01/24/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG - The Pope County Pirates advanced to the semifinals of the 72nd annual Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament on Monday night by doing two things really well.

Coach Jim Simmons' club grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, including five in the pivotal fourth quarter against Carrier Mills-Stonefort.

Three of those offensive boards resulted in second-chance points for Pope.

The Pirates also took advantage of the Wildcats personal foul problems by hitting 21-of-30 free throw chances.

Added up these two 'pro's' overcame all of the other 'con's' in the Pope County 52-51 win.

Pope County advanced into one of the Friday night semifinals against top-seed Hardin County, who also won on Monday night.

The one Pirate who was the recipient of the most fouls was 6-0 senior Logan Croley.

Croley hit 17-of-21 from the line, including 7-of-9 in the final minutes.

He led the Pirates with 19-points overall while teammate 6-5 junior Garrett Robards added 14.

Robards scored eight of his points in the final frame, including a couple of offensive rebound put-backs that keep the Pirates afloat.

Defensively Coach Simmons' club came up with the stops they needed late.

Masin Presser, a 6-4 sophomore, picked up a loose ball on a Carrier Mills-Stonefort offensive possession with Pope clinging to a 50-49 lead.

After being fouled, Croley put the Pirates up 52-49 just seconds later with :15.1 remaining.

“We shot free throws really well and the Croley kid really stepped up to play tonight,” said Coach Simmons. “(Masin) Presser got a loose ball late that was huge for us. He's a shooter for us but he made a big defensive play.”

Carrier Mills-Stonefort was topped in scoring by 5-10 senior Colton Mitchell with 16-points while senior teammate 6-0 Kaden Sanders ended up with 13.

Six-three senior Zavier Rollins added nine-points for head coach Austin Ferrell.

Down by three in the final seconds after the Croley free throws, the Wildcats failed to get an open look from the arc so Mitchell drove inside and got a score.

However the problem was that by the time Mitchell got his shot to fall there were just :02.1 left when Coach Ferrell got a timeout.

The Wildcats fouled Pope County senior Gavin Lewis with just :01.0 remaining.

Lewis missed both free throws but a desperation 3-point attempt by Carrier Mills-Stonefort senior guard Caden VanMeter missed from about 45-feet at the buzzer as the Pirates advanced.

Carrier Mills-Stonefort will play in the consolation semifinals on Thursday night against Thompsonville, who lost 57-30 to Hardin County in the Monday nightcap.

VanMeter, who hit some big shots in the Wildcats' 58-51 victory over the Pirates back on December 17th, was held to just five-points on Monday.

“When you play against someone like VanMeter, who is one of the best players in this conference, and we were emphasizing not to let him beat us,” said Coach Simmons. “We were up against them earlier in the year and he hit some big shots to beat us. We were determined not to let him beat us tonight.”

Senior Nathan Collins added six-points for Carrier Mills-Stonefort, who is now 8-12 on the season.

The Wildcats had many opportunities in all four quarters to put the game away but they couldn't shake Pope County.

Mitchell scored eight of his points in the second quarter, including knocking down a pair of 3-pointers as CM-S led 26-20 at halftime.

Sanders added a couple of scores in the third quarter, including a drive in the paint for a 36-29 lead with 1:54 left.

However the Pirates hung around and forced the issue, getting fouled throughout the game.

Carrier Mills-Stonefort was whistled for 24 personals, and three Wildcats' (Mitchell, J. Ellis and Rollins fouled out.

The Wildcats largest lead came just a minute into the fourth quarter with buckets by Sanders and freshman Jalon Ellis giving CM-S a 42-34 lead.

Then Robards went to work in the lane.

Two inside scores by the junior and a 3-point bomb by Lewis was part of an 8-0 run.

One of two free throws by Croley edged the Pirates to the lead at 45-44.

Mitchell answered with a 3-pointer moments later but Robards got another score in the lane as he rebounded his own missed shot to tie the game up once more at 47-47.

Croley and M. Presser combined on 5-of-6 made free throws wrapped around a pair of Sanders made charity tosses.

