12-17-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
ST. ELMO – In the past four seasons the St. Elmo Eagles have watched collectively their National Trail Conference rivals from Altamont take home championships from this long standing event.

On Saturday night, behind the stellar play of senior Blake Pruett, the Eagles ended the Indians' reign of terror.

Pruett scored 24-points and grabbed 11-rebounds as St. Elmo held off Altamont to win the championship, 56-46, in front of a packed house at St. Elmo.

Pruett scored 13 of his points during a momentum changing second quarter as St. Elmo took a 24-19 lead at intermission.

With teammates Connor Beasley and Ben Sperry struggling with foul trouble in the first half, Pruett stepped up by hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the first half.

Beasley, Sperry and Blaine Scholes all scored eight points for Coach Greg Feezel's team while Beasley hit the boards for nine rebounds.

“There are expectations for our team but like I told the boys we have to go one (game) at a time like we have. This is a big (win) ball game for us because we haven't won this thing in a while and we host it. You need to win your own tournament once in a while. We have these battles with Altamont all the time and the intensity level was pretty high tonight,” said Coach Feezel. “It is a great atmosphere for 1A schools, its a good time. I thought that the boys played really well tonight. Altamont did just what I thought that they would do. They played hard just like us. It was just a lot of fun.”

Altamont (6-1) was topped by Dustin Gordon with 11-points while Jason Hooks added nine.

Garrett Ziegler added eight points while Cody Drone netted seven.

Hardly the scoring output that Coach Doug Hill believes his team needs to be victorious.

“Our problem tonight was shooting percentage and a lot of that was shot selection. We need to get better shots. If they are going to give us pressure then we've got to make better decisions,” said Altamont head coach Doug Hill. “More ball movement and better shot selection. We've got to score more than 46-points or we aren't going to win any games. Their (St. Elmo) defense is good but we have to do a better job and be more disciplined.”

Altamont, behind 3-pointer's from Ziegler and Gordon and also a conventional three-point play by Hooks, got as close as 48-43 in the final quarter.

But the Eagles closed the contest out with Levi Maxey, Scholes and Beasley combining to go 6-for-7 from the foul line to take home the title.

“Give them (St. Elmo) credit. They won the ballgame but we turned the ball over way too many times tonight. They shot the ball better than we did. I thought we did a descent job rebounding on the defensive end but we gave up a few extra shots to them tonight,” Coach Hill explained. “But if we shoot just a tiny bit better and we get one or two more rebounds or turn the ball over one or two fewer times then we are still working (overtime).”

Altamont began the first quarter with 3-pointers from Drone and Mitch Wolff.

But St. Elmo responded with Beasley, Sperry and Pruett all scoring points.

Pruett nailed his first of two first half treys to give St. Elmo a 9-8 lead with 2:38 left.

But the Indians retaliated with a rebound basket by Muchow to cut Altamont's advantage to 11-9 at the first horn.

“You have to do the small things well and I was a bit concerned about our rebounding tonight. We got outrebounded by Brownstown the other night (a 70-41 win) which was the first time all season we got outrebounded,” Coach Feezel added. “We got on them pretty hard about it. I'm a big stickler about rebounding. There is no reason to be outrebounded, not with this bunch. You can't give second chances and win championships.”

Pruett took his team on his back in the second quarter, hitting a pair of big shots from the outside.

His shot on an assist by Maxey pushed the lead to 20-13 to force an Altamont timeout at the 4:20 mark.

Trailing 37-24 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter, the Indians made a move.

Jon Kuhns, Drone and Gordon scored consecutive points with Gordon nailing a 3-pointer to close the quarter at 37-31 St. Elmo.

An additional trey by Ziegler and a free throw by Hooks got Altamont as close as it would get to open the fourth quarter.

Sperry and Scholes hit huge back-breaking shots for the Eagles.

Scholes dialed long distance for a 42-37 advantage.

A steal and fast break score by Ziegler late in the final frame gave Altamont a bit of hope.

However St. Elmo sealed the championship from the foul line.

The Eagles were 22-of-49 from the floor on the night, while hitting just 4-of-12 from behind the arc.

However they held a 33-26 rebounding edge as they kept the cool shooting Indians off of the offensive glass by allowing just six offensive second chances.

Altamont finished just 19-of-46 from the field overall.

Being in the Vandalia Holiday Tournament, the National Trail Conference Tournament and the same 1A Regional to be held at Altamont in February along with a regular season date on February 10 at Altamont, the Indians and Eagles should see each other again soon.

“There is still a lot of work to be done and I'm sure we will see them three or four more times this season,” finalized Coach Hill.

