12/07/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL - It had been a minute since the Steeleville Warriors won the Trico “Tip-Off Classic” championship.

It was like the first line of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

“It was 20 years ago today.”

Coach Aaron Fiene's club opened the 2024-25 season with four consecutive victories to win the event for the first time since taking home back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004.

Saturday night the Warriors held off a late rally from Waterloo Gibault to hang on to a 67-58 triumph to complete the tournament sweep.

Victories previously over Carterville, Trico and Red Bud to go with the conquest of the Hawks on Saturday gave the Warriors a 4-0 beginning to 2024-25.

Technically it was 19-years, since there wasn't a tournament for 2020 because of Covid19.

Anyway you look at it, it was a long drought between championships.

The win wasn't anything to write home about but the end result was a championship.

The Warriors were topped by three players who reached double-digits in scoring.

Senior guard Tyler Engles paced Steeleville with 14-points with senior guard Canon Ruby adding 13.

Senior Trenton Ingles added 10 for the victors.

The balance continued on down the list with eight-points each coming from seniors Cale Newby and Hayden Sternberg.

The senior led club showed their resolve as they withstood a late rally by Gibault before closing out the win.

“We changed a little bit of the philosophy of what we usually do tonight. We got beat off the bounce (drives to the basket) tonight but I think that has to do with the fourth game in six nights this week,” said Coach Fiene. “They have been difficult games. We're better defenders than that and we will clean that up. They managed to handle the adversity that they had to face tonight.”

The Hawks were also led by a trio of players reaching double-figs.

Six-four senior forward Payton Schaefer netted 18-points for head coach Dennis Rueter's club.

Gibault got 15-points apiece from senior Ryan Biffar and freshman guard Colby Kinchloe.

The contest featured 15 lead changes through the first 2.5 quarters of action before Steeleville finally took control.

The Warriors held Gibault to just nine-points in the third quarter, breaking away with three consecutive scores to go up 55-45 with 6:32 remaining in the game.

The Hawks got to within four points late but couldn't finish off the comeback as they saw their mark slip to 2-3 overall, 2-2 in the tournament.

(CONTINUED)

Steeleville connected on their first four field goal attempts to begin the game and led 17-10 on the strength of an 8-2 run.

Tyler Ingles and Ruby scored in the run and a fast break bucket from junior Colin Vallett closed the scoring burst.

Six-consecutive points from the Hawks closed the quarter at 17-16 Steeleville.

Biffar nailed down a 3-pointer and senior Jai Lavington hit a pair of free throws for Gibault before the horn.

The best quarter scoring for Gibault was the second.

The Hawks hit on 7-of-9 shots and made the Warriors pay for sending them to the foul line.

Gibault hit 6-of-8 from the stripe as they led 36-35 at the break.

Steeleville kept pace hitting seven shots with six different players producing points.

As things unfolded in the second half, Gibault managed to stay close by continuing to get Steeleville to foul them.

Five-of-six made charity tosses kept the Hawks within striking distance.

Key plays by other contributors helped the Warriors.

Junior Nate Witthoft scored seven-points in the game, which included a three-point play in the third quarter.

A 3-point shot by Tyler Ingles and a score on a rebound by Vallett sent the teams to the fourth at 51-45 Steeleville.

The Hawks committed two straight turnovers to begin the final quarter and missed all five of their 3-point shot attempts.

Ingles came up big again with a huge 3-pointer from the left wing and a steal and fast break score.

A late basket by Newby and a late free throw by Ingles closed the victory as Gibault didn't score a basket in the final 4:21 of the game.

The Warriors were more efficient offensively on the night, hitting 29-of-56 (51.7 percent) and, more importantly, 7-of-14 from the 3-point arc.

Waterloo Gibault finished 19-of-44 (43.2 percent) but hit just 1-of-12 from long range.

The rebounding edge went to Steeleville as the Hawks couldn't keep the Warriors off of the offensive glass, giving up 16 of the 30 rebounds on second chances.

The turnovers were close at 12 for the Warriors and 11 for Gibault.

The saving grace of the night for Coach Rueter was that they got to the foul line, hitting 19-of-24 in the game compared to just 5-of-11 for Steeleville.

Gibault will hit the road to play at New Athens on December 10th for their next matchup while Steeleville gets into Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division play with a road game at Lebanon on the same night.

“We can shoot the ball, it is just a matter of having confidence. We passed up a bunch of shots tonight I thought we could hit,” said Coach Fiene. “There are five good teams here (in the tournament) and they're going to win a lot of games.”

Steeleville connected on their first four field goal attempts to begin the game and led 17-10 on the strength of an 8-2 run.

Tyler Ingles and Ruby scored in the run and a fast break bucket from junior Colin Vallett closed the scoring burst.

Six-consecutive points from the Hawks closed the quarter at 17-16 Steeleville.

Biffar nailed down a 3-pointer and senior Jai Lavington hit a pair of free throws for Gibault before the horn.

The best quarter scoring for Gibault was the second.

The Hawks hit on 7-of-9 shots and made the Warriors pay for sending them to the foul line.

Gibault hit 6-of-8 from the stripe as they led 36-35 at the break.

Steeleville kept pace hitting seven shots with six different players producing points.

As things unfolded in the second half, Gibault managed to stay close by continuing to get Steeleville to foul them.

Five-of-six made charity tosses kept the Hawks within striking distance.

Key plays by other contributors helped the Warriors.

Junior Nate Witthoft scored seven-points in the game, which included a three-point play in the third quarter.

A 3-point shot by Tyler Ingles and a score on a rebound by Vallett sent the teams to the fourth at 51-45 Steeleville.

The Hawks committed two straight turnovers to begin the final quarter and missed all five of their 3-point shot attempts.

Ingles came up big again with a huge 3-pointer from the left wing and a steal and fast break score.

A late basket by Newby and a late free throw by Ingles closed the victory as Gibault didn't score a basket in the final 4:21 of the game.

The Warriors were more efficient offensively on the night, hitting 29-of-56 (51.7 percent) and, more importantly, 7-of-14 from the 3-point arc.

Waterloo Gibault finished 19-of-44 (43.2 percent) but hit just 1-of-12 from long range.

The rebounding edge went to Steeleville as the Hawks couldn't keep the Warriors off of the offensive glass, giving up 16 of the 30 rebounds on second chances.

The turnovers were close at 12 for the Warriors and 11 for Gibault.

Gibault will hit the road to play at New Athens on December 10th for their next matchup while Steeleville gets into Cahokia Conference Kaskaskia Division play with a road game at Lebanon on the same night.

“We can shoot the ball, it is just a matter of having confidence. We passed up a bunch of shots tonight I thought we could hit,” said Coach Fiene. “There are five good teams here (in the tournament) and they're going to win a lot of games.”