When Croley hit his two freebies, the Pirates had their cushion they needed late to survive and advance.

The tale of the tape revealed a close game with the free throw shooting proving the difference.

Carrier Mills-Stonefort ended up 19-of-41 from the floor, with 6-of-17 from the arc.

Pope County ended up 14-of-37 and 3-of-10.

As mentioned earlier, the Pirates did more with their missed shots than the Wildcats.

Coach Simmons saw his crew grab 10-offensive rebounds, five in the final eight minutes with three turning directly into points.

“That (offensive rebounding) showed how much the kids wanted this game,” said Coach Simmons. “We missed a few shots but the kids went after it. They were trying to get in there and get the ball and they did. Offensive rebounds were huge in the fourth quarter.”

They held a 24-21 rebounding spread and committed 14-turnovers.

However only four of the turnovers came after halftime.

CM-S had 12-turnovers for the game.

Pope County (52) – Ohse 1 0 0-0 2, Croley 1 0 17-21 19, E. Presser 0 1 0-0 3, Lewis 1 1 1-3 6, Barnes 0 0 0-0 0, M. Presser 1 1 3-4 8, Robards 7 0 0-2 14. 2FG-11, 3FG-3, FT-21-30, PF-13.
Carrier Mills-Stonfort (51) – Mitchell 2 4 0-0 16, D. Ellis 0 0 0-0 0, Hadley 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Collins 1 1 1-2 6, VanMeter 2 0 1-2 5, J. Ellis 1 0 0-0 2, Sanders 4 1 2-2 13, Rollins 3 0 3-4 9, Stephens 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-6, FT-7-10, PF-24.
Fouled Out – Mitchell, J. Ellis, Rollins - Carrier Mills-Stonefort.
Technical Fouls – None.

HARDIN COUNTY 57, THOMPSONVILLE 30
For Thompsonville on Monday night in its upset attempts against Hardin County in the opening round of the 72nd annual Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament they needed to be able to hit some shots.

They didn't hit nearly enough.

At one point during the third quarter the Tigers had just four made field goal attempts.

As the saying goes “that's not going to cut it.”

The Cougars took care of business defensively, despite fouling too many times that allowed Thompsonville to get easy points at the line.

Coach Rodney Lane and his Cougars improved to 13-8 on the season with a 57-30 win that wasn't that close as the mentor played a lot of reserves throughout the victory.

The Cougars hit five of their nine 3-pointers in the first half.

The record is misleading in that Hardin County plays a tougher non-conference schedule than the rest of the league with six of the losses coming in eight games against 2A teams.

The Cougars, in search of their first GEC tournament title since 2008, advanced to play Pope County in the Friday night semifinals' double-header at Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg.

“We got a win and got a chance to play a lot of kids tonight and we didn't turn it over tonight so that was a good thing,” said Coach Lane. “This tournament is a bigger deal now that the teams just play once during the regular season. We have beefed our schedule up the last few years and it has made us better.”

Thompsonville dropped to a mirror image of Hardin County as Coach Kevin Smith and his club now sit at 8-13 for the season.

“We didn't handle their pressure defense tonight. They are very good man-to-man and physical. We struggle against physical teams and it showed tonight,” said Coach Smith. “They were killing us from outside in our zone defense. When we went man we still didn't do a good job of closing out on their shooters. They're a really good team. They're one of the better 1A teams around.”

Coach Lane played 10 kids and got points from six of them in the win.

Ben Vaughn, a 5-11 senior guard, paced the Cougars with 17-points.

Playing wearing a face mask because of a broken nose he suffered in the Gallatin County game Friday night Vaughn wasn't bothered much by the face gear.

The senior guard cashed in three 3-pointers on the night, scoring all but two of his points in the impressive first half by him and his teammates.

Coach Lane got 15-points from 6-5 senior Bryson Cullum and 11-points from senior Jake Vaughn.

Senior forward Kailen Gerdes added nine-points for the club as they led from beginning to end.

The Tigers had just one player; junior Hayden Lindhorst, with double-figures as he ended up leading the club with 10-points.