Altamont (46) – Ziegler 2 1 1-1 8, Hooks 4 0 1-3 9, Wolff 0 1 0-0 3, Kuhns 1 0 0-0 2, Gordon 2 2 1-2 11, Drone 2 1 0-0 7, Muchow 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-14, 3FG-5, FT-3-6, PF-13.
St. Elmo (56) – Beasley 3 0 2-2 8, Sperry 3 0 2-2 8, Schaal 0 0 0-0 0, Maxey 0 0 2-3 2, Pruett 9 2 0-0 24, Scholes 0 2 2-2 8, Mansker 3 0 0-2 6.
2FG-18, 3FG-4, FT-8-11, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Luke Moore topped all scorers with 20-points in the win, pushing C-H to a 7-4 mark overall for the season.

Moore helped keep Brownstown down in the final quarter, hitting all four of his free throw attempts as the Hornets closed out the win.

Seth Barnes scored 15-points for Cowden-Herrick.

Derrick Knearam pitched in 11 points for the Hornets, including a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter.

Coach Vince Rohr's Bombers could have stayed much closer in the second half had they not squandered some chances from the foul line.

Brownstown ended up 13-of-28 from the charity stripe.

Mark Sefton and Austin Hunter shared scoring honors for the Bombers with 13-points each while teammates Eric Gurtner and Colton Hunter added 10-points apiece.

Brownstown (51) – Frailey 0 0 0-0 0, S. Sefton 0 0 0-0 0, M. Sefton 5 0 3-9 13, A. Hunter 3 1 4-6 13, Behrends 1 0 2-3 4, C. Hunter 4 0 2-7 10, Gurtner 3 1 1-1 10, Reeder 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-13-28, PF-18.
Cowden-Herrick (61) – Moore 5 1 7-7 20, Heiserman 0 0 0-0 0, Knearem 2 2 1-2 11, Hovis 3 0 0-0 6, Mitchell 1 0 1-6 3, Barnes 6 0 3-5 15, Morgason 0 0 0-0 0, B. Barnes 2 0 0-0 4, Br. Barnes 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-19, 3FG-3, FT-14-22, PF-24.
Fouled Out – Behrends - Brownstown.
Technical Fouls – None.

Austin Miller chipped in nine points for BC who are now 3-4 on the year.

Fischer Tharp scored 14-points for South Central, who saw its mark slip to 2-7 on the season.

Colton Wilkins added 12-points for the Cougars, who had four chances to tie the game in the final seconds but none of their shots hit the mark.

Beecher City (36) – McKay 1 0 0-0 2, Kline 2 1 4-8 11, Miller 4 0 1-1 9, Bales 0 0 0-0 0, Kemme 1 0 0-0 2, Riley 1 1 0-0 5, Krueger 0 1 0-0 3, Barnes 2 0 0-0 4, Zacha 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-12, 3FG-3, FT-5-9, PF-11.
South Central (36) – Bushue 3 0 0-0 6, Hablewitz 0 0 0-0 0, Tharp 6 0 2-4 14, Krajefska 0 0 0-0 0, Schwarm 1 0 1-1 3, Wilkins 6 0 0-0 12, Yates 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-0, FT-2-5, PF-13.
Fouled Out – Hablewitz - South Central.
Technical Fouls – None.

Coach Bill Eddy's bunch connected just 14 times in 39 tries from the stripe but did just enough damage elsewhere to pick up the seventh place win.

Tylor Knisley scored 19-points for the Rams including a trio of 3-pointers for the 4-7 Ramsey five.

Mulberry Grove fell to 2-10 on the season as Devonta Williamson topped the scoring parade for those Flying Aces with 16-points.

Ramsey (58) – Knisley 4 3 2-8 19, Roberts 4 0 2-8 10, Kelly 3 1 1-5 10, Bergin 1 0 0-0 2, Pryor 1 0 7-12 9, Hunt 1 0 0-2 2,m Wesselman 0 0 1-2 1, Cunningham 2 0 1-2 5.
2FG-16, 3FG-4, FT-14-39, PF-14.
Mulberry Grove (53) – Ja. Rickman 1 0 0-2 2, Miller 0 0 1-2 1, Dawson 3 3 0-0 15, Williamson 2 3 3-4 16, Jo. Rickman 3 0 0-0 6, Ketchem 4 0 3-4 11, Phillips 0 0 0-0 0, Boulier 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-6, FT-9-14, PF-29.
Fouled Out – Jo. Rickman, Boulier - Mulberry Grove.
Technical Fouls – None.