11-26-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
MULBERRY GROVE - The St. Elmo-Brownstown Eagles opened up their contest against the Patoka Warriors on Saturday night and played perhaps the best basketball they could possibly play.

Coach Greg Feezel's club blistered the Warriors in the early going, hitting 6-of-8 3-point attempts while taking an 11-point lead at the end of the first frame.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, basketball games are played in four quarters instead of one.

The Warriors regrouped, put some pressure on St. Elmo-Brownstown, and the result was 10-turnovers in the middle two quarters.

Patoka made a couple of big runs and got back the advantage and then held on at the end for a 59-56 championship game triumph to take home the title of the Mulberry Grove Thanksgiving Tournament on Saturday night.

Coach Joe Eddy saw his team, ranked fourth in the ABV Preseason poll, begin his season 4-0 for the second straight season as they took home their second consecutive MGTT crown.

“We told the kids, they (St. Elmo-Brownstown) are going to start out hot but if we stick to what we do we will be able to sustain it,” said head coach Joe Eddy. “We slowly chipped away and finally got the lead back.”

All-state candidate and first time ABV 1A All-South pick Jered Cain led the Warriors once again in scoring.

The 6-foot-1 senior guard netted 30-points while senior running mate Garrett Belcher added 21-points for Patoka.

These two also helped trigger a run in the second half that gave Patoka back the advantage.

Landon Feezel, a 6-foot-5 senior forward for St. Elmo-Brownstown, scored 20-points for the Eagles as did his teammate, 5-foot-9 junior guard Lewis Brown.

Those four players accounted for 91 of the 115 points scored in the championship game.

Brown and Feezel did a lot of the damage from long distance early in the contest as they each got going offensively behind the 3-point circle.

Brown, who was nursing an ankle injury for the past two weeks, showed no signs of problems on Saturday night.

It certainly didn't effect his shooting from beyond 20-feet.

Brown nailed four trifectas in the opening eight minutes.

His first missile to find the mark gave St. Elmo-Brownstown a 9-6 advantage, part of a 14-4 run.

He added to the issues for Patoka as he calmly hit his fourth trey with just :02 left in the quarter for a 25-14 lead.

However in the next three quarters, Coach Feezel's club cooled down and Patoka crawled back into contention.

Patoka started out the second quarter with a 9-1 sprint with Belcher hitting two free throws and Cain scoring three times, including a 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

His fade away jumper from the left corner closed the run and forced a St. Elmo-Brownstown time out at 26-23 Eagles with 5:21 remaining in the half.

Landon Feezel scored three consecutive baskets for the Eagles.

He put in an offense rebound, took an inbounds pass for a score in the paint and made a steal and fast break score.

Cain also scored twice more and when Belcher hit a shot from the left corner, the two teams headed to halftime at 32-29 Eagles.

St. Elmo-Brownstown could have had a bigger advantage but they committed five turnovers in the second quarter and were just 3-of-14 from the floor.

In the third quarter, Patoka made an adjustment defensively.

The Warriors extended their defense and it stunned St. Elmo-Brownstown into five more turnovers in the third quarter.

An offensive burst got Patoka back the lead.

Belcher scored from long range in the first :15 to even the score at 32-all.

Then a pair of Warriors got in on the fun, thanks to a pair of Cain assists.

Six-foot-four senior Bailey O'Brien and 6-foot-4 classmate Jordan Cobb both scored in the lane on nice passes from Cain.

The two scores forced another St. Elmo-Brownstown time out as Patoka led 36-32 with less than a minute gone in the third quarter.

“I have four kids I've never coached before and we have two kids who went from having minor roles for us to having major roles. It is going to take some time, it doesn't change overnight,” said Coach Eddy. “We are missing three starters from last season so the new kids have to learn to fill those voids.”

Patoka managed to extend its lead with another 3-pointer from Belcher and another transition score from Cain, which gave the Warriors a 45-38 spread.

The Eagles responded to close out the frame with Feezel hitting a pair of free throws (7-of-8 overall) and a basket by senior Klayton Kroll.

St. Elmo-Brownstown made a final push and got the lead back, as this time Patoka caught the turnover bug.

Two free throws by Feezel and Brown's fifth 3-pointer gave the Eagles a 47-45 advantage.

Cain and Brown then traded long 3-pointers.

Later in the quarter with the Eagles up 54-52, the two teams went over three minutes with out scoring, highlighted by six turnovers combined and some missed opportunities.

Finally Cain and Belcher gave the Warriors back the lead for keeps.

Cain made a nice move near the top of the key and his tough shot found the mark.

A fast break lay in by Belcher from yet another assist from Cain gave Patoka a 56-54 lead.

Patoka extended its lead and then got a huge play from O'Brien to help eventually secure the championship.

Cain was foulded and went to the line with :20.2 remaining.

After making his first one, Cain missed the second attempt and O'Brien managed to snag the offensive rebound, getting the ball back to Cain who was fouled.

This time, Cain made both charities for a 59-54 lead.

Feezel scored the Eagles final points on an offensive rebound with :08.0.

Forced to foul, St. Elmo-Brownstown sent Belcher to the line with :05.6 to go.

Belcher missed the free throw and the Eagles grabbed the rebound.

The Eagles got the ball up the court and had a good look at the 3-pointer from senior guard Dylan Brooks from near the top of the arc.

But his shot was well short as the buzzer sounded.

“I do all of these previews and tell everyone I don't know where we stand yet. But after this week I feel like I know a little bet about us,” said Coach Feezel, whose team went 3-1 at the tournament to start the season.. “I have a pretty good idea now. I think we proved to ourselves and everybody else that we can play. Against a team tonight that is going to win a lot of ballgames. I think we are fine, we just got to come back this week and get after it. We played this team to a two-point game last February. So we turned around and did it again (close game) so I think we are right there. That 7-0 run to begin the third quarter was the turning point.”

After a hot start, the Eagles came back to the pack offensively as they finished just 18-of-51 overall, 9-of-22 from 3-point land.

On the other hand, Patoka hit a better percentage (52.3 percent) as they ended up 22-of-42 overall, 6-of-13 from the arc.

The Warriors held a slight rebounding edge, 25-22 and the turnovers ended up 13-12 with St. Elmo-Brownstown having one more.

“I told the kids, because of the run last year, every team will have us circled on the calendar. Every game will be a regional championship for these teams,” said Coach Eddy. “And that is what we want, we want to be battle tested. We need that for later on in the year.”

SOUTH CENTRAL 59, MT. OLIVE 54
The Cougars rallied to win the third place game as Coach Jamie VanScyoc's South Central head coaching career begins with a 3-1 start.

Four players hit for double-figures for SC with sophomore guard Logan Lotz finishing with 13-points to lead the way, including a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Cougars came-from-behind for the five point win.

Junior Ryan Matheny and classmate Trent Geiler each added 11-points while senior guard Trevor Markey pitched in 10.

Markey scored eight of his points in the fourth quarter, also hitting a pair of 3-pointers as South Central outscored Mt. Olive 20-10 in the final stanza for the win.

The Wildcats (2-2) got 16-points from senior Jake Bennett and 10-points from Roger Conlee in the loss.

NORTH CLAY 65, MULBERRY GROVE 62
The Cardinals (2-2) took home the fifth place hardware with the win over the hosts.

Coach Ben Farleigh saw his club get 15-points from senior guard Brandon Repking and 14-each from senior Bryce Walker and sophomore Aleon Rinehart.

The Aces finished their week 1-3 with the loss Saturday despite three players ended up with double-figures.

Courtlyn Latham scored 16-points while Joey Linnabary and Michael Sloan added 12 and 10.