12-28-04
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - Vienna coach Rich Metcalf knows his way around the block at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament.

After spending nearly his entire head-coaching career running the Red Devils program, Metcalf is once again in the hunt for championship.

Only this season he has the Vienna Eagles in position to cut down the nets with two more victories this week.

Behind the 27-points from Garrett Davis and a couple of huge plays in the final quarter by 6-foot-8 freshman Brett Thompson, the Eagles stunned third seeded Waltonville 59-47 in the first winners bracket quarterfinal game Tuesday at Sesser.

Holding Waltonville scoreless for nearly six minutes of the fourth quarter, Vienna ripped off a 16-0 run to drop the Spartans into the fifth place bracket.

Trailing 41-37 in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, Vienna turned up its defensive pressure, stopping Waltonville on seven straight offensive possessions.

In that run, Thompson who is just a child in basketball terms, stepped out and hit a 3-pointer from the top of the circle to start the final scoring burst for his Eagles (9-3) which sent his club into the final four of this 24th annual event.

"He (Thompson) has the green light from out there because I know he can hit those shots," explain Metcalf, whose team has won 9-of-its-last-11 contests after dropping two-straight to open the season. "He is just 14 years old and he plays like he is a senior in a lot of ways. His future is bright."

He only finished with seven points, but five of them came in the final period.

After his 3-pointer in the final quarter got his team going, he later scored on a great spin move in the lane to push the lead to 47-41 with 3:28 left.

By the time Waltonville recovered with a pair of free throws with 1:55 remaining, the damage had been done.

"We got tentative against their (Vienna) zone today," said Waltonville head coach Mike Denault, whose team fell to 6-5 on the season. "We just don't have the kind of scoring balance right now. We are either scoring a lot inside or outside, but we just can't seem to put it all together."

Vienna's Davis put on an outside shooting clinic in the opening half, connecting on four 3-pointers.

His first one from the right wing staked the Eagles to an early 7-2 lead with 4:48 to go.

His second bomb dropped on the Spartans as he took a pass from teammate Corey Huckleberry and drilled home another shot from behind the arc to make it 10-6.

Waltonville answered with some outside firepower provided by junior Adam Kitowski.

He scored seven straight Spartan points and his 3-pointer from the right wing gave his club its last lead of the first half at 13-12.

But the Eagles got on an offensive role in the second quarter, thanks to ten more points from Davis.

This 6-foot-2 junior hit two more 3-pointers, the second of which gave the Eagles its largest margin to that point at 29-18 with 2:44 to go until intermission.

"Garrett had a great game from the outside," added Metcalf. "He is another one of my kids that can shoot it when he gets open. He got some really good looks at the basket today and he made his shots count."

Waltonville chipped into the Eagles advantage in the third quarter with Jon Kash scoring four of his teams first six points on a shot in the paint and a pair of free throws to make it 31-28.

It appeared that the Spartans were going to take over the game with a strong late quarter run.

Six-foot-five sophomore Josh Ralls scored four points in the quarter on a pair of offensive drives to the basket.

However sophomore Derek Tepovich stepped in off the Waltonville bench to provide some instant offense with a 3-pointer off of an inbounds play to suddenly get Coach Denault's team to within 36-34.

A runner in the lane by Kitowski closed the third quarter scoring at 37-36 Vienna.

Tepovich and Kitowski hit back-to-back shots to open the final quarter and when Kitowski's shot hit home from 20-feet, the Spartans were ready to dispatch their challenger and head into the semi-finals.

However at this point Vienna closed the game by outscoring Waltonville 22-6 in the last 6:43 of the game.

"They never really got into a flow offensively against our 1-3-1 zone today," added Metcalf.

Vienna got an additional 15-points from Kyle Willis. Thompson added seven while Huckleberry and freshman Derek Travillion added five each.

Kitowski was the only Spartan who reached double figures with 12.

Waltonville (47) - Kitowski 3 2 0-0 12, Lowery 2 0 2-2 6, Kash 2 0 5-6 9, Spotanski 2 0 0-0 4, Ralls 3 0 1-2 7, Tepovich 1 1 0-0 5, Kabat 1 0 2-2 4.
2FG-14, 3FG-3, FT-10-13, PF-19.
Vienna (59) - Huckleberry 1 0 3-7 5, Davis 3 5 6-7 27, Willis 3 1 6-8 15, Thompson 1 1 2-4 7, Trovillion 0 1 2-2 5.
2FG-8, 3FG-8, FT-19-26, PF-13.

GALATIA 73, JOHNSTON CITY 57
The Bearcats proved that they were more than a one-man show as Seth Cockrum had one of his better games in his career, matching teammate Derek Sloan with 24 markers in the relatively easy win over the Indians.

Johnston City (3-7) was paced by a game high 25-points from Kris Kirkpatrick.

GOREVILLE 62, SPARTA 59
The Blackcats outlasted the Bulldogs in a slugfest in the last game Tuesday night in the quarter finals.

Brandon Rogowski paced Goreville with 16-points while teammates Jordan Tebbe and Derek Yocum added 13 and 10.

Sparta received 15-points from Jarvis Smith in the loss.

CARTERVILLE 53, COBDEN 51
In what turned out to be one of the better games of the tournament so far, the Lions withstood a furious Appleknocker rally to advance to the semifinals.

Fourteen points from Ben Drust, including a pair of fourth quarter free throws allowed Carterville (10-1) to move on to play Goreville on Wednesday.

Cobden (7-3) was paced by Kris Sweitzer with a game-high 21-points.

NEW ATHENS 67, SHAWNEE 56
The Yellow Jackets built an 18-point lead and survived a comeback bid by the Redskins to advance to the consolation bracket semifinals.

Nick Parker paced the Jackets with 20-points.

Shawnee was paced by Lucas McMahan with 28-points.

MARISSA 47, SESSER-VALIER 45 OT
The Meteors picked up their second win of the season at the expense of the host Red Devils. Adam Terry, Josh Watkins and Eddie Runyon all scored in the overtime session to help coach Andy Johnson to his second victory of the year.

S-V got a game-high 20-points from Ty Vandekerkhove in the quarterfinal loss.

WOODLAWN 71, ELVERADO 40
The Cardinals moved to the conso semi's with the win over the Falcons.

Mike Pool topped both clubs with 25-points as Woodlawn improved to 5-5 on the season while Elverado was led by Andy Burroughs with eight points.

CHRISTOPHER 71, ZEIGLER-ROYALTON 69
The Bearcats nearly blew an 18-point second half lead and held on for the win.

Lucas Rains had 18-points for the 'Cats while Z-R's Matt Morgan paced all scorers with 27 points to go with 12 rebounds.