01/11/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOLF LAKE - Tuesday night's game between Mounds Meridian and Shawnee was a mismatch going in but the game, like the rest of the South Egyptian Conference schedule, must be contested.

One can take away two things from this game.

The Bobcats are athletic and got down to business without overlooking the opponent and the Redskins were 'scrappy' all the way until the final buzzer.

Meridian scored the game's first 23-points and were never threatened in an 83-21 triumph.

Coach David Davis has his team looking towards an SEC regular season championship and to do this they will need to keep pace with Cobden who is also unbeaten in conference play.

The Bobcats are now 3-0 in the SEC and 9-7 overall.

Their length and athleticism were too much for Shawnee, a program that doesn't schedule many games to begin with and participated in just their seventh game of the season.

Coach Trey Pender team kept playing hard despite being overwhelmed which is a tribute to the kids and coach.

The game itself was over early as Meridian pitched a shutout in the first quarter, using their press to create instant offense.

The Bobcats were topped in scoring by 6-0 junior guard Tristen Mackins with 22-points.

JaQuavion Mackins, a 6-3 senior guard, added 19-points in the avalanche of points for Meridian.

One other player; 6-2 senior Jaden Bigham, added 11-points while six other Bobcats added points to the scoring.

Senior guard Ben Tucker added nine-points off the bench for Meridian and Coach Davis received six-points from senior Willie Emanuel, a 6-1 senior.

Sophomore Cole Kaufman added five-points, all in the second quarter, along with four-points each from senior JaBron Bedward and senior Napoleon Cook.

Senior Keyon Wiggins was 3-of-4 from the foul line for three-points.

“It doesn't matter who we play in the conference we still have to stay 'locked in' and we did that tonight,” said Coach Davis, who is filling in for Coach Jared Staple who is out after having surgery for carpal tunnel. “We have to come into each game that way. In games like this we try to work on our weak points. Try to get better on things like our rotations on our zone so we were focused on getting better, talking and helping on defense.”

For Shawnee, who saw its mark slip to 0-7, they got 11-points from senior Xander Wigley in the loss.

Other players who scored for Shawnee included senior Koda Abraham (four-points) and sophomore Ryan Libbert (four-points) along with two-points from junior Dryden Wills.

Meridian forced 11-turnovers in the opening quarter, with T. Mackins scoring seven of his points in the first eight minutes.

He nailed down the first of the Bobcats' eight made 3-points and he closed the book on the opening frame with a steal and fast break lay in and a jumper from the right wing for an 18-0 lead.

Tucker and Kaufman nailed down 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Meridian lead expanded.

Shawnee finally got on the board with Libbert making a nice move in the lane for a lay in that broke the dry spell.

Libbert scored both of his baskets in the second quarter and Wigley added a 3-pointer in the frame.

Wills and Abraham both scored before halftime for the Redskins.

Meridian, however, increased its advantage with J. Mackins scoring nine of his 19 in the second quarter.

Two of his baskets were in transition and he scored on a drive in the lane for a 30-4 lead at 4:06.

Only twice in the game did the Redskins score on back-to-back trips.

The first one was late in the second quarter on buckets by Abraham and Wills.

The Abraham score was on a nice assist from senior Dustin Smith off of a drive in the paint.

However Emanuel scored on a drive for Meridian as the Bobcats closed the half up 41-11.

The third quarter was a carbon copy of the first as Meridian held Shawnee scoreless again.

The Bobcats outscored the hosts 27-0.

T. Mackins scored 12 of the points, nailing down two more 3-point bombs (four for the game).

Like the first quarter, Shawnee committed 11-turnovers against the Bobcats' pressure.

J. Mackins and Tucker added six and five points in the run while Cook and Bedward each scored.

When Tucker closed the third quarter with a 3-pointer from the right side, Meridian led 68-11 heading to the fourth quarter.

An often used phrase in sports when there is a huge lead by one team is that they 'called off the dogs' and that is what Coach Davis did in the fourth quarter.

Bigham and J. Mackins added a 3-pointer each in the fourth for Meridian while Shawnee got points late from Wigley, who scored eight of his points.

Shawnee's second time of scoring consecutive baskets occurred in the fourth quarter when Wigley took a nice assist from sophomore Karsynne Livingston and then one of two Wigley 3-pointers in the final minutes.

Livingston is one of two girls who are part of the boy's varsity team; the other being sophomore Allie Myers as both played in the contest.

Livingston grabbed four of the Redskins' rebounds in the game.

Abraham scored his final bucket on a fast break off of a pass by Wigley before Meridian ran out the clock.

The bad news for Shawnee is that they ended up with a 'mostly-forced' 29-turnovers while going just 9-of-30 (30 percent).

However the Redskins did manage to rebound pretty well on the night.

Meridian edged Shawnee, 23-22 on the boards and committed just 10-turnovers.

“We have struggled rebounding this year and I keep telling the guys 'you got to hit the glass' every game,” said Coach Davis, who is a former ABV 1A Player of the Year (2015). “For us to keep getting better we have to continue to work on those things.”

Coach Davis' crew were an exact 50 percent from the floor (33-of-66) and hit 8-of-20 (40 percent) from the 3-point line.

Meridian's win in the league helped keep pace with Cobden, whom they will meet in the season finale February 17 at home.

That game will likely determine the league championship.

The two teams met in the first week of the season at the Vienna Thanksgiving tournament, with the Bobcats winning 62-51.

The Redskins will face Marion Agape Christian Saturday for their homecoming game this week.

It was supposed to be Dongola but the Demons on out with covid19 and are in remote learning as of this week.

Meridian's next game will be Saturday at their annual MLK Classic where they will face Century.

Editor's Note: This was the first trip for ABV to this gym for a game. I had been to the school years ago while doing a story about the Shawnee team in 1999-00 that won back-to-back regional championships with Division I standout Derek Winans. Now ABV has been to every gym in Deep Southern Illinois for a game.

Mounds Meridian (83) – J. Mackins 9 0 1-2 19, Bigham 4 1 0-0 11, T. Mackins 5 4 0-0 22, Kaufman 0 1 2-2 5, Wiggins 0 0 3-4 3, Cook 1 0 2-2 4, Bedward 2 0 0-2 4, Emanuel 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-25, 3FG-8, FT-9-14, PF-8.
Shawnee (21) – Wigley 1 3 0-0 11, Abraham 2 0 0-0 4, D. Smith 0 0 0-0 0, B. Willis 0 0 0-0 0, D. Willis 1 0 0-0 2, Libbert 2 0 0-0 4, Myers 0 0 0-0 0, Livingston 0 0 0-0 0, E. Smith 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-6, 3FG-3, FT-0-0, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.