03-01-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
PINCKNEYVILLE - For Southern Illinois boy's high school basketball fans that haven't been paying attention, Thad Hawkins is back playing basketball at Pinckneyville.

And thoughts of him not returning at full strength this season after a serious neck injury last fall were laid to rest Wednesday night at the Pinckneyville Class A Sectional.

Leading his team on a scoring blitzkrieg in the third quarter, the 6-foot-3 junior exploded for 14 of his game-high 22-points as the second-ranked Panthers roared past Meridian, 76-44, in front of a large crowd at Duster Thomas Gym.

Coming off of the Panther pine, Hawkins scored 12 consecutive Pinckneyville points in the third quarter to break open what was a close contest.

Pinckneyville, leading 29-23 after a Meridian free throw by sophomore Ralph Smith, 'released the hounds' on a 17-point run.

Brother Zack Hawkins added seven points to the charge as the Panthers improved to 29-1 on the season.

"He (Thad Hawkins) was a load tonight, no question about that," said Pinckneyville mentor Dick Corn, whose club took another step toward the school's 19th 'Sweet 16' berth with a resounding win. "He hurt his tailbone in his first game back and he told us yesterday he was feeling a lot better. And he is getting in better shape after being off so long."

Meridian (20-10) was led by Marland and Stanley Johnson who both notched 14-points on the night.

But the Bobcats couldn't overcome 28-turnovers in a game in which nothing offensively seemed to go their way.

"We knew early on that we would have to execute and we just didn't get enough good shots at the basket and that is a credit to their defense," said Mandrell, whose team picked up its first regional title since 1993 last Friday. "I think if we had executed a little bit better tonight it might have been a bit closer."

It was Meridian that jumped out early which startled the near capacity crowd of mostly Panther supporters.

Following a Zack Hawkins baseline shot that dented the scoreboard for the first points of the game; Meridian scored the games next seven markers.

Stanley Johnson, the Bobcats 5-foot-9 senior point guard, picked up a pair of steals in the run and hit two shots.

His 3-pointer from the left wing and fast break lay in - both in transition - made it 7-2 with 5:08 to play.

However the Panthers rallied from long distance.

Testing the Meridian zone that initially caused some interior passing problems, Pinckneyville hit three 3-pointers in the frame.

Kyle Cassity, Collin Woodside and Hayden Hicks - in that order - connected from behind the arc in a rally that got the Panthers back the lead.

"Their length and size bothered us a little bit early on," added Coach Corn, referring to the Bobcats zone. "But we made a change in how we would attack it at halftime to try and get more movement in our offense."

Marland Johnson, the Bobcats 6-foot-6 sophomore, scored twice inside the paint for Coach Mandrell early.

His basket on the right low post with :27 left cut the Panthers lead down to just 15-14.

However getting the ball to Johnson the rest of the game proved to be far too difficult a task as the Panthers stole nine interior passes intended for the big man.

A tip in by Zack Hawkins closed the scoring at 17-14.

"I thought all three of our kids that guarded their post players did a good job," added Corn. "And that is how we scored in the third quarter off of those steals and long rebounds."

Meridian worked their way back to one last lead by scoring six-straight points.

M. Johnson and Smith each scored in the run and a drive to the basket by S. Johnson made it 22-21 Bobcats with just less than two minutes to play before the half.

Nevertheless, the Panthers responded again quickly taking back the lead with an 8-0 sprint with Hicks and T. Hawkins scoring four apiece to close out the quarter.

Thad's fast break lay in just before the horn sent the teams to the break at 29-22.

But the second half belonged to Pinckneyville as the second-ranked team in the state outscored their guests 47-22.

"I think that we wore them (Meridian) down a little bit and I don't think that they are accustomed to having to play that hard for that long," Corn added. "They have a nice team and anytime you win 20-ballgames you are pretty good. That league they played in (SEC) was pretty good."

The Bobcats, the South Egyptian Conference runners up, had just the Johnson's in double-figures and were only 18-of-44 overall from the field and a 'couldn't throw it in the pond' like 1-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc.

However it was the 28-turnovers - 16 in the first half - that told the real story.

"Tonight was a good lesson learned for the kids, not everyone gets this far and to win a regional is a good accomplishment for our program," finalized Mandrell, who himself won a regional back in 1993 while coaching at Crescent Iroquois.
"We didn't move without the ball tonight and when we couldn't run our offense we got flustered. The kids need to learn from this and go out this summer and know what it is going to take to get better."

After Thad Hawkins' 22, the Panthers got 13-points from Hicks and another 11 from Zack Hawkins.

Pinckneyville took its time getting going, due in part to Meridian's defense. But the second half accuracy from the field - 17-of-23 - was blistering in its effectiveness.

Overall the Panthers were 30-of-52 (58 percent) from the floor overall, 5-of-12 from 'deep.'

They did commit 15 turnovers on the night and they held just a slight 24-22 rebounding margin that was padded late in the game during 'mop up' time.

Nine different players scored for Pinckneyville as the Panthers now get ready for their third game with SIRR Mississippi nemesis Nashville on Friday night in the sectional title tilt.

