12-30-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - The Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament doesn’t give out a Most Valuable Player, just an all-tournament team.

But it was clear that if they had awarded an MVP, Vienna’s Derek Trovillion would have grabbed that plaque and carried it off of the court in the same way he carried his team.

Seeing opposing teams – including Sparta – collapse on 6-foot-11 junior center Brett Thompson this season, Trovillion made them all pay for their defensive judgment, especially the Bulldogs.

Hitting seven 3-pointers – including four in the first quarter – Trovillion scored 24 points as Vienna won its first Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament title with a 58-51 Saturday night.

Trovillion was 7-of-10 from behind the arc in pacing his team to the tournament title.

Combined with a strong defensive effort, the Eagles withstood the physical play of their Southern Illinois River-to-River opponent to improve its overall record to 13-1 on the year.

“They (opponents) double and triple team Brett (Thompson) all the time and it leaves us open for shots,” said Trovillion, a 6-foot junior. “You just have to contribute when that happens. We’re playing really well right now and I hope it continues on.”

Sparta and head coach Donovan McMillian never went away in a contest that was physical in nature but cleanly played.

Getting double and sometimes triple teamed; Thompson scored just 14 points to go with seven rebounds.

But his teammates all stepped up in a week that was bittersweet for head coach Rick Metcalf.

Having reached the final last season at Sesser – only to lose to Waltonville – Metcalf won his sixth S-V HT title.

His previous five championships were won while leading the host Red Devils.

“What can you say about Trovillion – an MVP performance this week,” said a joyous Coach Metcalf. “This win is similar to my other wins here – it feels good to win this special tournament.”

Sparta (9-5) never went away as they showed much improvement from a week ago when SIRR Mississippi brethren Nashville ‘whitewashed’ them 67-42 at home last Friday.

In taking down top-seed Waltonville on Friday night, Sparta looked like they could pull off the same sort of magic against Vienna.

But despite 14 points from Lee Peck and 12 from Travis Thurau the Bulldogs couldn’t quite muster enough at the end to pull out the victory.

“We wanted to come up here to this tournament and be competitive and I think that we did that,” said Coach McMillian. “We had their big kid (Thompson) to compete against and Vienna’s perimeter players are good, too.”

Thompson scored just one basket in the opening quarter – a soft baby-hook in the lane with 4:53 remaining to give the Eagles a 5-4 lead.

Trovillion launched three of his bombs early and staked Vienna to a 14-8 lead when his 20-footer ripped the nets from the right wing at 3:23.

But Sparta came ready offensively as well with Caleb Barnett, Josh Dolmage and Thurau scoring on consecutive possessions.

Thurau took a pass on a ‘give-and-go’ and scored while being fouled by Trovillion in the lane.

Although he didn’t convert the three-point play, Sparta led 15-14.

In a game where they needed every possession to matter, Coach Metcalf got some help from his role-players in this title tilt.

Sergio DeLa Cruz grabbed a Kyle Willis miss and stuck it home just before the first quarter horn to make it 16-15 Vienna.

The Bulldogs made their biggest scoring run of the night with eight straight points to take a 24-20 lead.

Thurau was again the big contributor with four points on a pair of buckets.

A steal and transition bucket by Thompson along with two free throws by Barnett were part of the run.

However the final 3:45 of the half was all Vienna as they got back the lead that they refused to relinquish the rest of the championship contest.

Willis had just eight points on the night but six came in that second frame.

He scored twice in final minutes of the quarter; part of a 9-0 sprint that featured another Trovillion trifecta and one more hook shot from Thompson.

When Willis connected from 18 feet in the left corner just :04 before intermission, the score stood 29-24 Eagles.

“We struggled some early in the game because they (Sparta) were beating us on the boards,” added Metcalf. “However we made the adjustments and everything turned out great in the end. Kyle Willis played a great game and thank God for Trovillion making those three’s.”

With Sparta in the gimmick mode on defense in the third quarter, Coach Metcalf looked for some other kids to step up and Isaiah Cornelius toed the line.

This 5-foot-10 senior point guard not only ran the offense but also stepped out and made the Bulldogs pay for paying too much attention to Trovillion.

Cornelius hit a big 3-pointer in the third quarter Thompson stepped out and scored from the outside.

One of the reasons that Thompson has attracted so much attention from Division I programs is his ability to shoot from the outside.

He hit a big 3-pointer from the right corner to close out the third quarter at 40-34.

“Isaiah (Cornelius) handled the ball for us very well and I think he only had one turnover against their pressure and that was a big key,” added Metcalf. “He did an excellent job of keeping us in our offense and made good decisions. I have always told my kids that when a team goes ‘box-and-one’ against you they are showing respect for the one player but they are dissing the other four. When they went with that defense to try and stop Derek, the other kids stepped up.”