Senior guard Brody Rone and junior forward Kade Shelby each scored eight-points.

Thompsonville won the tap and the Tigers first possession was 1:45 in duration.

Unfortunately in resulted in a turnover, the first of 13 in the game, eight in the first half, for the Tigers.

A 3-pointer by Ben Vaughn got the Cougars on the scoreboard just seconds later.

Although Thompsonville hit a couple of field goals in the first quarter and got 3-of-6 from the foul line, the game quickly got out of hand thanks to an opening quarter closing run by Hardin County.

Cullum, who hit four 3-pointers in his teams' 66-37 win over Thompsonville back on January 8th, ended up with four 3's Monday night.

He nailed down two in the first quarter with the second bomb as part of 9-0 run to close the first quarter, sparked by three late Tiger turnovers.

Gerdes also added a bucket and Ben Vaughn scored on two drives to the basket, the second one coming in the final seconds where he went coast-to-coast for a bucket through the Thompsonville defense.

His shot beat the buzzer for a 19-7 lead.

Cullum kept the run going with a 3-pointer and Gerdes hit a mid-range shot.

Ben Vaughn added to the Tigers' pain with two more long ranges shots, each 3-pointer coming near the top of the circle as Hardin County led 30-11 at intermission.

Thompsonville had just two made field goals to go with eight first half turnovers.

Jake Vaughn, who had just two-points in the first half, got going in the third quarter.

He hit a pair of shots, including a score in the lane while being fouled, which turned into a conventional three-point play.

Cullum added another dagger of a 3-pointer as the Cougars' lead reached 40-15 with 2:26 left in the third.

When the Vaughn's closed the quarter with consecutive baskets in the lane, Hardin County led 44-21.

Cullum converted a three-point play and both Jake Vaughn and Gerdes hit shots in the final quarter.

A Gerdes 3-pointer pushed the lead to its largest at 54-25 with 3:40 left.

Thompsonville got three field goal attempts to fall late in the game, with Rone and Shelby both scoring.

Senior Gavin Smith got in on the fun late with a 3-pointer for Hardin County to close the book on the victory.

Hardin County ended up 22-of-42 from the floor, 9-of-15 from the arc as they got a lot of open looks at the arc.

The overall figs are a big misleading as the Cougars' reserves missed six of the FG attempts in the final minutes of 'mop-up' duty.

They held a slight 21-18 rebounding edge and committed just six turnovers in the contest.

Thompsonville ended up just 10-of-28 overall, 1-of-11 from downtown.

The Tigers will play Carrier Mills-Stonefort on Friday night in the consolation semifinals.

“We got a win and got a chance to play a lot of kids tonight and we didn't turn it over tonight so that was a good thing,” said Coach Lane. “This tournament is a bigger deal now that the teams just play once during the regular season. We have beefed our schedule up the last few years and it has made us better.”

“We didn't handle their pressure defense tonight. They are very good man-to-man and physical. We struggle against physical teams and it showed tonight,” said Coach Smith. “They were killing us from outside in our zone defense. When we went man we still didn't do a good job of closing out on their shooters. They're a really good team. They're one of the better 1A teams around.”

Thompsonville (30) – Rone 2 0 4-5 8, Woodring 1 0 0-1 2, Parrish 0 0 0-0 0, Shelby 3 0 2-4 8, Pond 0 0 0-0 0, Lindhorst 2 1 3-4 10, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Griffin 0 0 0-0 0, Clem 0 0 0-0 0, Peter 0 0 0-0 0, Casteel 0 0 0-0 0, Sandy 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-9, 3FG-1, FT-9-14, PF-9.
Hardin County (57) – Bebout 1 0 0-0 2, B. Vaughn 3 3 2-2 17, Fricker 0 0 0-0 0, J. Austin 0 0 0-0 0, N. Austin 0 0 0-0 0, J. Vaughn 5 0 1-3 11, Smith 0 1 0-0 3, Gerdes 3 1 0-0 9, Goins 0 0 0-0 0, Cullum 1 4 1-1 15.
2FG-13, 3FG-9, FT-4-6, PF-16.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.