Although it wasn't a “Showcase” type game, the Cardinals (as they normally do) produced a business as usual performance in handling the Trojans, 50-42.

Jumping out to a quick early lead and having an advantage as great as 13-points in the second quarter, Woodlawn never surrendered the lead.

However Madison never gave in and got to within a point in the fourth quarter before the Cardinals finished off the game, and the opposition, from the foul line.

Ross Owens topped Woodlawn with 16-points as the 6-foot-4 junior guard hit three 3-pointers and was 5-of-5 from the foul line, including converting three-consecutive foul shots to end the first half as he was fouled attempting a 20-footer.

He also stood tall defensively as he was credited with five blocked shots and four steals.

Sophomore guard Blake Wollerman added 13-points for Woodlawn as the Cardinals improved to 19-3 on the season.

Wollerman hit a pair of 3-pointers and was part of the Cards' 11-of-15 foul line performance for head coach Shane Witzel.

Brett Harris, a 6-foot-4 junior, added nine points for the cause.

“We contested a lot of shots and got our hands on a lot of the passes. They create some problems with their guards but overall I thought our defense was solid,” said Coach Witzel. “I felt like throughout the game we guarded them well. He (Warren) is a good player and he is good at creating his own shots and he is going to get to the free throw line. I was more worried about us getting out of position for rebounds having to help out on him. For the most part we did a decent job. Harris, (Austin) Ballard and (Bryson) Sanders stepped up and we need all of those guys to get some team rebounds.”

Head coach Jaime Cotto-Rodriguez saw his Trojans struggle offensively, hitting just 17-of-42 (40 percent) and they wasted a solid performance by 5-foot-7 senior guard Dayman Warren, who scored 25-points, hitting 9-of-18 field goal attempts in the contest, including a pair of 3-pointers and also 5-of-8 from the foul line.

Six-foot-five junior Jerry Haynes added eight-points along with eight-rebounds for Madison, who fell to 8-12 on the season.

Woodlawn began the contest with a 7-1 run, with Wollerman and Owens both hitting 3-pointers against the Madison zone.

The Cardinals finished with 14-turnovers, part of the reason why the Cardinals failed to put Madison away in the first half as 10 of the miscues happened before halftime.

Warren scored six of his points in the first quarter on drives to the basket, a quarter that ended at 12-10 Woodlawn.

Back-to-back scores by Wollerman to open the second quarter gave Woodlawn an eight-point advantage.

His 3-pointer from the left wing followed by a drive to the basket for a three-point play made it 18-10 with 7:03 left.

Those six-points turned into a 13-2 run for a 25-12 lead.

“We attacked their 2-3 zone and got some good looks, they used a 3-2 and a 1-2-2. Then they went man for a while. But they settled on a Diamond-and-one and we got some open shots off of it,” said Coach Witzel. “We have guys that are going to make those shots and they did tonight. And we got to the line and made our free throws.”

But Warren sparked (and carried) his team the rest of the half.

The diminutive guard came up big, hitting for 11-consecutive points.

Four of the scores were on drives to the basket and his fast break lay in following his first trey of the game cut the Woodlawn lead to just 27-25.

But Warren picked up his second foul, fouling Owens on an off-balanced 3-point attempts.

Owens finished the half with the three-straight charity shots and a 30-25 halftime spread.

Madison had chances, but couldn't get anything going offensively besides Warren, who his Coach Cotto-Rodriguez and friends call “Rocky.”

But Warren was “smooth” in his offensive work as he kept the Trojans in the hunt by himself.

His drive early in the third quarter cut the Cardinals lead to just 31-27.

But Harris scored all of his seven of his nine points, with two consecutive scores near the basket on assists by Wollerman and a 3-pointer late in the quarter for a 40-33 lead.

A basket on an assist by Warren to Malik Wilson closed the quarter with Madison trailing by five.

This bucket started a mini 6-0 move to cut the Cards' lead to just 40-39.

Two Warren free throws and a score from Donovan Crowder got the Trojans to within a point.

But Owens stepped forward with a big shot to stop the Trojans rally.

He canned a 3-pointer from the right wing and later scored on a back door cut on a pass from Wollerman (his seventh assist) for a 46-39 spread.

Forced to foul, Madison watched in dismay as Harris and Owens combined for four-straight made free throws to ice the game.