"It will be a heck of a game and I know that they (Nashville) are playing their best ball at the right time and I feel like we are headed back in that direction," Corn finalized. "We refocused and played much better last week than we had been playing. Tonight we kicked it up another notch."

	1	2	3	4		Final
Meridian	14	8	7	15	-	44
Pinckneyville	17	12	25	22	-	76

Meridian (44) - Nelson 0 0 0-0 0, R. Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Stockstill 1 0 0-0 2, Hamilton 0 0 1-2 1, Oats 1 0 1-2 3, Mario Larry 0 0 0-0 0, S. Johnson 5 1 1-1 14, Lincoln 1 0 0-0 2, M. Johnson 6 0 2-4 14, R. Smith 1 0 1-2 3, Malcolm Larry 2 0 1-2 5, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-1, FT-7-13, PF-16.
Pinckneyville (76) - Moore 0 0 0-0 0, Morris 1 0 0-0 2, T. Hawkins 8 1 3-3 22, Hicks 3 2 1-2 13, L. Winter 0 0 0-0 0, Cassity 2 1 0-0 7, Graskewicz 0 0 0-0 0, Hardin 0 0 0-0 0, Woodside 0 1 2-2 5, A. Winter 3 0 0-0 6, Rushing 2 0 0-0 4, Z. Hawkins 4 0 3-4 11, Hale 2 0 1-2 5.
2FG-25, 3FG-5, FT-11-15, PF-13.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.

Paris Class A Sectional
Vandalia 48, Effingham St. Anthony 46 OT
Brock Doehring scored his only two points of the game in the only overtime session needed to break the deadlocked game as the Vandals edged St. Anthony in the sectional semifinal Wednesday night.

Eric Hobbie led all scorers with 27-points as coach Brian Kern's club improved its record to 25-6 and are set for a title game showdown with Teutopolis Friday night.

St. Anthony (22-10) was paced by Andy McLeod with 19-points while teammate Jesse Mumm added 11.

The Bulldogs outscored Vandalia 13-4 in the third quarter to take a 37-31 lead.

But Hobbie, the 6-foot-5 junior who was an ABV South Central Area First Team choice, scored ten fourth quarter points to rally his club into an extra session.

Doehring's points were the only two scored in the extra period.

Brother Blake Doehring and Lucas Benning chipped in six points each as Vandalia avenged an early season defeat at St. Anthony.

West Frankfort Class A Sectional
West Frankfort 67, Mount Carmel 66
Senior Matt Weeks drove the length of the court and nailed a 15-footer with :03.4 remaining to give the Redbirds the win.

Mount Carmel took the lead just seconds earlier on two free throws by Jason Deisher.

Having trailed for the better part of the game, coach Kevin Toney's club is once again one game away from the schools' first Carbondale Class A Supersectional appearance since 1986.

After a timeout, Mount Carmel had a last second shot misfire from beyond the 3-point line by Jensen Dardeen as the horn sounded.

Weeks finished with 15-points while teammates Isiah Simelton (18) and Keith Jones (16) all hit for double-figures.

The Golden Aces finished their season at 17-12.

Shelbyville Class A Sectional
Neoga 61, Pawnee 46
Coach Jason Hanson's Indians are a step away from a supersectional appearance after taking care of Pawnee Wednesday night.

Jumping out to a 17-8 first quarter lead, Neoga cruised to the win while never being threatened.

Zach Braden - an ABV First Team selection from the South Central Area - scored 21-points as the Indians head into Friday nights game with Nokomis with a 24-5 record. Erik Walk added 14 while Ray Zumbahlen and David Massengill chipped in nine each in the victory.

Coach Bob Gregurich saw his Pawnee club end its season at 23-5 despite 12-points from Ryan Steffen.

Mt. Sterling Brown County Class A Sectional
Hardin Calhoun 71, Barry-West Pike 59
The Warriors earned a berth in the sectional final opposite state-ranked Liberty on Friday night with the 12-point win.

Luke Hillen led all scorers with 18-points while teammates Joe Brackett and Ben Eilerman added 16-apiece.

Hardin Calhoun (25-3) held off the Heat despite hitting just 10-of-18 fourth quarter free throws.

Greenville Class A Sectional
Carlyle 65, Madison 49
ABV 'Southwestern Area' 'Player of the Year' Jacob Tucker scored 19-points to lead the Indians into the sectional title game Friday night.

Holding the high scoring duo of Cornelius Chatt and Marcus Lewis to just 11-points each, Carlyle grinded out the win and will meet Cahokia Conference rivals Trenton-Wesclin in the title contest.

Darrell Johnson added 11 for the Tribe while Kory Peppenhorst and James Snider followed with 10 and nine respectively.

Coach Andy Palmer's club (24-8) won both meetings with the Wesclin Warriors this season; taking a 70-63 decision at home at the Kaskaskian Tournament back in December and a 45-39 win at Wesclin back on February 17 in a game that decided the conference title.

Madison (17-13) hit just 5-of-12 free throws and scored just eight fourth quarter points as their season ended.

Carlyle, on the other hand, was 24-of-35 from the foul line.