03-07-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Strength in numbers.

Clearly Tuesday nights' Class A Supersectional match up between Pinckneyville and Hamilton County turned on the depth and skill of coach Dick Corn's Panthers.

Using a nine-man rotation as he had done throughout the 2005-06 season, this coach wore down the upset minded Foxes, 58-39, as his Panthers now advance to Peoria for the first time since 2001.

Hamilton County (22-11) saw its string of victories and unlikely postseason run end on a night where they committed 22-turnovers, including seven in a key stretch in the second quarter where the game changed for the worse.

Breaking open a tight contest with big runs in both the second and fourth quarters, the states' second-ranked Panthers - top ranked in the ABV rankings - improved their record to 31-1.

Kyle Cassity put together perhaps his best all around game of the season as this 6-foot-4 sophomore connected on all six of his field goal attempts and was 3-of-4 from the free throw line for a game high 15-points.

And his defense (for most of the game) on Hamilton County's Cedrick Graham helped hold the Foxes top marksman to just 11-points, eight below his scoring average.

Nevertheless, the amount of quality players that Pinckneyville has in its arsenal was too much for Hamilton County on this night.

"I'm going to agree with that, I think we did, too," said Corn when asked about wearing down Hamilton County. "I do think our depth was a factor in the end."

Not allowing the Foxes to get any sort of distance on the scoreboard, Pinckneyville eventually took command in the second half.

Despite falling behind early in the first quarter, Pinckneyville showed no signs of trepidation as many of the Hamilton County opponents had done throughout the Foxes 14-game winning streak.

Hamilton County scored the game first six points with Nick Walls breaking the SIU Arena ice with an early score in the lane with 7:39 left.

Trying to get the ball inside, the Foxes scored twice more on a shot by Kevin Waier and a pair of free throws by Cedrick Graham and led 6-0 at the 5:59 mark.

But Pinckneyville responded with five big points from Lyle Winter. Not one of the top Panther point producers, Winter got an early 3-pointer to drop after a kind bounce and later added a pair of free throws.

Thad Hawkins came off of the Pinckneyville bench for a basket to give Pinckneyville its first lead.

The two teams traded points, with Walls getting a pair of shots to fall.

A wide-open 3-pointer from the left corner on an assist from Graham gave the Foxes back the advantage at 12-10 with just under a minute left.

But yet another Panther - this time Zack Hawkins - put points on the board. His drive to the basket on a nice pass from Collin Woodside just before the first quarter horn evened things at 12-each.

Graham - who got to the free throw line a lot for the Foxes on this night - was responsible for most of the eventual foul difficulty that Pinckneyville had to work through.

Following another basket by Waier in the lane while being fouled by Thad Hawkins and two free throws by Graham; Hamilton County got back to a four-point lead at 16-12.

Getting to the foul line was only half of the Foxes plan. The other half was making good on its chances.

Hamilton County failed to do so; hitting just 8-of-17 on the night, including two crucial misses on 'one-and-bonus' trips in a pivotal part of the game.

Having a chance to keep the Panthers at a distance, Waier and Jake Welch each missed front ends of opportunities in the second quarter.

Those empty trips allowed Pinckneyville to get rolling on an eventual game changing 11-0 run.

Showing the large crowd at SIU just how balanced a scoring act they can put on the floor, the Panthers got those eleven points from four different players.

Austin Winters, a 6-foot-5 senior, scored five consecutive points on a pair of free throws and on a conventional three-point play making an assist out of a nice Cassity feed. Converting the free throw after Waier fouled him, the Panthers suddenly led 21-16.

Graham drove the baseline for a score for Hamilton County to stop a 3:27 scoring drought.

However Cassity dished another nice pass to set up a teammate for yet another three-point play.

Finding Hayden Hicks in the lane, Cassity's pass and Hicks' shot while being fouled by Ham Co.'s Travis Ackley finished the first half scoring at 26-18 Pinckneyville.

Hicks was the fifth different Pinckneyville player to dent the scoreboard in the second quarter alone.

"One thing that has really helped us is here recently is that Thad (Hawkins) came back and he is able to spell Kyle Cassity and give him some minutes on the bench and he doesn't have to guard the other teams' best player all the time," added Coach Corn, referring to Hawkins returning late in the season after suffering a broken neck in a football game back in the fall. "It has really been a boast to his (Cassity's) offensive game."

