01-22-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - The Pinckneyville Panthers entered this year's Benton Invitational Tournament with a serious question to ponder.

How well would they do in this weeklong event without Mason Woodside, who is out for at least another week with a leg injury?

The answer is 'quite well.'

Winning all five games against a pretty good field, the Panthers won the BIT title with a convincing 65-53 win over old nemesis Cairo in Friday night's finale.

Although they had already clinched the championship with Benton's loss to Okawville earlier Saturday, Pinckneyville was looking at some revenge over the Pilots, who had defeated the Panthers in each of the last two years at Benton.

Powered by the inside play of Zack Hawkins and his 21-points and committing just four turnovers in the first three quarters, the Panthers improved their overall record to 14-6 on the season and are now staring at a number one seed when the teams get together to put together the sub sectionals on January 31st.

"I think they had the answer for everything that we threw at them tonight," said Cairo coach Larry Baldwin. "They shot the ball so well and they got out to a lead on us and it was tough to battle back."

Pinckneyville shot a blistering 60 percent from the field (26-of-43) as eight different players scored for coach Dick Corn.

Cairo had a horrendous opening quarter where they scored just three points on a rebound basket early in the quarter and later a free throw, both by Jeremy Woods. Hitting just 1-of-11 first quarter attempts, the Pilots dug themselves a big hole.

During the same time frame, Zack Hawkins and Matt Searby got off to great starts.

Searby opened the game with a 3-pointer and also a 15-footer from the right elbow to make it 5-2 Panthers in the first two minutes.

Then Hawkins led his club on a 15-0 run to finish the frame.

Eight of those points belonged to Hawkins, as he got open during Pilot defensive letdowns.

Twice he scored on transition baskets. Once on a fast break lay up and again on a pull up jump shot.

When Thad Hawkins hit a pair of free throws to close out the opening eight minute scoring binge, Pinckneyville was up 18-3.

Cairo finally got on track in the early part of the second quarter.

A 7-2 run early cut into the Panther advantage.

Jarren Carlton hit a pair of Pilot 'trifectas' in the period and his first one in the run backed by a Lamar Brown fast break conversion whittled the lead to 21-12 and forced a Panther timeout with 5:04 left.

However Pinckneyville jumped right back on Cairo with a 9-0 jaunt, with T. Hawkins hitting a 3-ball and Z. Hawkins scoring on a back door lay in.

Two more points coming on Z. Hawkins free throws ballooned the lead to 30-12 with 2:24 until intermission.

As the Pilots got into foul difficulty before the half, Pinckneyville punished them by closing out the second quarter with 4-of-6 from the stripe to make it 37-20 at the half.

"We know that when we play Pinckneyville that they are going to be well structured and well organized," added Baldwin, whose club was informed this past week that they will not be participating in the upcoming state tournament. "But our kids didn't quit and we battled back tonight. I thought we had a shot down the stretch but my hat is off to Coach Corn and his team. They got us back after we got them the past two seasons."

Cairo finally got their offense rolling in the third quarter, but Pinckneyville kept pace.
Chris Davis hit a pair of baskets in the frame.

His mid-range shot from the right wing followed by a Brown basket on an in bound situation dropped the Pilot deficit to 51-37.

Conversely the Panthers continued to show offensive patience against the Pilots '2-3 zone.'

Holding for the final shot of the quarter, Thad Hawkins hit a short baseline jumper from the right side just before the horn to extend the lead back to 14.

Backed by the play of Anthony "Tim" Duncan, Cairo made a run to put a brief scare into the Panthers.
His 3-pointer with 3:56 to play cut the lead to 57-49.

Nevertheless, that was the last hurrah for Cairo as the Panthers put the Pilots away with four buckets in the final three minutes.

Spreading the Pilots out and working their zone offense to perfection, Coach Corn's club scored four times on lay in shots.

