03-04-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
BRIDGEPORT - This season, the 1A state tournament “Cinderella Shoe” is a bright, shinny Green and Gold sneaker.

In one of the more unlikely scenarios in recent years, the Patoka Warriors (69-students) are 1A sectional champions in 2016 with a win over Effingham St. Anthony, 64-58 at Bridgeport Red Hill.

For head coach Joe Eddy, he saw what his team has been capable of doing this season in a four-game stretch.

His stars were starring and his role players were playing support and it culminated with a biggest win in the school's history.

Junior guard Jered Cain, who is more scoring machine than mortal, once again delivered the goods for Patoka.

He netted his usual 27-points, mostly on drives to the basket and 11-of-16 free throws in leading the Warriors to within one game of reaching Peoria.

He also surpassed the 2,000-career point mark during the contest.

Teammate and classmate Garrett Belcher added 15-points, with 12 of the points coming on four 3-point bombs.
He also snagged 12-rebounds.

Those two have been putting up similar numbers like those all season for the 24-11 club.
However it has been the others that have stepped up their respective games on this sectional title run that have made the difference.

Dylan Back added 12-points tonight for Patoka, hitting a pair of big 3-pointers for the squad and nailing all six of his free throws, as the Warriors hit 21-of-28 from the stripe.

Guard Shane Cain, a 5-foot-9 senior, added five-points (all in the fourth quarter) on a 3-pointer and a pair of key free throws.

Six-foot-four junior Jordan Cobb added three-points, including an important offensive rebound put-back in the final quarter.

Bailey O'Brien scored just a single basket, the final two points of the game as he lay in an “Icing on the Cake” score just before the final horn as the Warriors celebrated their historic triumph.

As for the St. Anthony Bulldogs their clock struck midnight as they failed miserably shooting the ball in this night.

After having won the Nokomis Regional beating the host school and then taking care of NTC rival Dieterich on Wednesday, they were set to make their sixth supersectional appearance.

But Coach Cody Rincker's team hit just 18-of-56 shots from the floor, 10-of-26 from beyond the arc.

This factored into not being able to capitalize on the Patoka's 17-turnovers and the Bulldogs dominance on the glass.

St. Anthony managed 32-25 edge in rebounding with 14-offensive rebounds.

However they also committed 11-turnovers with eight of those miscues coming in a train-wreck of a second quarter where they let Patoka get away.

“We knew coming in that they (St. Anthony) don't mind shooting the 3's and we thought that if we could get a hand in their faces and make them shoot contested 3's we liked our chances,” added Coach Eddy. “We didn't want Grunloh and Gibson to get in the middle in use their athletic ability against us.”

Both teams were in a nervous mode early in the contest, with both offenses being shaky.

Drew Gibson, who was the a bright spot on the night for the Bulldogs, provided most of the offensive attack with 24-points.

He hit one of the two made field goal attempts St. Anthony in the opening stanza.

His 3-point bomb with 1:04 left in the first quarter gave the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead.

Gibson added two more free throws but J. Cain added his second basket of the frame to make it 12-9 St. Anthony at the end of one.

The second quarter wasn't pretty, but Patoka came out smelling like roses at the half because they made the most of their shot attempts.

Belcher nailed his first of three trifectas in the second quarter to get his team back on track.

When he added a second bomb from the top of the arc, St. Anthony needed a timeout as the Warriors led 16-13.

St. A responded with a 3-pointer from Gibson to even the score moments later.

But then Patoka made its move, going on an 11-0 scoring run highlighted by a pair of fast break scores by J. Cain, both off of Warrior steals.

Cain was fouled on his second drive to the basket and his converted free throw made it 21-16 Patoka with 2:55 left.

Belcher canned 3-pointer number three and Cain made another steal and fast break lay in with :40 left in the half.

St. Anthony finally broke the run with a basket by James Kabbes that closed the half at 26-18 Patoka.

The Bulldogs were just 2-of11 from the field in the quarter and their eight-miscues excavated a large crater to crawl from.

St. Anthony got a spark in the third quarter from a sophomore spark-plug.

Five-foot-nine guard Cade Walsh finished with 12-points, all on four 3-pointers.

He nailed three of those treys in the third quarter, helping the Bulldogs inch a bit closer to the lead.

His second shot, from the top of the circle, forced Coach Eddy to call timeout to circle the wagons at 28-24 with 4:41 left.

Patoka's strategy in the second half was simple; spread the floor and get St. Anthony to chase them, pulling the Bulldogs from their zone.

It worked pretty well at times, with Cain driving to the basket.

He would either convert or get fouled four different times in the quarter.

Cain hit all four of his free throws and his two basket pushed the lead to 33-24.

Gibson scored on a conventional three-point play and another 3-pointer from Walsh.

But a key play happened on the next St. Anthony possession when Gibson picked up his second foul on a charge in the lane.

Coach Rincker argued the call and was assessed a technical foul.

Cain nailed both free throws and when Patoka got the ball back, a nice pass from Cain on a spread offense resulted in a wide open lane for Belcher who drove in for a two-handed dunk and a 39-30 advantage.

Gibson added a pair of free throws but the Bulldogs were clearly in dire trouble at 39-32 heading to the fourth.

With the Bulldogs trying to keep Cain and Belcher at bey, it was time for the unsung Patoka heroes to step forward in the final quarter.

Dylan Back stepped up first and nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Warriors their first double-digit lead at 45-35.

Less than a minute later, Shane Cain hit a trey from the same spot as Back.

When Back made both of his foul shots at the 4:48 mark, Patoka was in control at 50-37.

“They (St. Anthony) started gambling on defense late then Shane hit that big shot to give us a double-digit lead and Cobb got a big rebound and he hit some free throws,” said Coach Eddy. “We know what we are going to get with Belcher and Cain, but when the role players step up and get some points we are tough to beat.”

The Warriors could have ended the drama a bit sooner in the final minutes but they weren't converting from the foul line.

Patoka was just 13-of-18 in the fourth.

Gibson added a rebound basket, 2-of-3 free throws while being fouled shooting a 3-pointer and a rebound basket with :19.3 remaining that got the Bulldogs to within 60-56.

But Cain was able to finish the title game victory by nailing two straight pressure packed free throws moments later.

A bucket by Nick Grunloh with :10 made it a bit closer but a pass from Cain to O'Brien while beating the Bulldogs press finished the scoring and the sectional championship run.

The Warriors, despite some stressful moments in the fourth quarter, held on in part by shooting exactly 50 percent from the floor in both categories.

Patoka finished 18-of-36 from the field, 11-of-22 from inside the arc and 7-of-14 from beyond.

The Warriors opposition on Tuesday night at SIU Arena is state-ranked and ABV fourth-ranked (final regular season rankings) Woodlawn, who took care of Christopher 67-48 to win the Gallatin County 1A Sectional title.

“This is pretty awesome. We didn't really tell anybody before the season but that was one of our main goals at the start of the year. After winning a couple of regionals we wanted to take another step,” said Coach Joe Eddy. “Three weeks ago we weren't sure this was possible but we came together and played as a team.”