Nearly all of the scores from the Panthers in the opening half came on cuts to the basket and nice interior passing.

Pinckneyville got its first double-digit lead on a shot in the lane by Austin Winter that made it 30-20 at 6:59 to go in the third period.

Hamilton County had a lot of fight left in them and Welch - in perhaps his best offensive performance of his varsity career - tried to keep his team within reach.

This 6-foot junior scored seven consecutive points for his Foxes.

His drive to the basket while being fouled by Thad Hawkins turned into a three-point play that cut the Panthers' margin to 38-30.

But that proved to be the final spark as the Foxes saw Pinckneyville close the quarter with the last five points.

A Zack Hawkins score was followed by a long 3-pointer from Hicks just before the buzzer from the left corner.

Having nearly turned the ball over for his club seconds earlier as Pinckneyville looked for a final shot, Hicks redeemed himself with what sports aficionados call 'A Dagger.'

When that shot fell through, Pinckneyville led 43-30 heading home.

Coach Corn's club put the outcome to rest with a 9-2 run midway through the final quarter.

Thad Hawkins picked up two assists in the run on passes to his brother Zack and also to Cassity.

Both scores on cuts to the basket made the score 53-35 with 4:10 remaining.

"Cassity in particular did a nice job of getting to the rim with back door cuts," said Corn, referring to his team spreading the floor in the fourth quarter. "And Thad (Hawkins) does a pretty good job of attacking the basket, too."

Cassity hit 3-of-4 free throws to finish the Foxes.

Both coaches inserted the reserves with 1:40 remaining.

"That was one thing that was in the back of our minds about playing Hamilton County is that we wanted to be patient early and make them chase us a little bit and wear them out," added Corn. "They (Hamilton County) do have a hard time catching up when they fall behind."

Both teams shot incredibly well on the night.

Hamilton County was 15-of-26 from the field (58 percent) and were led by Graham and Welch with 11-points apiece.

The Foxes held a 15-14 rebounding edge on a night where not many shots were missed.

But an assist-to-turnover ratio of 6-to-22 doomed this club.

Pinckneyville hit 23-of-36 shots from the field (64 percent) and got two players in double figures with Cassity (15) and Zack Hawkins (10) while three other Panthers; Austin Winter, Lyle Winter and Hayden Hicks added nine points each.

Thad Hawkins chipped in four points and five assists as Pinckneyville heads to the state finals once again in spite of the having trouble holding onto the ball (14 turnovers) as both teams did a better job shooting the ball than they did handling it.

Up next for the Panthers is an 8:15 game Friday night at Peoria's Carver Arena against Macomb, a 44-29 winner over Riverton at the Macomb Supersectional.

"We are playing pretty well right now and starting with the regional I felt like we were on an upswing and I feel that way now," added Corn, who is taking his fourth team to the 'Elite Eight.' "I think we can play better than we have but we are heading in the right direction. Sometimes there is a little bit of luck involved in getting to state. These kids have really prepared all year and are very coachable. They are one of the most coachable teams I have ever had. It has been a great, great year."

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Hamilton County	12	06	12	09	-	39
Pinckneyville	12	14	17	15	-	58

Hamilton County (39) - Graham 2 0 7-12 11, Waier 4 0 0-1 8, Ackley 0 0 0-0 0, Welch 5 0 1-4 11, Walls 2 1 0-0 7, B. Thomas 0 0 0-0 0, Hall 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor 1 0 0-0 0, White 0 0 0-0 0, L. Thomas 0 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-1, FT-8-17, PF-14.
Pinckneyville (58) - A. Winter 3 0 3-4 9, Z. Hawkins 5 0 0-0 10, L. Winter 2 1 2-2 9, Cassity 6 0 3-4 15, Graskewicz 0 0 0-0 0, MOore 0 0 0-0 0, Morris 0 0 0-0 0, T. Hawkins 2 0 0-0 4, Hicks 1 2 1-1 9, Hardin 0 0 0-0 0, Woodside 0 0 0-0 0, Rushing 0 0 0-0 0, Hale 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-20, 3FG-3, FT-9-11, PF-16.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.