03/07/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – The Steeleville Warriors dream of making a trip to the state finals in Champaign became a reality on Monday night at the 1A Carbondale Super-Sectional.

For the Macon Meridian Hawks, their reality on Monday night was a nightmarish finish to an emotional yet successful season.

Steeleville, who had struggled to survive a sectional championship game scare just 72-hours earlier, made the most of their second chance opportunity.

Coach Aaron Fiene's club connected on its first eight field goal attempts, took an early lead and eventually put away Meridian, 68-47 in a game that really wasn't as close as the final tally indicated.

As well as the Warriors performed on the offensive end, the defensive was the key ingredient in the Steeleville recipe for success.

The Hawks, who had won an emotional double-overtime sectional championship victory on Friday night, never got anything going on either end of the floor as their campaign came to a close at 28-8.

Steeleville advanced to the semifinals where they will play 23-13 Yorkville Christian, a 71-33 winner over Lexington at the 1A Normal Super-Sectional.

“We guarded well tonight. We held a fine team to 47-points tonight. Those seniors (Lazenby and Mevert) stepped up tonight. Zach can really get to the rim; he's so strong and Lane handles the ball really well for us,” said Coach Fiene. “And Carter Wasson guarding somebody, he's the best (defensive) guard around.”

When you have a balanced attack with multiple players capable of scoring double-digits you will have a team that is tough to defend.

Meridian found that out the hard way at SIU Arena.

Steeleville put four players in double-figures in scoring with 6-0 senior Zach Mevert leading the Warriors with 16-points.

Senior guard Lane Lazenby, senior forward Reid Harriss and junior backcourt mate Jacoby Gross each scored 12-points in the Super-Sectional victory, the program's first.

Junior Evan Buch added a couple of baskets (four-points) off the bench while reserve guards senior Christian Rees and junior Evan Reitz each added a basket for two-points each.

Coach Shannon Houser witnessed first hand how difficult it can be for a high-powered offense to succeed against a stingy defense inside of a large arena.

Offensively the Hawks never got things rolling as they led just once for a few moments in the early going and they could neither penetrate the Warriors' defense effectively nor keep Steeleville off the scoreboard.

Graham Meisenhelter, a 6-0 senior guard, saw his prep career end after a senior year that began late as he missed the first 10 games of the season for his club due to injury.

After hitting a desperation 65-foot 3-pointer to beat Tuscola, 82-79 in double-overtime on Friday night, Meisenhelter could muster just seven-points before fouling out with 5:15 left in the fourth quarter.

Twin brother Grant Meisenhelter led the Hawks with 14-points while senior guard Mekhi Phillips closed out his career with 10.

Drew Hurelbrink, a 6-5 senior, scored nine-points in his final prep game as it turned out to be an ending few fans wearing Green and Black expected.

The actual numbers were as bad as the outcome for Meridian as Steeleville shut them down from the early going until the final horn.

The Warriors forced an 18-of-48 shooting performance, including just 3-of-18 from the 3-point line for Meridian.

Offensively Coach Fiene's squad nailed 24-of-40 attempts overall (60 percent) and 3-of-5 from the arc (60 percent) and they put 'the hammer down' with 17-of-19 from the free throw line, which included 10-of-12 in the fourth quarter to squash any sort of Hawks' comeback thoughts.

Meridian's only lead came on a Grant Meisenhelter 3-pointer with 6:25 left in the first quarter which made it 5-4 Hawks.

But 3-pointers from Mevert and Lazenby along with a steals and fast break scores by junior guard Carter Wasson and Mevert gave Steeleville a 20-12 lead after the first eight minutes.

Using their overall quickness to their advantage, the Warriors spread the floor in the second quarter while their defense continued to frustrate Meridian.

Lazenby scored on a steal and fast break lay in and later on a drive to the basket in the middle of the lane.

Harriss scored six-points in the quarter; connecting on a 3-pointer from the top of the circle and converting a conventional three-point play on an assist from Mevert.

His made free throw pushed the Warriors lead to 30-17 with 1:15 left before the half.

Both Meisenhelter brothers and Hurelbrink each scored in the quarter but the Hawks were down 11 at intermission.

Steeleville hit 12-of-17 shots in the first half, including an 8-of-8 start.

“We talked about getting out early tonight. They (Meridian) are such a good team but we knew if we got off to a good start that we'd be alright,” said Coach Fiene.

A 10-2 run by the Warriors in the third quarter was the beginning of the end for Meridian's chances to get to Champaign.

Mevert added a mid-range shot to go with another drive to the basket against the Hawks' defense that failed to deter the Warriors lane penetration for most of the game.

Buch took assists from Lazenby and Mevert for inside scores and then Lazenby closed the run with a pair of free throws.

Those two tosses made it 42-23 with 2:23 to go.

Meridian made one final run to try to get back into the game.

The Hawks closed the third quarter with an 8-0 run with Phillips getting fouled on a drive that resulted in an 'and-one' while Hurelbrink and Grant Meisenhelter scores cut the margin to 42-31 heading to the fourth quarter.

For Coach Houser's club, that was as close as things would get.

Mevert handed out a couple of assists to Harriss and he also added another driving lay in off of a spread half-court offense.

Four free throws, two each from Gross and Wasson, pushed the lead to 53-35 at the 4:15 mark.

The Warriors polished off the win from the charity stripe and with their defense.

Five more free throws and buckets by Reitz (on an assist from Lazenby) along with a Lazenby steal and fast break lay in slammed the book closed on a dominating performance.

The lay in with 1:14 left made it 66-42 Warriors as the benches emptied and the Steeleville celebration commenced.

When they needed points late in the game, Meridian was just 6-of-19 in the fourth quarter from the floor.

The Warriors held a 26-15 rebounding edge and while the Hawks forced 16-turnovers, they also committed that number (16) of mistakes and couldn't make much out of the Steeleville errors.

Coach Fiene and his club will play in the first state finals' boy's basketball game held in Champaign-Urbana since the Class AA championship contest in March of 1995.

They will face a Yorkville Christian club that has 6-6 senior and Duke University D-1 signee Jaden Schutt and 6-2 senior guard K.J. Vasser.

“What this means for this program, these fans and these kids is indescribable,” said Coach Fiene. “We've never been up there before so we're going up and enjoy it. We have established something in this program that you have guard, and we guarded well tonight,” said Coach Fiene. “I'm so proud of the guys. They put the work into it. We knew at the beginning of the season that we had a chance (getting to state).”

Steeleville (68) - Rees 1 0 0-0 2, Reitz 1 0 0-0 2, Lazenby 3 1 3-4 12, Gross 2 0 8-9 12, Wasson 1 0 2-2 4, Mevert 6 1 3-3 18, Harriss 5 1 1-1 14, Buch 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-21, 3FG-3, FT-17-19, PF-11.
Macon Meridian (47) – Phillips 4 0 2-3 10, Day 1 1 0-0 5, J. Clapp 0 0 0-0 0, Hurelbrink 2 1 2-2 9, Brown 0 0 0-0 0, L. Clapp 1 0 0-0 2, Graham Meisenhelter 3 0 1-3 7, Grant Meisenhelter 4 1 3-3 14.
2FG-15, 3FG-3, FT-8-11, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Graham Meisenhelter - Macon Meridian.
Technical Fouls – None.