11-28-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHRISTOPHER - In a slugfest that would make any boxing aficionado take notice – Sesser-Valier and Zeigler-Royalton put up a defensive battle on Saturday night in the title game of the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament that wasn’t decided until the final bell.

It took two big plays by Sesser-Valier’s Justin Matyi to exact a bit of revenge from two previous Turkey Tourney losses to the Tornadoes

When it came down to the final possession – Sesser-Valier ran the clock down and got the ball to Matyi in the lane and the 6-foot-4 senior hit a 12-footer from near the foul line that found the mark with :01.3 left.

The shot initially hit the back of the iron but the ball bounced straight up into the air and fell through the net.

Zeigler-Royalton called timeout and the officials placed :01.3 back on the clock.

Following a pair of timeouts (one by each team) Matyi swatted away an attempted inbound pass from Z-R’s Jake Wawczak.

With Matyi still covering up Wawczak the on a second inbound – the second attempt to get the ball the length of the court ended up hitting the ceiling of the gym for a turnover.

Sesser-Valier inbounded the ball and ran out the clock for the title game win.

“We told him (Wawczak) that he could run the baseline on the inbounds play but he forgot,” said Z-R head coach Jaime Moyers. “We just didn’t make that adjustment in the end. I should have switched and put Mitchell or one of the bigger kids in there to inbound the ball after the timeout.”

Matyi – who averaged a double-double for points and rebounds last season – scored 16 points and ripped down 14 rebounds in the title game win.

He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 35th Annual event.

In the two previous seasons – Sesser-Valier fell short in this tournament in losing both times to Zeigler-Royalton.

But the big shots fell on this night allowing S-V to take home the tournament title.

“It was motive but I tried not to bring it (the past two years) up too much before tonight but the kids were well aware of it - that the last couple of years we fell short,” said Sesser-Valier head coach Chip Basso. “I know it was very important to them to come out and win this basketball game.”

Defensively the Red Devils kept the Tornadoes’ top scorer in check.

Tyler Mitchell – Zeigler-Royalton’s senior guard – was held to just nine points. Sesser-Valier’s Kendall Gibson shadowed Mitchell most of the night in making him earn his points.

“He (Mitchell) is such a good player and Kendall (Gibson) always takes it as a personal challenge to guard the opposing team’s top player and try to lock him down,” added Coach Basso. “He did a great job and he got a lot of help. It was a total team effort.”

Sesser-Valier’s Dane Eubanks tossed in 15 points for the Devils while Gibson added six in the low scoring affair.

The game featured eight ties and five lead changes that produced few offensive highlights.

Z-R opened with a 5-0 run with Mitchell hitting an early 3-pointer.

But Matyi scored three times in the opening quarter that ended 11-5 Red Devils.

The Red Devils took a two-point lead into the halftime break after Dane Eubanks scored seven points in the second quarter.

He canned a 3-pointer from the left wing to finish the second quarter at 22-20.

The Tornadoes became their own worst enemy in the fourth quarter as they had chances to win the game but couldn’t convert free throw opportunities.

Z-R were just 7-of-16 from the foul line – including just 4-of-10 in the last eight minutes.

Mitchell scored his last points on a rebound basket with 2:30 left which gave Z-R its final lead at 36-35.

After Z-R’s Wawczak hit the second of two free throws with :50.4 left in regulation – the game was tied at 37.

Sesser-Valier ran the clock down until :11.6 remaining before taking a time out to set up the final play.

“We ran a screen with Kendall. We wanted to get Justin a good shot and he hit it,” Coach Basso explained. “It takes a while for offenses to gel and tonight both teams played really good defense so there was a reason that score was low.”

Neither team shot the ball well with the two clubs combining to hit just 33 percent of its combined shots.

Sesser-Valier was 17-of-44 from the field overall while Z-R was just 12-of-45.

“The defenses shined tonight and two weeks (practice) isn’t enough time for your kids to work on learning the offense,” said Moyers. “That is the way that it is early on in these tournaments. I’ve got a group of kids that are learning to play together.”

Wawczak topped the Tornadoes with 12 while getting help from teammates Kyle Stubblefield and Zack Rumsey with six points each.

Gibson added six points for Sesser-Valier – who opened the season with a title and a 3-0 record.

Z-R ended the week with a 2-1 record with more to build on with a young group according to Coach Moyers.

“I have two kids out there playing that have no varsity experience and we played well this week and got second in the tournament so I’m not disappointed at all,” Moyers said. “We’re going to be right there this season.”

COBDEN 64, WAYNE CITY 63
For the second consecutive night Wayne City was defeated at the buzzer.

Cobden (2-1) overcame a 10-point deficit in the final five minutes and stunned the Indians when Alex Sweitzer put back an offensive rebound as time expired for the win and the third place honors.

