02-23-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOODLAWN - Mass Chaos.

That is the type basketball that Patoka likes to play.

On Monday night in the opening round of the Woodlawn Class 1A Regional – the Warriors went “Helter Skelter” on Wayne City – forcing the Indians to speed up their game to try and keep up.

They couldn’t on this night.

WC fell to Patoka, 64-47 in the second game played on Monday. Woodlawn ransacked Christ Our Rock Lutheran in the opener 79-27.

Coach Joe Eddy watched his team improve its overall mark to 17-10 and will now get a shot at the ABV top-ranked Southern Illinois 1A team on Wednesday night in the semifinal round.

“We want the game to be almost chaotic. The more it is out of control the more that it is in our favor,” said Coach Eddy. “We’re not a big team and we can’t grind it out down low offensively. We want to get it up and down the floor because it is easier for us to shoot the ball in transition.”

Led by 6-foot senior guard Derek Back and his 24-points – the Warriors improved its overall mark to 17-10 on the season.

Patoka shook loose from the pesky Indians using a 14-0 scoring sprint in the third quarter to end Wayne City’s season at 14-13.

“They (Patoka) played really well defensively and didn’t let us get what we wanted tonight,” said Wayne City head coach Russ Gerlach. “That is just the way it goes.”

Drew Baldridge – a 6-foot-1 junior guard – scored 19-points in the win for Patoka while Luke Murfin chipped home 10.

“When we make that extra pass and stop settling for the jump shot we are a pretty dangerous team,” said Coach Eddy. “Teams know that we can shoot it so they have to get out on us. We made that extra pass and cut to the basket and finished strong tonight.”

Patoka canned seven 3-pointers on the night with Back leading the way with three.

The Warriors shot the ball well (26-of-57) and held a 30-24 rebounding edge.

Wayne City hit just 18-of-45 shots on the night and committed 13 turnovers – seven in a sloppy first quarter.

Luke Murfin broke the game’s final tie with a 3-pointer with 2:55 left.

His bucket gave Patoka a 12-9 advantage.

Back hit two of his trifectas in the opening frame and his bomb from the right corner with :09 remaining on a set play - after his club held the ball for nearly a minute - pushed the Warriors to a 21-13 lead at the end of one.

The best Wayne City run came on a pair of 3-pointers by Zach Meritt and Cody Thomason to begin the second quarter.

When Thomason hit his shot from the far right corner – Wayne City forced a Patoka timeout at 21-18 three minutes into the stanza.

The Warriors outgunned Wayne City 10-4 the rest of the half.

Baldridge and Back each hit 3-pointers in the run with Back finishing the first half scoring (31-20) with a 20-footer from the right corner.

Baldridge and Back got together again in the pivotal third quarter scoring run that finished off the Indians’ season.

Back hit a pair of shots with a fast break score on a reverse lay in and a transition score on a pass from Wyatt Jenkins.

Baldridge scored six points in the run – including one with just one shoe.

After a drive to the basket Baldridge had his shoe on his right foot get loose under the basket.

While his teammates and his opponents headed up the court – Baldridge was in the Patoka offensive end.

Following a Wayne City turnover – Jenkins found Baldridge for a lay in with 4:25 to go.

Two free throws by Baldridge and a drive to the basket by Jeremy Whisler pushed the lead to its pinnacle at 47-25.

Wayne City would get no closer than seventeen the rest of the way.

Patoka now gets a crack at the top-seed Cardinals.

“I can’t wait for a shot at them. Coach Witzel and I are pretty good buddies. We play summer baseball together so we are looking forward to playing them,” added Coach Eddy. “All year long we looked for respect and to get respect you have to knock off the big dogs and Woodlawn is a pretty big dog to play against.”

The two clubs will hook up at Woodlawn on Wednesday night at 6:00 pm.

Wayne City (47) – Feather 1 0 0-0 2, Evans 4 0 4-6 12, Buchanon 0 0 0-0 0, Shreve 3 0 2-3 8, J. Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Draper 0 0 0-0 0, thomason 4 0 1-3 9, Courtwright 1 0 0-0 2, Withrow 0 0 0-0 0, Meritt 3 2 2-2 14.
2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-9-14, PF-9.
Patoka (64) – Baldridge 7 1 2-2 19, Jenkins 1 0 0-0 2, D. Murfin 0 0 0-0 0, Whisler 3 1 0-0 9, L. Murfin 2 2 0-0 10, Ishum 0 0 0-0 0, thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Allen 0 0 0-0 0, Back 6 3 3-4 24, Wimberly 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-7, FT-5-6, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

WOODLAWN 79, CENTRALIA CHRIST OUR ROCK 27
For the second season in a row the Cardinals opened their post season with a lopsided win at home against the Silver Stallions.

Everyone wearing Red and White got to play Monday night and 12 of the Cardinals inked the book.

After a slow start – Coach Shane Witzel’s club outscored CORL 31-6 in the second quarter to lead 46-11 at intermission.

Bronson Verhines hit for 18-points to lead all scorers while Jordan Wehrheim and Jase Green added 12 and 10 points respectively.

Five-foot-eight sophomore guard Dylan Burmester led the Stallions with 11-points.

CORL (27) – Allison 1 0 0-2 2, Finley 4 0 1-3 9, Snyder 0 0 0-0 0, Holm 1 0 0-0 2, Gross 0 0 0-0 0, Klein 0 0 0-0 0, Ramsour 1 0 1-2 3, Harre 0 0 0-0 0, Burmester 4 0 3-7 11.
2FG-11, 3FG-0, FT-5-14, PF-13.
Woodlawn (79) – D. Verhines 3 0 2-2 8, Hammond 1 1 2-4 7, Boldt 2 0 0-0 4, B. Verhines 5 2 2-2 18, Green 4 0 2-2 10, Wiggs 2 0 0-0 4, Hart 1 0 2-4 4, Simmons 0 0 0-0 0, Wehrheim 5 0 2-2 12, McNeil 0 0 2-4 2, Aparicio 1 0 0-0 2, Dunbar 1 1 0-0 5, Cavender 0 1 0-0 3.
2FG-19, 3FG-7, FT-5-6, PF-11.
Fouled Out – Finley - CORL.
Technical Fouls – None.