12/14/2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
STEELEVILLE - With just one senior returning from last season and zero varsity minutes coming back head coach Mark Sandstrom's Columbia Eagles are 'learning on the fly'.

In their two previous losses (Mascoutah and Triad) they led each game at halftime only to succumb to a big second half run which led to each defeat.

Tuesday night's game at Steeleville turned out to be a different ending as his young club held off the late challenge from the host Warriors.

With 6-1 junior Jack Steckler hitting 9-of-10 free throws, including 7-of-8 in the final minutes, the Eagles improved to 6-2 overall with a quality road win over ABV preseason second ranked 1A Steeleville, 53-48, on the road Tuesday night.

Steckler ended up leading all scorers with 17-points.

Six-six freshman forward Sam Donald netted 15-points for Columbia and 6-1 junior Dominic Voegele added 10.

Dylan Murphy, a 6-5 junior, added seven points and senior Glen Powers also added four essential points, all in the second half.

“Earlier in the year we led both Mascoutah and Triad at halftime and both of those teams put runs on us and we didn't answer the runs. We kind of caved. Tonight they (Steeleville) had two runs; one in the first half and one to take the lead, and we responded,” said Coach Sandstrom. “So we have made big improvements in that aspect. They stepped up and made big plays and we really executed some matchup advantages we had.”

Although Steeleville head coach Aaron Fiene has a veteran group that has been together for a lot of varsity games there is still much to learn and prepare for and this close loss was another lesson.

The Warriors got 15-points from junior guard Jacoby Gross and 11-points each from senior Zach Mevert and 6-4 junior Reid Harriss.

Steeleville battled back from being down 13 in the first half to take a late one-point lead in the fourth quarter.

However the foul difficulty that they experienced sent Columbia to the line too often and five crucial fourth quarter turnovers (15 for the game) sent the Warriors to just their second defeat of the year as the record stands at 6-2.

Both defeats are at the hands of 2A teams (Murphysboro and Columbia).

“We are a streaky team. We're going to miss some shots but when we get hot we're as tough to guard as anybody,” said Coach Fiene. “So is Columbia. Overall everyone is going to make a run and good teams are going to make a run. We took a big punch from them early in the game. I was proud of out toughness coming back and responding to that.”

Columbia got off to the best start of the two teams, jumping out to an early advantage with Voegele scoring twice in the lane, once on a nice assist from Powers and again on an offensive rebound.

Steeleville retaliated with a pair of early 3-pointers, one each from Harriss and Gross and trailed just 8-7 with 2:33 left in the opening quarter.

That was when Columbia made their first big run of the game.

The Eagles got a score on a drive by Steckler and then 2-of-4 free throws by both Voegele and Steckler to close the frame at 12-7.

Those two combined for the next six points when the second quarter began.

Steckler converted on a pair of nice drives to the basket and Voegele picked up a loose ball in the lane and stuck it home.

A backdoor cut to the basket by Murphy was an assist from Donald that gave the Eagles their largest spread at 20-7 with 5:56 remaining in the first half.

“We share the ball very well. We have one guy averaging 14 and we have four guys averaging right around 10,” said Coach Sandstrom. “We share the ball, that's what we always have done.”

A Steeleville response was a run of its own to get back close before intermission.

An 11-1 move, sparked by three 3-pointers (two by Harriss, one by senior guard Lane Lazenby) forced Coach Sandtrom to use one of his timeouts as the Warriors trailed just 21-18.

Unfortunately for the Warriors on this night, foul trouble became an issue.

Mevert ended up picking up his third personal foul with 2:37 left in the half and went to the pine.

Columbia finished out the half with baskets by Steckler, Donald and Voegele and were in control at 30-23 at intermission.

Even with foul issues, the Warriors defensively stepped up big in the third quarter, holding Columbia to just a single bucket by Powers and a 3-pointer by Donald.

Mevert came back with a drive in the lane for a score and teammates Wasson and Gross both nailed 3-point bombs.

When Gross connected from the left wing at the 2:30 mark, the game was tied at 35-35.