Robbie Lehr led all scorers with 29-points and his two free throws after being intentionally fouled by Wayne City with under ten seconds left close the gap to 63-62.

When the Appleknockers got the ball back in to Lehr – his baseline shot rimmed off the iron and into the hands of Sweitzer.

Sweitzer scored just six points in the game but found himself in the right place at the right time for the game winner.

Steve Draper scored 12 points for Cobden while Bo Gearhart and Alan Brumleve added nine and eight points respectively.

Lehr hit 15-of-18 free throws in the game as Cobden lived at the foul line in hitting 23-of-27 in the contest.

Zach Merrit led Wayne City (1-2) with 21 points while Trevor Shreve tossed in 15.

Wayne City appeared to have the game sewn up with a 49-39 lead late in the fourth quarter but four costly turnovers and five missed free throws allowed Cobden off of the canvass.

The Indians were just 9-of-17 from the line.

CHRISTOPHER 41, EGYPTIAN 38
The Bearcats (2-1) also rallied for a win on Saturday night in the consolation championship game behind 13 points from Matt Davison and 10 points each from Devin Austill and Steven Dial.

Davison hit a baseline shot with :28 seconds left to give Christopher the lead and Jared Fourez hit a pair of late free throws to ice the game.

Egyptian (1-2) had a couple of chances to tie the game but couldn’t get a shot to fall.

The Pharaohs were led by Jhermarien Terry with 12 points while Matt Petermichel and Shelton Pender added eight and seven.

WEBBER TOWNSHIP 35, THOMPSONVILLE 31
The Trojans picked up their first win of the season with the seventh place victory that kept the Tigers winless for the week.

Phillip Bodendieck topped the Trojans (1-2) with 17 points with Ethan Gowler tossing in nine in support.

Scott Gaither paced Thompsonville (0-3) with 14 points.

Webber Township used a 14-5 second quarter advantage to get separation and hit 5-of-7 fourth quarter free throws to hold on.

Sesser-Valier (39) – D. Eubanks 3 3 0-0 15, Hicks 0 0 0-0 0, Tinsley 0 0 0-0 0, Pitchford 0 0 0-2 0, Gibson 3 0 0-1 6, Donovan 0 0 0-0 0, T. Eubanks 1 0 0-0 2, Matyi 7 0 2-2 16, Edwards 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-3, FT-2-7, PF-15.
Zeigler-Royalton (37) – Wawczak 4 1 1-3 12, Stubblefield 2 0 2-2 6, Steven 0 0 0-0 0, Rumsey 2 0 2-5 6, Mitchell 2 1 2-6 9, Clark 0 0 0-0 0, Beasley 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-2, FT-7-16, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Wayne City (63) – Feather 5 0 0-0 10, Courtwright 2 0 2-3 6, J. Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Shreve 6 0 3-5 15, Porter 2 0 0-2 4, Evans 0 1 2-2 5, Thomason 1 0 0-0 2, Merrit 8 1 2-5 21. 2FG-24, 3FG-2, FT-9-17, PF-21.
Cobden (64) – A. Brumleve 1 2 0-0 8, Lehr 8 0 15-18 29, Gearhart 4 0 1-1 9, Wright 0 0 0-0 0, Draper 2 1 5-5 12, Aspen 0 0 0-0 0, A Sweitzer 1 0 4-6 6, Mills 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-16, 3FG-3, FT-23-27, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Thomason, Wayne City.
Technical Fouls – None.

Egyptian (38) – Petermichael 3 0 2-3 8, Terry 2 2 2-2 12, Toots 0 0 0-0 0, Nelson 1 0 0-0 2, R. Woodson 1 0 1-7 3, Pender 3 0 1-3 7, Marable 2 0 2-2 6, Delmore 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-2, FT-8-17, PF-14.
Christopher (41) – Dial 5 0 0-0 10, Parnell 1 0 0-0 2, Austill 4 0 2-3 10, Fourez 2 0 2-2 6, Davison 5 0 3-4 13, Kirchner 0 0 0-0 0, Marchetti 0 0 0-0 0, Dawson 0 0 0-0 0, Dennison 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-0, FT-7-9, PF-15.
Fouled Out – Petermichael, Egyptian.
Technical Fouls – None.

Webber Township (35) – Alvis 2 0 2-2 6, Bodendieck 6 0 5-6 17, Dye 0 0 0-0 0, Stamp 0 0 0-1 0, O'Dell 0 0 0-0 0, Gowler 3 1 0-1 9, Lowery 0 0 3-4 3, Langa 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-1, FT-10-14, PF-15.
Thompsonville (31) – B. Orrill 0 0 0-0 0, Sullivan 2 0 1-3 5, Fisher 1 1 1-2 6, Lunde 0 0 0-0 0, Pack 1 0 0-0 2, Costello 1 0 2-3 4, Gaither 1 1 9-10 14.
2FG-7, 3FG-2, FT-13-18, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.