all with 2:53 left.

On its next possession, Patoka decided to run some clock and CORL decided to let them do it for nearly a minute.

With the floor spread and room to work, Cain drove the lane and was fouled as he laid the ball off the glass for a basket as Boehne picked up his fourth foul.

The made free throw gave the Warriors back the lead and set up the final seconds as Patoka held on for the victory.

Coach Brian Perkes of Christ Our Rock Lutheran can look at the stat sheet and see what went wrong.

The Stallions, with problems from long range, weren't much better with the shots inside the arc.

They finished 16-of-47 overall (34 percent) while the Warriors was slightly better (16-of-41, 39 percent).

The Silver Stallions ended up with a 25-21 rebounding edge and the game was cleanly played with just 14-turnovers (eight by Patoka).

The Warriors played Odin twice and split the two games early in the season.

Odin won the first matchup, 84-73 at the Mulberry Grove Thanksgiving Tournament.

Patoka, a week later, topped the Eagles 72-58 at home on December 2.

Game three is Friday night for a regional title, a title that Odin has never won in the boy's basketball program's school history.

“We told the kids and it started with the South Central game that we want to keep teams out of the middle and force them to beat us from outside. We stuck to the game plan in it worked for us tonight,” said Coach Eddy. "When he (Cain) is making good decisions we can score. He and Garrett have that bond, they know where and when he is cutting to the basket. I told him (Jered) heading to the fourth quarter that this is your time. And he stepped up."

Patoka (45) – S. Cain 1 1 0-0 5, Belcher 5 0 1-2 11, J. Cain 6 2 7-8 25, T. Back 1 0 2-2 4, Dylan Back 0 0 0-0 0, Organ 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-13, 3FG-3, FT-9-12, PF-10.
Christ Our Rock Lutheran (42) - Heine 1 1 0-0 5, Palm 2 1 1-2 9, Bowen 4 5 2-4 25, Fleeman 0 0 0-0 0, Boehne 1 0 0-0 2, Krenz 1 0 0-0 2, Hanenberger 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-9, 3FG-7, FT-3-6, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Dylan Back - Patoka.
Technical Fouls – None.