02/25/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELKVILLE - Normally when two long-time rivals get together for a fourth time during a season, with a regional title on the line, you expect another close game like the previous three contests.

That didn't happen on Friday night in the championship game of the Elverado 1A Regional.

The Christopher Bearcats played by far their best game of the season while Sesser-Valier played perhaps their worst.

The end result was an unthinkable 52-20 blowout victory by the Bearcats in front of a mostly stunned audience at Piper-Valerius Gymnasium.

Not that it was a surprise that Coach Eric Stallman's club won, but the way they dominated their Black Diamond Conference rivals was more than a surprise.

In a game that had the makings of a classic showdown between these two 20-plus game winners, it was Christopher who brought the A-Game and it proved to be too much for Sesser-Valier.

The night belonged to the Bearcats' and 6-2 sophomore Scout Hudgens as the club improved to 23-8 on the season to advance to the Okawville 1A Sectional on Wednesday night.

Hudgens was 'light's out' from the 3-point arc, canning 6-of-7 3-point attempts to lead all scorers with 23-points, out-scoring S-V himself.

Six-five senior Peyton Mazur finished his night with 15-points, also hitting 6-of-7 shots, with all of his field goals coming from inside of the lane.

Junior Brett Janello came off of the Bearcats' pine to add six-points to the onslaught with senior Mason Goins adding four-points.

Senior Colin Sveda and junior Trey Cole each added a basket for two-points to round out the scoring for Coach Stallman.

Christopher dominated every phase of this contest that was basically over midway through the third quarter.

“Our kids work extremely hard. They (Sesser-Valier) got us twice at their place, we got them once at our place, and we couldn't wait for a neutral court and tonight we played well,” said Coach Stallman. “We changed some things around from the last time we played them and the kids had a lot of confidence in the changes we made. We talked about after we played them the last time that there was probably going to be a fourth (game). We made the changes and it worked.”

For the Red Devils and head coach Shane Garner the dream of adding another regional championship trophy ended on a very sour note.

Virtually nothing went right for this perennial postseason power as they bowed out of the state tournament to finish with a 21-9 mark for 2021-22.

The Red Devils were led in scoring by senior guard Gavin Woodland with just eight-points.

Junior Gabe Gunter and sophomore Colt Packer added four-points each.

The numbers 6-of-7 turned out to be basically the magic numerals for Christopher on the night.

That was the success of the first quarter beginning for the Bearcats.

Christopher hit six of their first seven shots in the first quarter, missing an eighth shot late in the frame.

After Sesser-Valier took a brief 4-3 lead on consecutive scores from Packer and senior Eli Schoenbaechler, the Bearcats began their scoring crusade that led them to the next round of the state tournament.

A 10-2 run closed the first quarter with Mazur scoring twice inside and Goins, Cole and Hudgens each adding points as Christopher led 13-6 at the end of the first.

A 7-0 run to begin the second quarter for the Bearcats was a sign of things to come.

Hudgens drove into the lane and was fouled, which turned into a conventional three-point play.

Janello and Mazur also added scores as the lead ballooned to 20-8 with 3:57 left before halftime.

“The last time we played them he (Mazur) got some really silly fouls early and he did a great job tonight staying out of foul trouble,” said Coach Stallman. “The whole team played well tonight and I'm proud of them.”

Then Hudgens got hot. Red hot to be more accurate.

The sophomore nailed down the first of his six 3-pointers from the top of the circle and then added a long range trifecta from nearly 25-feet from the right wing.

That second bomb pushed the lead to 28-11 with :11 left in the half.

Sesser-Valier managed to get points from Woodland and Gunter in the quarter along with free throws by Woodland late as they trailed by 15 at intermission.

What hope the Red Devils had of making a comeback disappeared in the third quarter.

While the Bearcats played well in the first half, they took it up a notch in the first eight minutes of the second half.

Fourteen consecutive points to begin the third quarter by Christopher doomed the Devils.

Hudgens added two more long range shots from the left wing and straight-away up top.

Mazur cleaned up two of the few missed shots from his teammates on the night for inside scores and added a pair of free throws while Goins hit a shot on the baseline.

When Mazur, late in the quarter, added 1-of-2 free throws the Bearcats led 43-13.

Woodland hit a 3-point shot from the right wing with :53 second left in the stanza.

It was Sesser-Valier's only made shot in the quarter as they were just 1-of-12 from the floor to go with three turnovers in the eight minute stretch.

When Hudgens closed the quarter with yet another long range bomb, the fourth quarter began with a mercy rule continuous clock at 46-16.

Packer and Gunter each scored in the fourth quarter and Sveda (four) and Janello (two) combined to make 6-of-6 free throws as both coaches emptied their benches in the final running clock minutes.

The Bearcats ended up hitting 64 percent of their field goal attempts (18-of-28) and 75 percent of their shots from the arc (6-of-8) in the conquest.

They also ended up 10-of-13 from the foul line.

Another telling stat from the game was rebounding as Christopher controlled the glass 23-6 with Mazur leading the way with nine for a near double-double.

The Red Devils only had one offensive rebound on the night and it came with just over a minute left in the third quarter.

Coach Garner's club ended up just 8-of-28 from the field (28.5 percent) and just 1-of-11 from the 3-point arc.

“Hat's off to them (Christopher) they came out and hit a lot of shots. Scout Hudgens was unbelievable tonight. They did everything they needed to do to win and that's just how it goes and we weren't ready to play so I'll take the blame for that,” said Coach Garner. “I love my guys, I love what they did this year. We accomplished a lot. I wish we could have gotten a couple of more (wins) for our seniors but that's how it goes. We wish them the best of luck going forward.”

The Bearcats will now play Norris City-Omaha-Enfield on Wednesday night at Okawville.

The Fighting Cardinals edged Carrier Mills-Stonefort, 40-38 to win the Gallatin County 1A Regional on Friday night.

The Bearcats topped NCOE, 49-29 back on November 24th in the semifinals of the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Bearcats have now won five boy's basketball regional championships, with three coming with Coach Stallman at the helm (2016, 2017, 2022).

He is the all-time leader in wins at the school.

“Our kids are capable of doing some good things and they did tonight. They had a lot of confidence in what they were doing,” said Coach Stallman. “This is a big deal for our school. We don't have many of these (regional titles). Our kids did a great job.”

Sesser-Valier (20) – Payne 0 0 0-0 0, Gunter 2 0 0-0 4, Hicks 0 0 0-0 0, Scheonbaechler 1 0 0-0 2, Woodland 2 1 1-4 8, Packer 2 0 0-0 4, Ruffino 0 0 0-0 0, Hoffard 0 0 2-2 2, Short 0 0 0-0 0, Menser 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-7, 3FG-1, FT-3-6, PF-14.
Christopher (52) – Janello 1 0 4-6 6, C. Cole 0 0 0-0 0, Sveda 0 0 2-2 2, Hobbs 0 0 0-0 0, Traiteur 0 0 0-0 0, Sherwin 0 0 0-0 0, T. Cole 1 0 0-0 2, Freeman 0 0 0-0 0, Hudgens 2 6 1-1 23, Goins 2 0 0-0 4, Mazur 6 0 3-5 15.
2FG-12, 3FG-6, FT-10-12, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.