12-02-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL - Shaking off the effects of a four-overtime game from the previous night, the Trico Pioneers held off a pesky Shawnee Redskins club to win the opener of the Tuesday night session of the 14th annual Pioneer Invitational Tournament.

Coach Mike Denault's club dealt with foul trouble in the first half but used a big third quarter to improve its mark to 2-0 in the event and on the season.

The Pioneers broke away from the Redskins by out gunning the visitors 18-3 to start the second half as they handed Shawnee its first loss of the year.

Coach Codie Smith's team, fresh off a win over Steeleville on Monday, fell to 1-1 on the season, due in part to 22-turnovers.

Six-foot-senior guard Jake Chapman paced the Pioneers with 16-points on four 3-pointers.

Chase Rednour, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, added 12-points. Despite early foul trouble which landed this senior on the pine for most of the second quarter, Rednour scored eight of his points after intermission as Trico pulled away.

Coming into the game, both clubs were showing effects of Monday night's marathon session.

Shawnee followed the Trico-Chester match up as Coach Smith's club didn't get back to Wolf Lake until very late.

Coming back to Campbell Hill after a full day of school didn't leave a lot of rest for a club that has only nine players dressed for the squad.

The Redskins, who had won just one game (2009) in this event, received 10-points from Lucas Matlock in defeat.

Junior Brady Reynolds and senior Michael Crane added seven points each for Shawnee.

“We didn't handle their pressure very well. They are long and athletic and the lingering effects of not getting home until after midnight last night I think had something to do with it as well,” said Coach Smith. “Our guys were very tired last night and it showed tonight. We have nine guys total and we have one guy hurt or we would have ten. So we are not very deep.”

Trico used the outside game of Chapman to get a lead early.

Chapman, against a zone defense by Shawnee that was used to try and slow down Rednour in the paint, took advantage of the situation with two early long range shots.

His second 3-pointer along with a steal and fast break score by Rednour pushed the lead to 10-4 with 5:37 remaining.

A baseline drive by Trent Koch and a lay in by Grant Kelley on an assist by Rednour gave the Pioneers a 14-8 first quarter spread.

But to the credit of Shawnee, this team hung in during a productive second quarter.

After a Chapman 3-point bomb opened the second quarter scoring, the Redskins went on a pair of small scoring sprees to get close by intermission.

Reynolds scored five of his seven points in the frame, with three of the markers coming on a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Chapman.

His made free throw followed by a quick score by junior Daniel Parris cut the Pioneers advantage to just 17-13 at the 5:34 mark.

In fact the Redskins were feeling pretty good heading to the locker room after a 7-2 run to close the quarter got them to within 24-20 at the break.

Taking advantage of having the Pioneers sitting starters on the pine with foul trouble, Shawnee were in contention at the half.

Reynolds, Crane and Matlock all scored in the run with Crane converting a Trico turnover into a fastbreak score with just :05 left.

“We got into a little bit of foul trouble in the second quarter and my Big Three (Rednour, Myers and Chapman) all have two fouls and didn't want any of them the opportunity to pick up a third,” said Coach Denault. “I felt the difference in the third quarter was that we kept them (Shawnee) out of the paint and we didn't turn the ball over like we did early.”

However the hosts were in no mood to let Shawnee hang around in the second half.

Trico went on an 18-3 run where they scored from all over the court.

Six-foot-one senior Ryan Myers, who didn't score in the first half, led the charge in the third quarter with six points.

He scored six consecutive points in the run, and his back door cut to the basket resulted in a lay in and a 32-23 advantage with 5:08 left.

Chapman and Rednour each added points in the run with Chapman dialing up long distance again and Rednour using his size advantage for a pair of scores.

His fast break lay in pushed the lead to 39-23.

By the time Parris ended a the scoring drought with a score at the buzzer, Shawnee trailed 42-25.

Holding the Redskins without a point for 6:40 in the third, Trico took command.