Trying to stay close in the fourth quarter, Sparta got within three points of the Eagles twice.

The final time was the result of Barnett spinning past Thompson for a lay in and a drive to the basket by Peck to cut the margin to just 47-44 with 4:14 remaining.

But then Thompson showed off his long-range skills a final time on the night.

Standing some 23 feet from the basket on the right wing, Thompson launched a rainbow 3-pointer that went through the net wet.

When that bomb exploded it virtually ended the Bulldogs chances.

A combination of 7-of-11 (4-of-6 from Cornelius) shooting from the foul line by Vienna and five consecutive 3-point attempts missed by Sparta the rest of the way gave Coach Metcalf another championship.

“We chased him around pretty good there in a ‘box-and-one’ and he didn’t shoot many then but when we went back to our regular zone they (Vienna) had some other kids that killed us,” added McMillian, talking about the Eagles and their overall team effort.

Something happened on Saturday night that hadn’t happened in the previous 13 games for Vienna.

The Eagles were outrebounded 35-23 by Sparta.

Nevertheless Vienna went 19-of-40 (48 percent) from the field but 10-of-17 from downtown, which was the difference maker in this matchup.

Coach McMillian’s club shot just 21-of-63 (33 percent) and can look at a 3-of-15 mark from behind the arc as an Achilles heal.

After shooting over 50 percent in their win against Waltonville, Sparta dropped off in the championship game.

“This was a good game. They showed up and we showed up and it was hard to fall short but we’ll take this level of play we had tonight. It is tough to beat any team that shoots the ball that well from the perimeter,” finalized Coach McMillian.

Standing 13-1 on the season and with all of the attention that Thompson is getting, things are going quite well for this Vienna team and program.

“Last season we were 13-1 at this point but this is a better 13-1,” said Metcalf, explaining that his club was unbeaten when Waltonville took them down in the title game a year ago.

Sparta (51) – Lesperance 0 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0 0-0 0, L. Peck 6 0 2-2 14, Walter 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 1 2 0-0 8, Thurau 6 0 0-1 12, Domage 2 1 0-0 7, C. Peck 0 0 0-0 0, White 1 0 0-0 2, Barnett 2 0 4-6 8.
2FG-18, 3FG-3, FT-6-9, PF-18.
Vienna (58) – Willis 4 0 0-0 8, Watts 0 0 1-2 1, Cornelius 0 1 5-8 8, Trovillion 0 7 3-3 24, Thompson 3 2 1-3 13, Stram 0 0 0-0 0, Dela Cruz 1 0 0-0 2, Belsher 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-9, 3FG-10, FT-10-16, PF-8.
Fouled Out –Dolmage, Sparta.
Technical Fouls – None.

WALTONVILLE 64, MARISSA-COULTERVILLE 51
The defending champion Spartans recovered nicely after losing to Sparta on Friday night.

Five of Coach Mike Denault’s players hit for double-digits as Waltonville improved to 10-2 on the season with the third place contest conquest.

Six-foot-seven senior Josh Ralls pitched in 14 points to lead his team.

Robbie McGovern came off the bench to add 13 points while Derek Tepovich and Jordan Kabat each scored 12.

Breaking open a tied game (27-all) with a 17-10 third quarter, Waltonville pulled away.

Marissa-Coulterville (6-7) finished fourth in a tournament after entering the fray unseeded.

Coach Andy Johnson’s Meteors received a game-high 17 points from Craig Place and Jordan Wagner.

CARTERVILLE 59, SESSER-VALIER 57
The Lions won this BDC West Division matchup by outlasting the Red Devils to win the fifth place honor.

Eighteen points from Tyler Thomas, 15 from Brad Drust and 13 from Tony Brown led to a win and a 5-6 record for Coach Scott Burzynski’s team.

Sesser-Valier (4-6) received 20 points from Ty Vandekerkhove and 16 from Todd Carpenter in the loss. Kyle Crocker added 10 for Coach Danny Kirk’s club.

CHRISTOPHER 63, JOHNSTON CITY 47
Following an opening round upset at the hands of Marissa-Coulterville, the Bearcats romped to three-consecutive victories to claim their second-straight S-V consolation crown.

Nick Minor hit for 20 points in a game in which they left the Indians in their wake with a strong second half.

Zach Thomas and Josh Overturf added 13 each for Christopher (10-3).

Johnston City (5-8) had two players in double-figures; Austin Beal (11) and Thomas Campbell (10) and eight points from Devin Buckner.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

The players on the team included two from the champion Eagles; Brett Thompson and Derek Trovillion; Josh Dolmage and Travis Thurau of Sparta; Josh Ralls and Derek Tepovich of Waltonville; Crag Place of Marissa-Coulterville; Tyler Thompson of Carterville; Nick Minor of Christopher; and Tyler Smith of Johnston City.