Woodlawn made 16-of-39 from the floor although they were out-rebounded 19-16.

“It's important to see several different styles of play and we have seen some different styles this year,” said Coach Witzel. “I think it is important to schedule teams like this and it is good for us. They (Madison) have played a lot of good teams this and I know their record isn't like it normally is, but we knew that they would come in and battle.”

The Cardinals did little to tarnish their state-wide recognition with the win while Madison still searches for the right formula for winning after losing to a “who's who” of teams in the state.

“Shane (Coach Witzel) does an awesome job with his program. We tried multiple defenses and the Diamond-and-one bothered them a bit but we just couldn't score. We struggled in our half-court,” said Coach Cotto-Rodriguez. “We couldn't score and if Rocky (Warren) isn't doing the scoring for us, we struggle. We tell the kids to have confidence in what we are doing and right now we don't have that confidence on the offensive end.”

Madison (42) – Deal 1 0 0-0 2, Crowder 2 0 1-2 5, Haynes 4 0 0-0 8, Warren 7 2 5-8 25, Allen 1 0 0-0 2, Wilson 0 0 0-0 0, Radford 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-2, FT-6-10, PF-15
Woodlawn (50) – Harris 2 1 2-2 9, Sanders 0 0 0-0 0, Renad 0 1 1-2 4, Wollerman 2 2 3-6 13, Owens 1 3 5-5 16, Richardson 0 0 0-0 0, Ballard 4 0 0-0 8.
2FG-9, 3FG-7, FT-11-15, PF-7.
Fouled Out – Warren - Madison.
Technical Fouls – None.

BREESE MATER DEI 68, MT. CARMEL 59
The Breese Mater Dei Knights have been in some supreme battles this season and on Saturday afternoon they faced yet another extreme challenge.

Behind 23-points from forward 6-foot-4 senior Ben Lampe and 18-points and nine-rebounds from 6-foot-8 senior Nolan Gerling, the Knights held off Mt. Carmel, 68-59 to improve their stock to 16-8 on the season.

Coach Ron Schadegg also received help from 6-foot-7 senior forward Zach Haake as this gargantuan front line netted 76 percent of the points for Mater Dei.

“We've got some length and sometimes you just have to play to your strengths and I think just sticking our arms out closed down a lot of those passing lanes for them,” said Coach Ron Schadegg. “Our kids, we like the uptempo style but we made an adjustment and backed off the transition. We wanted to make them beat us from the perimeter.”

With the game plan in place to pound the ball inside against the Golden Aces, that trio combined to go 24-of-39 from the floor (61.5 percent) as they took command early as they forced Mt. Carmel into a tough offensive performance.

Coach Tyler Buss saw his Aces make enough shots, hitting 23-of-54 overall, but they committed 14-turnovers with seven of them coming from stellar point guard Levi Laws, who finished with 11-assists and four points.

MC also hit just 3-of-21 from beyond the 3-point arc in the defeat.

Jackson Marcotte, a 6-foot-6 freshman, led the way with 26-points while senior guard Sam Deisher added 21.

The Knights finished with 29-of-51 from the floor (56.9 percent) in the victory.

“We knew we were going to have to shoot the ball well because we also knew that they (Mater Dei) clean up the glass well,” said Coach Buss. “But give them credit, they do a good job of shrinking the floor defensively. We need more transition buckets but we just got a bit tired in the fourth quarter.”

Cahokia (56) – Brown 0 0 0-0 0, George 0 0 0-0 0, Williams 3 0 1-2 7, Crumble 2 2 3-4 13, Miller 2 0 0-0 4, Gully 0 0 6-7 6, Donald 4 2 1-2 15, Cism 0 0 0-0 0, Bell 0 0 0-0 0, Franklin 5 0 1-1 11.
2FG-16, 3FG-4, FT-12-16, PF-20.
Pinckneyville (55) – Luke 7 2 12-15 32, Banach 0 0 2-2 2, Taylor 5 0 2-2 12, Rulevish 0 0 3-6 3, Frisher 2 0 2-2 6, Brand 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-2, FT-21-27, PF-15.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Cahokia Bench.

Coach Todd Tripp's club led by eight at the intermission and pulled away in the second half by outscoring Steeleville (5-16) 22-12 in the third.