With both teams now in foul trouble as well (Powers picked up his third, Mevert his fourth) in the quarter, Steeleville held the ball for just over a minute before attempting a late 3-pointer by Gross that missed, sending the teams to the final frame tied.

Steeleville finally got its first lead of the game in the fourth quarter, although it was short lived.

Mevert, playing with his four fouls, scored on a pair of drives sandwiched around a score from Gross.

His second move down the lane resulted in a conventional three-point play as he was fouled by Powers.

His made free throw with 3:35 left gave the Warriors a 43-42 advantage.

As it turned out, that was the only lead of the game for the hosts.

Columbia got a pair of free throws by Steckler and a huge 3-pointer by Murphy from the left corner.

“They hit a shot (Murphy) from the corner with us down one and that put them up four was a big dagger for them,” said Coach Fiene. “They hit some big shots and we hit some big shots. It was just a hard fought game. Those (games) make each team better. We'll get things from them and they'll get things from us. Hopefully both of us get better.”

Mevert got to the line for a two-shot opportunity and missed both shots.

However he managed to get the rebound on his second miss and was fouled again.

This time the senior nailed down both shots as the gap was closed to just 46-44 with 1:01 remaining.

After a Steeleville turnover turned into an intentional foul on a fast break attempt, Steckler hit 1-of-2 from the line making it 47-44.

The Warriors got a turnover on the next Columbia possession and Gross converted a fast break to cut the lead down to just 47-46 with :26.7 to go.

Forced to foul late, Steeleville sent Steckler to the line.

The junior, along with Powers, took care of business and the Warriors in the final seconds.

Steckler (four) and Powers (two) nailed down 6-of-6 from the line in the final :23.2.

A Wasson drive in between Columbia free throw trips closed the book on the Columbia win.

Both teams shot the ball well.

Columbia nailed down 18-of-37 from the floor, 2-of-6 from the arc while Steeleville also connected on 18-of-35, 8-of-17 from long range.

The difference in scoring came down to the foul line as the Eagles took advantage of the Warriors' foul difficulty.

Coach Sandstrom's team ended up 15-of-20 overall from the stripe.

Steeleville ended up just 4-of-7.

The Warriors can also point to 15 turnovers, five of which occurred in the final eight minutes, compared to just nine by the visitors.

With not many shots missed there weren't a great deal of rebounding chances.

Columbia won this battle, too, 18-16, as they only allowed three offensive rebounds to the Warriors.

“This is a great win. Look at this place? I love these old time southern Illinois gyms. They have a great team and it doesn't matter that they are 1A or 2A they can compete at both levels. We were very fortunate to get out of here with a win,” said Coach Sandstrom, who came back to coaching this season after two seasons away from the Columbia bench. “You look at all of the inexperience we have. We have no varsity minutes back from last year and for us to come in a play a 6-1 highly skilled team and win tonight was tremendous for us and our confidence moving forward.”

Both teams jump back into action this week.

Columbia hosts Cahokia Conference Mississippi Division rival Breese Central on Friday night while the Warriors have two Kaskaskia Division games this week, all at home against Dupo (Wednesday) and Valmeyer (Friday) and then a Saturday date at home against rival Trico.

“We are a streaky team. We're going to miss some shots but when we get hot we're as tough to guard as anybody,” said Coach Fiene. “So is Columbia. Overall everyone is going to make a run and good teams are going to make a run. We took a big punch from them early in the game. I was proud of out toughness coming back and responding to that.”

Columbia (53) – van Breusegen 0 0 0-0 0, Steckler 4 0 9-10 17, Murphy 2 1 0-0 7, Powers 1 0 2-2 4, Donald 4 1 4-6 15, Hemminghaus 0 0 0-0 0, Voegele 5 0 0-2 10. 2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-15-20, PF-10.
Steeleville (48) – Rietz 0 0 0-0 0, Lazenby 0 1 0-0 3, Gross 3 3 0-0 15, Mevert 4 0 3-5 11, Wasson 1 1 1-2 6, Harriss 1 3 0-0 11, Buch 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-10, 3FG-8, FT-4-7, PF-18.
Fouled Out – Wasson - Steeleville.
Technical Fouls – None.