Coach Denault's team kept Shawnee at arm's length the remainder of the contest.

“It was probably the best quarter we played in recent memory, even dating back to last year,” added Coach Denault. “We did a nice job of moving the ball and taking advantage of the opportunities that were given to us.”

The largest lead of the night came in the final 1:36 as Trico closed the contest with a 6-2 run with Rednour, sophomore Josh Compton and senior Blair Coleman getting in on the fun.

Coleman closed out the scoring with a pair of made free throws to make the final margin 19-points.

Trico finished the night 23-of-43 from the field (53.4 percent) and they hit half of their 3-point attempts (5-of-10).

Coach Denault's team held a slight 22-19 rebounding edge but they forced Shawnee into a 14-of-37 (37.8 percent) shooting showing.

The Pioneers committed just 13 miscues with seven of them coming in a first half that was part of Shawnee's best run.

There is no rest for the weary in this tournament as both teams head back to work on Wednesday as Shawnee will have another short day as they head back to Campbell Hill for a 5:30 pm game against Sparta, who are also 2-0 in the tournament.

Trico will play Red Bud at 8:30 pm.

“They (my kids) will work hard every time. What ever game we play they will always work hard for me and give me all they've got,” added Coach Smith. “But we couldn't handle their pressure.”

Trico (58) – Little 0 0 0-0 0, Jo. Compton 3 0 0-0 6, Kelley 1 1 0-0 5, Chapman 2 4 0-0 16, Myers 5 0 0-0 10, Ja. Compton 0 0 1-2 1, Koch 2 0 2-4 6, Coleman 0 0 2-2 2, Rednour 5 0 2-3 12, Major 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-18, 3FG-5, FT-7-11, PF-13.
Shawnee (39) – Reynolds 3 0 1-1 7, Parris 2 0 2-2 6, matlock 5 0 0-0 10, N. Crane 1 0 0-0 2, M. Crane 2 1 0-0 7, Boston 0 0 5-6 5, Wills 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-1, FT-9-11, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Steeleville (39) – B. Ebers 0 0 0-0 0, Pim 0 0 0-0 0, Lutz 0 1 2-2 5, Wilson 3 0 0-0 6, Frederking 0 0 0-0 0, Axtell 9 0 4-6 22, C. Ebers 0 1 0-0 3, Smith 0 0 2-2 2, Grafton 0 0 1-2 1, Feldmann 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-2, FT-9-12, PF-8.
Sparta (71) – Dodson 3 0 2-2 8, Nesbit 1 0 0-0 2, Ferguson 3 3 0-0 15, Edmonson 1 0 0-0 2, Kordys 1 0 0-0 2, Clay 3 2 0-0 12, Brown 7 1 3-3 20, Robert 0 0 1-2 1, Huether 2 0 0-0 4, Gwin 2 0 1-2 5.
2FG-23, 3FG-6, FT-7-9, PF-16.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Steeleville Bench.

Chester (43) – Schwartz 3 0 3-4 9, Howie 2 1 0-0 7, Weir 2 0 1-2 5, Berner 2 0 3-5 7, Golding 3 0 2-2 8, Smith 0 1 1-2 4, Stahlheber 0 0 0-0 0, Wlge 0 1 0-0 3, Poe 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-3, FT-10-15, PF-9.
Red Bud (21) – Dobbs 2 0 0-1 4, Richards 1 1 0-0 5, Hanger 0 0 0-0 0, Kueker 0 0 0-0 0, Hetis 1 0 0-0 2, Grohmann 0 0 0-0 0, Schneider 0 0 0-0 0, Huggins 0 0 0-0 0, Salger 1 0 0-0 2, Roy 4 0 0-1 8, Zimmer 0 0 0-0 0, Hooten 0 0 0-2 0.
2FG-9, 3FG-1, FT-0-4, PF-10
Fouled Out – Richards - Red Bud.
Technical Fouls – None.