12-22-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
EFFINGHAM - The Effingham St. Anthony Bulldogs got off to a quick start to its non-conference home game on Tuesday night.

And it is a very good thing that they did because the ending wasn't what Coach Cody Rincker envisioned.

Jumping out to an early 16-2 advantage, the host Bulldogs looked as if they would make quick work of the visitors.

However a furious comeback by Patoka in the fourth quarter made things more than interesting.

Unfortunately for Coach Joe Eddy's club they ran out of time as St. A survived 59-50 to improve its mark to 6-4 on the season.

Riding the inside/outside play of 6-foot-3 junior forward Drew Gibson, the Bulldogs picked up a good win at home heading into the Vandalia Holiday Tournament next week.

Gibson netted a game-best 21-points, including four consecutive free throws in the final :29.9 in the fourth quarter, as they held off Patoka.

The good part of the game for St. Anthony is that they hit 6-of-11 field goal attempts to open the contest.

The bad included four key fourth quarter turnovers that got them in trouble as Patoka went on a 14-5 run to begin the final frame.

Six-foot-five junior forward Garrett Belcher scored eight of his team-high 16-points in last eight minutes of the game, including a fast slam dunk and a pair of 3-point bombs.

He actually had a good look at the basket for a game-tying 3-point attempt in the final minute that misfired.

The hosts closed the game on a 6-0 run for the win, handing the Warriors their fourth loss of the season.

“I think Patoka is a quality program and we were fortunate to get off to the hot start,” said Coach Rincker. “Our kids showed some toughness and some grit tonight to pull one out.”

Jered Cain, a 6-foot-2 junior, netted 14-points for Coach Eddy's Tribe before fouling out with 1:48 remaining.

Cain scored seven of his points in the final quarter, opening the final stanza with a conventional three-point play to trigger the run that nearly changed the outcome.

Junior forward Bailey O'Brien scored six-points for Patoka, four of which were part of the final quarter push.

The reason why the Warriors needed the frantic finish was that their beginning was not a pretty sight.

Patoka opened the contest missing 10 shots in the opening period, and by the time they knew what hit them, they were down double-digits.

After Cain evened the score at 2-2 in the early going, the Bulldogs busted loose on a 14-0 scoring surge, with Gibson netting eight of the points on a pair of long range bombs and a drive in the lane for a short jumper.

“Drew (Gibson) got hot in the first half and then he closed it for us with some free throws,” said Coach Rincker. “You would like to win easy and a 15-20 point win would have been comfortable but in reality they are 18-year old kids and the more times that they can be pressured the more that they can grow and develop.”

Six of the points came from seniors' Chandler Martelli and Nick Grunloh on a pair early buckets and a pair of free throws from Martelli.

Although Patoka closed the quarter with six-straight points, they were still in a hole at 16-8.

“We missed ten shots in the first quarter and six or eight of them were bunnies. Those are the shots you have to convert,” said Coach Eddy. “We didn't know if we could press them or not but we just threw it on them. We didn't get a lot of turnovers but we got them to take some quick shots that they didn't convert. They did that on about five or six straight possessions which got us back in the ball game.”

Gibson padded his scoring stats with seven additional points in the second quarter, part of another run (8-0) that put the lead at 31-21 at halftime.

After missing 16-shots and committing seven turnovers in the first 16-minutes, Patoka trailed by just ten points at intermission.

The Warriors got to within six-points in the third quarter, using an 8-2 run with four different players scoring to cut the Bulldogs' lead to just 35-29 with just 3:48 left.

O'Brien, Belcher, J. Cain and senior guard Shane Cain, all produced in the sprint.

St.Anthony, however, netted the next nine-points to close the quarter with a 44-29 spread.

Grunloh and 6-foot senior teammate Kyle Hartke combined for the points, with Grunloh scoring twice in the paint and Hartke nailing a pair of shots.

His second shot, a 3-pointer from the right corner, opened the lead up to 15-points heading into the final quarter.

After the big run got Patoka back within striking distance, baskets by O'Brien and Cain followed up that run.

When Belcher netted his third 3-pointer of the night with 1:39 remaining, Patoka was down just 53-50.

As it turned out, that would be the final score of the contest for Patoka as they were forced to foul in the final minute.

A bucket inside by St. Anthony senior Jeff Niebrugge and the four-consecutive made charities by Gibson ended the scoring.

“We were losing possessions in the second half. It compounds the problems when you miss shots and you turn the ball over,” added Coach Rincker. “We have to realize as a team that just because you make the shots in the first half doesn't mean that they are the same good shots late in the third quarter and early fourth quarter. We have to realize that being up 15, we need to be a bit more patient.”

The Warriors can point to a bad beginning to the contest offensively that dropped their overall shooting mark to 22-of-49 overall (44.8 percent).

Patoka didn't take advantage of their trips to the foul line (3-of-11) and grabbed only three offensive rebounds in the game as St. Anthony ruled the glass 39-25.

“We are just not hitting the boards very hard. You will have bad nights shooting but rebounding should never take a night off,” added Coach Eddy. “Tonight we didn't get everyone going to the boards and we need that.”

Add to it 11-turnovers, Coach Eddy saw his club squander some early chances as they, too, head into the Vandalia Holiday Tournament next week and will hook up with the Bulldogs again Monday morning at 11 am.

The Bulldogs hit 20-of-55 shots overall after their early shooting streak gave them a lead.

Coach Rincker saw his club commit 13-turnovers but survived for a good win.

Both teams play Saturday as St. A will tackle Shelbyville and Patoka will tangle with Altamont at the VHT in Pool B.

“We picked up these games (non-conference) because we want to get stronger for the postseason. You can't do that playing the same teams over-and-over and winning easy,” finalized Coach Eddy. “We will learn a lot from these games, they (St. A) were physical and that is what you will see when you get to the postseason and we don't want that to overwhelm us like it did last year.”

Patoka (50) – Sturgeon 1 1 0-0 5, S. Cain 1 0 0-2 2, Walker 0 0 0-0 0, Belcher 3 3 1-2 16, O'Brien 3 0 0-3 6, J. Cain 6 0 2-3 14, Cobb 2 0 0-1 4, Dy. Back 0 1 0-0 3.
2FG-16, 3FG-5, FT-3-11, PF-20.
Effingham St. Anthony (59) - Walsh 1 2 0-1 8, Kabbes 3 0 0-0 6, Hartke 1 1 0-0 5, Martelli 1 0 2-2 4, Levitt 0 0 0-0 0, Grunloh 4 0 0-2 8, Gibson 2 3 8-8 21, Ja. Niebrugge 2 0 3-3 7, Je. Niebrugge 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-6, FT-13-16, PF-11.
Fouled Out – S. Cain, J. Cain - Patoka.
Technical Fouls – None.