Two back door lay ins and two fast break scores finished the scoring. When Bobby Rushing connected on a short shot with :18 left, the Panthers had their undefeated week in tact with a 65-53 victory.

Pinckneyville held a slight rebounding edge (22-20) and despite five early fourth quarter turnovers, the Panthers survived their mistakes on this night.

"We are disappointed that we lost the game but we got some good things out of this week," added Baldwin.

Duncan topped the Pilots with 13-points while teammates Woods added 11.

After Z. Hawkins' 21, Searby and T. Hawkins added 13 and 11.

Pinckneyville will head back to SIRR Ohio Division play with a game at Sparta next Friday before playing Red Bud at home in the final game of the Pinckneyville 'SuperFan' Shootout Saturday.

Cairo (11-10) will have ten days off before playing three straight road games against Meridian, Hamilton County and Carmi-White County.

Cairo (53) - Brown 3 0 1-1 7, Duncan 1 2 5-6 13, Rush 2 0 0-0 4, C. Davis 2 0 0-0 4, McAllister 3 0 0-0 6, Carlton 0 2 0-0 6, Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Woods 5 0 1-2 11.
2FG-17, 3FG-3, FT-7-9, PF-16.
Pinckneyville (65) - Rushing 2 0 0-1 4, Vancil 1 0 0-0 2, T. Hawkins 4 1 0-1 11, McCrary 2 0 2-2 6, Winter 0 1 3-4 6, Searby 4 1 2-3 13, Miller 1 0 0-0 2, Z. Hawkins 9 0 3-4 21.
2FG-23, 3FG-3, FT-10-15, PF-11.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.

BENTON 53, HAMILTON COUNTY 47
The Rangers rebounded from a tough Saturday afternoon loss to Okawville to top Hamilton County to finish 3-2 in the tournament.

Greg McClintock topped all scorers with 22-points for the Rangers.

Benton (13-9) got nine points from Duke Mitchell and seven from Seiger Shurtz in the win.

Hamilton County (9-9) had two players in double-figures with Cedrick Graham and Adam Birkner scoring 14 and 10.

Benton opened up a 31-21 halftime lead and held off the Foxes late.

Benton (53) - Zazzetti 0 0 0-2 0, S. Smith 1 1 0-0 5, Shurtz 1 1 2-2 7, Mitchell 3 0 3-4 9, Satterfield 0 1 3-4 6, Muir 1 0 2-2 4, McClintock 6 0 10-14 22.
2FG-12, 3FG-3, FT-20-30, PF-17.
Hamilton County (47) - Gray 2 0 2-5 6, Ackley 0 0 2-2 2, Vanover 1 0 0-0 2, Williams 0 1 0-0 3, Wiggins 0 0 4-4 4, Birkner 0 3 1-4 10, Graham 7 0 0-0 14, Waier 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-12, 3FG-3, FT-9-15, PF-24.
Fouled Out - Williams, Waier - Hamilton County.
Technical Fouls - None.

CARLYLE 64, OKAWVILLE 56
The Indians also went 3-2 in the BIT with the win over the Rockets to open the tournaments' final session.
Coach Andy Palmer's club was led by Josh Wessel with 20-points.

Jared Fisher was the top scorer for the Rockets (1-4) with 24.

Okawville (56) - Rossel 2 0 0-0 4, Koepke 4 0 3-3 11, Heberer 4 3 0-0 17, Eade 0 0 0-2 0, Fisher 5 3 5-7 24.
2FG-15, 3FG-6, FT-8-14, PF-14.
Carlyle (64) - Johnson 1 2 0-0 8, Diekemper 1 0 1-2 3, Tucker 4 0 1-1 9, Poppenhorst 0 3 2-2 11, Wessel 7 0 6-7 20, N. Snider 1 1 1-4 6, J. Snider 3 0 1-2 7.
2FG-17, 3FG-6, FT-12-19, PF-14.
Fouled Out - Eade, Okawville.
Technical Fouls - None.