03-14-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA – Throughout the postseason prior to its game Friday afternoon at Carver Arena against Heyworth, the Sesser-Valier Red Devils were shooting the ball well.

That all changed in its semifinal loss.

Hitting just 21-of-55 shots overall and committing 15-turnovers, the Red Devils squandered a chance at advancing to the state championship game, losing 57-51.

Coach Shane Garner’s club, who have been “unconscious” for three weeks since the state tournament began, “awoke” with a poor shooting afternoon and fell into the third place game on Saturday.

Spotting Heyworth an early lead with 10 of their turnovers in the first half, the Red Devils will now face Mendon Unity, a 67-51 loser to Mooseheart in the other 1A semifinal.

“It was a very hard-fought game by both teams, a lot of great guard play,” said Coach Garner. “They (Heyworth) just answered the call at the end of the game. They converted from the free throw line. They were very poised and did a great job of executing their game plan very well.”

Sesser-Valier was led by Jake Vanwey with 13-points while Nick Marlo added 10.

But parading the Hornets to the foul line proved to be the ultimate undoing for the Carbondale Supesectional champs.

The Hornets improved to 27-7 on the season by connecting on 26-of-35 free throw attempts compared to just 3-of-7 for S-V.

Coach Garner’s club hung tough with the Hornets but couldn’t make enough shots in the fourth quarter to mount a comeback.

Hayden Boyd led Heyworth with 15-points while Kaleb Marr and Dallas Lee added 12 and 10-points respectively.

It was Boyd who did the damage to Sesser-Valier in the fourth quarter as the Hornets, who led just 39-37 with 6:53 to go, made 12-consecutive free throws (16-of-20 in the final frame) to keep the Red Devils from getting back in the game.

Heyworth also struggled from the field as neither team hit for a high percentage.

“After the final buzzer sounded the realization of what we have accomplished to this point in the season and it’s just unbelievable what we have done this year and what the kids have done this year," said Heyworth head coach Tom Eller. “The teamwork that they have given and the dedication they have given to the coaching staff this season is truly unbelievable.”

The Hornets, who will take on Mooseheart Saturday afternoon, were only 14-54 (25.9 percent) but managed a 46-35 rebounding edge and a trip to the title game.

“Rebounding is just effort. And that’s what we have talked about all year. It’s one of the things we can control in a game and that’s the effort we give. It’s one of the things we preach coming out is to go to the glass on every single play. Eventually, as the other team wears down, good things are going to happen if you keep going to the glass,” added Coach Eller.

Heyworth struggled early in the game, also, but the Hornets got off on the first run of the game in the beginning and the end of the first quarter.

Four points came from Lee as he grabbed a rebound for stick back and added a pair of free throws a few seconds later after a Sesser-Valier turnover.

A basket by Wesley Anderson gave Heyworth a 6-0 lead with 5:38 left.

Sesser-Valier got baskets by Baxter, Nick McCarty and Logan Barrett to cut their deficit to just 9-6 before Heyworth closed the quarter with six more points.

Marr, Lee and Kyle Schultz all scored points with Schultz finishing off the quarter with a lay in off Sesser-Valier’s fourth turnover of the quarter and led 15-6 at the end of one.

The Red Devils climbed back into contention with their best quarter of the game in the second.

Hitting 8-of-11 shots from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers by Vanwey, Sesser-Valier rallied to trail by just a point at intermission.

Marlo scored six points in the quarter on two free throws and a couple of nice drives to the basket.

Reserve Luke Thompson came off the bench and his drive to the goal for a lay in made it 28-27 Heyworth at the half.

Baxter and McCarty hit a pair of shots to open the third quarter but as it turned out the Red Devils would hit just one more field goal the rest of the stanza.

They went just 1-of-8 the remainder of the quarter and committed five more turnovers.

But the Hornets were actually worse from the floor, hitting just 2-of-14 and led just 36-34.

“Offensively we struggled today. We shot 26% for the game. The thing that carried us today was our free throw shooting. It has been an issue for all through the post season. In the sectional championship 12 for 26 from the free throw line and today 26 for 35 for 74%. We attacked the basket, which was one of our goals for the game. And good things happened,” added Coach Eller.

After Thompson nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead to just two points early in the final quarter, the parade rolled into town.

As part of the 12-free throws made in a row was a conventional three-point play by Lee on an assist from Justin Witten.

Boyd then made eight straight shots from the foul line and when his eighth one found the mark with 1:29 left, Heyworth was in command at 54-44.

By this time the Devils were trying to hit long distance shots that didn’t find the range.

For the quarter S-V hit just 3-of-10 from the arc and were just 6-of-24 for the game.

Shooting that many 3-pointers kept them from getting enough drives to the basket to create free throw opportunities as the Red Devils fell to 22-11 on the season.

“I thought they had a very good defensive plan with the high trap on the ball screens. We forced a lot of shots. We took a lot of perimeter shots and not too many chances to get to the free throw line,” said Coach Garner.