Freshman Braden Webb paced the 'Cats with 22-points while sophomore Brant Glidewell added 12.

The Warriors and head coach Bryce Bainter was led by junior Nic Hagel with 20-points and 14-points came from sophomore Dusty Sutton.

The Blackcats hit nearly half of their field goals, 29-of-62, and nailed 11-of-13 free throws.

Steeleville was just 17-of-49 overall (34.7 percent).

Goreville (74) – J. Troop 3 0 0-0 6, Hill 3 0 0-0 6, Vaughn 2 1 2-2 9, Glidewell 5 0 2-2 12, Webb 3 4 4-4 22, Kinder 2 0 0-0 4, Crews 0 0 0-0 0, Dunn 3 0 0-0 6, Massey 0 0 0-0 0, Schuetz 2 - 2-2 6, S. Troop 1 0 1-2 3. 2FG-24, 3FG-5, FT-11-13, PF-17.
Steeleville (53) – Pim 2 0 1-2 5, Ebers 1 0 0-0 2, Sutton 1 4 0-0 14, Lutz 0 1 0-0 3, Hagel 4 2 6-8 20, Feldmann 0 0 0-0 0, Wilson 1 0 2-4 4, Smith 0 1 0-0 3, Axtell 0 0 2-4 2.
2FG-9, 3FG-8, FT-11-18, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

He hit 11-of-12 shots from the floor and hit 9-of-12 from the foul line in the win for the Eagles.

Cairo (5-13) was paced by sophomore Dave Taylor with 17-points.

Civic Memorial trailed 52-49 heading into the final quarter before outgunning the Pilots 22-8 in the fourth.

JaQuan Adams added 11-points for CM.

Cairo hit just 21-of-53 overall from the field, including 9-of-22 from beyond the arc.

Civic Memorial hit 27-of-49 overall.

Cairo (60) – Duncan 2 2 1-2 11, Dave Taylor 5 2 1-4 17, Nelson 0 0 0-0 0, Garvin 1 0 0-0 2, Woodson 1 3 5-7 16, T. Johnson 2 0 1-2 5, Demarious Taylor 0 2 0-0 6, Gibson 0 0 0-0 0, Q. Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Harris 1 0 1-2 3. 2FG-12, 3FG-9, FT-9-17, PF-17.
Civic Memorial (71) – Lehnen 2 0 0-0 4, Lane 1 0 2-4 4, Lowrance 11 1 9-12 34, Hill 3 0 0-0 6, Adams 5 0 1-2 11, Hampton 1 0 0-0 2, Helmkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Lane 3 0 3-3 9, Williams 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-26, 3FG-1, FT-16-23, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Civic Memorial Team.
Technical Fouls – None.

Boone scored a game best 33-points as he scorched the Pioneers.

Boone hit 11-of-12 free throws to go with his 10-of-18 shooting from the floor as the Explorers improved to 15-9 overall on the season for Coach Steve Medford.

Marquette also got 12-points from Jacob Fischer in the win.

Trico (15-7) got 12-points from 6-foot-7 senior Chase Rednour and 10-points from senior guard Ryan Myers for Coach Mike Denault's club.

Trico ended up just 15-of-40 from the floor (2-of-17 from the 3-point line) in the loss and hit just 16-of-28 free throws.

Marquette was 17-of-39 overall and 24-of-33 from the foul line.

Trico (48) – Myers 4 0 2-4 10, Koch 1 0 3-4 5, Rednour 3 0 6-8 12, Kelly 2 0 3-4 7, Chapman 1 2 1-2 9, Little 0 0 0-0 0, Jo. Compton 1 0 1-2 3, Ja. Compton 1 0 0-2 2, Baker 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-2, FT-16-28, PF-28.
Alton Marquette Catholic (62) – Holtz 0 0 1-2 1, Snider 1 0 6-10 8, Fischer 4 0 4-5 12, Aguirre 0 1 2-4 5, Boone 8 2 11-12 33, Messinger 0 1 0-0 3, Pettiford 0 0 0-0 0, Howell 0 0 0-0 0, Ely 0 0 0-0 0, McLain 0 0 0-0 0, Derringon 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-4, FT-24-33, PF-20.
Fouled Out – Koch, Rednour, Chapman - Trico; Holtz, Fischer - Alton Marquette Catholic.
Technical Fouls – None.