02-28-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
OLNEY - Turning up the defensive pressure has always been a trade mark of the Effingham St. Anthony boy's basketball program.

On Wednesday night in the Olney East Richland Class A Sectional semifinals – the Bulldogs turned up the thermostat and the host Tigers melted away from the heat.

In translation St. Anthony forced Olney into nine second half turnovers and out-worked the Tigers on the glass to the tune of 25-20 overall.

Senior Chris Bohnhoff took care of the rest.

The 5-foot-9 senior guard lit up the Tigers with 25 points – including three clutch free throws in the final minute - to send his club into the sectional final on Friday night with a 56-49 victory.

Olney's Keane Thomann – a 6-foot-11 junior center who had his way with St. Anthony in the first half – managed just four points in the second half and zero points in the fourth quarter.

Pressuring the Olney guards with a '1-2-2' ball press in the final 16 minutes – St. Anthony closed the passing lanes to Thomann and closed the Tigers season at 24-8.

Coach Mike Wilson's Bulldogs are rewarded with another game with nemesis Teutopolis – who won the sectional's other semifinal over Vandalia on Tuesday.

“We kind of felt like we could pressure them and our kids got relentless in the second half especially,” said St. Anthony head coach Mike Wilson. “We got some big steals and turned the game around. We're long and can deny the passing lanes the wings on our defense trapping. It paid off tonight.”

St. Anthony cut down on its own errors in the game and overcame a horrendous second quarter in which they dug themselves a deep hole with a 1-of-15 showing from the field.

“We were shooting shots that we normally make but things aren't going in,” said Wilson about his teams' second quarter cold spell. “Maybe we were more worried about him (Thomann) blocking it than we should have.”

Committing just six turnovers in the contest the Bulldogs will seek the program's sixth sectional title on Friday night against Teutopolis.

The Tigers looked like they were going to overcome some off-court problems and advance to Friday night when they went on a huge second quarter scoring binge to go up 28-22 at the break.

With one of the key Olney players dismissed from the squad for breaking team rules – the Tigers played short handed, but well, in the first half.

Thomann scored nine straight points for Coach Rob Flanagan's team and his unlikely 3-point shot late in the quarter put the Tigers in charge at 26-22. Two free throws by teammate Tyler Miller sent the teams to the lockers and St. Anthony into a catch-up mode.

The second half belonged to St. Anthony after the first minute.

Thomann grabbed a lob pass from Miller and stuck a bank shot home to stretch the Olney advantage to 30-22.

However St. Anthony – spurned on by its defensive intensity – took off on a 13-3 run to take the lead.

Bohnhoff got the Bulldogs rolling with a 3-pointer – one of five the 5-foot-9 senior hit on the night – and a tip in of a missed shot after sneaking in among the taller players on the floor.

"Chris really stepped up tonight - he is a 'gamer' and a great shooter," added Wilson. "He got that look in his eyes in the second half tha he was going to finish the game. We survived and advanced."

Six-foot-four junior reserve Keith Kermicle hit a pair of 3-pointers for Olney in the third period and his first one kept the Tigers briefly in front 33-29 with 4:47 left.

St. Anthony's Mike Meers hit a pair of big shots in a reserve roll along with teammate John Steppe.

When Meers connected on his second shot in that run from the right wing -
St. Anthony had its first lead since early in the second quarter at 35-33.

The second Kermicle 'trifecta' put Olney up for the final time 36-35 as St. Anthony took complete control in the final two minutes of the quarter.

If one was looking for the turning point in the game it was the final :48 of the third stanza.

St. Anthony forced two consecutive turnovers that resulted in Bohnhoff fast break scores.

Steppe intercepted a pass and found a streaking Bohnhoff for a lay in and a 39-36 St. A lead.

Just seconds later – the Bulldogs Mumm stole another errant Olney pass and got the ball to Bohnhoff who was fouled by the Tigers Jon Kuenstler as his transition shot the found the mark.

The subsequent free throw put St. Anthony ahead 42-36.

Thomann was finally spotted in the final moments as he hit a short bank shot to send the two teams to the fourth quarter 42-38.

That last bucket represented his final points of the night.

Coach Wilson's club scored the first two times it got the ball in the fourth quarter with Zac Bochtler scoring his only basket of the night on a tip in and Mumm scoring on a drive in the lane past Thomann.

Olney got to within two points at 51-49 following a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Charlie McDowell and a pair of free throws by Miller.

But those were the final points for the Tigers as Bohnhoff finished off his night with six fourth quarter points which included a long 3-pointer and 3-of-4 free throws in the last :28.7 seconds.

“We closed the gap quickly in the third quarter and once we finally got on track we finished the job,” added Wilson. “We battled tonight. Us having just six turnovers was big for us tonight.”
St. Anthony – in spite of a 15-of-28 performance from the free throw line and a 18-of-46 showing from the field – improved its mark to 26-5 on the season.

Bohnhoff led all scorers with his 25 points while Mumm added 11 for the Bulldogs.

Thomann topped the Tigers with his 17 and Kermicle added 10.

Thirteen turnovers by Olney and just a 6-of-17 effort from behind the 3-point arc were factors in ending the Tigers' season.

St. Anthony gets a rematch with Teutopolis as these two National Trail Conference rivals split the two regular season games.

“It is a great rivalry and even though it is a big stage the kids all know each other and know how important the game is,” said Wilson about his teams' matchup with the Wooden Shoes – the first ever contest between the two in a sectional.

	1	2	3	4	-	F
St. Anthony	18	4	20	14	-	56
Olney East Richland	11	17	10	11	-	49

St. Anthony (56) – Hook 0 0 2-3 2, Bohnhoff 3 5 4-7 25, Koerner 0 0 0-0 0, Bochtler 1 0 3-7 5, Hecht 1 0 0-0 2, Meers 2 0 0-0 4, Fearday 0 0 1-4 1, Steppe 3 0 0-0 6, Mumm 3 0 5-7 11.
2FG-13, 3FG-5, FT-15-28, PF-19.
Olney East Richland (49) – Miller 0 1 6-6 9, McDowell 0 2 3-4 9, Thomann 5 1 4-5 17, Kermicle 1 2 2-2 10, Kuenstler 1 0 0-1 2, Dunn 0 0 0-2 0, Berry 1 0 0-0 2.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.