12-30-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - A strong defensive effort and rebounding advantage can - in most cases - propel a team to victory when it has an off night offensively.

Case in point – Waltonville’s 68-61 victory over Sparta in the championship game of the 29th Annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament Wednesday night.

The Spartans didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from the field and or the foul line.

But Coach Mike Denault’s club ruled the boards and tossed a blanket over the Bulldogs – holding Sparta to just 35 percent shooting overall (22-of-62) in the title game triumph.

Sparta entered the game on a roll having dispatched top-seed Sesser-Valier the previous day but ran into a team that defended well and handled the pressure that the Bulldogs inflicted well enough to endure.

Although Waltonville was just 23-of-37 from the foul line – the Spartans hit six of their last eight shots from the stripe in the final minute to salt away the win.

The tournament champs were just 21-of-49 from the floor overall but hit enough of the shots in the middle two quarters to take control of the matchup.

Waltonville placed four players in double-figures – led by Joseph Lewis with 19-points.

Gavin Bassett added 17-points to the Waltonville scorebook while Skyler Witges and Brock Wheatley tossed home 12 and 11.

Standing 11-1 – Waltonville enters the second half of the season with their eyes glued on getting better each game.

“We didn’t to a lot of things right compared to the last game but we did enough right tonight to win,” said Waltonville mentor Mike Denault. “We made some mistakes toward the end of the game but we made the free throws at the end when it really counted. It’s not like us to miss eight free throws in the fourth quarter and I was starting to get a bit concerned. But we stepped up and made them in the last minute.”

Sparta saw its record slip to 10-4 on the season for head coach Rich Williams, as they didn’t bring their A-Game on this night.

The Bulldogs compounded their offensive problems by fouling way too often – marching the Spartans to the line 20 more times than Waltonville did them.

The end result is that Sparta trailed for the most of the second half.

A 13-0 run by Waltonville to close the third quarter gave the Spartans the breathing room that they needed.

Trailing 37-32 at the 4:46 mark after Sparta’s David Sams scored on a rebound basket – Waltonville made its championship move.

Lewis and Witges both scored on drives to the basket.

Wheatley followed those buckets up by going the length of the floor for a lay in to give the Spartans back the lead for keeps at 38-37.

Two free throws by Dylan Johnson, an additional drive to the basket by Wheatley and a “hay-maker” 3-pointer from Lewis from the right corner pushed Waltonville to a 45-37 lead heading into the final stanza.

Although they missed eight fourth quarter free throws – Waltonville secured the title from the line late and by forcing the Bulldogs into a 7-of-21 shooting in the final frame.

The games’ end result could have been much more one-sided had the Spartans cashed in more times at the line.

Waltonville took its biggest lead of the contest when they put together a 7-0 scoring burst to lead 58-43 with 4:03 left.

The one big Sparta run came soon after.

The Bulldogs got some easy fast-break points using their overall quickness to get to the basket.

Sparta’s Dartanus White – who led all scorers with 24-points – scored on a pair of drives through the lane in the final 2:32 of regulation to get his team close.

His second drive - which took just a few seconds from one end of the floor to the other – and a basket by Sams closed the Spartans lead to just 64-61 with :30 remaining.

However Waltonville closed out the game with Lewis and Witges hitting two free throws each to close out the scoring.

“I was more concerned about them (Sparta) driving down the floor for easy scores in the final minute,” added Coach Denault. “We didn’t give them much opposition. The time didn’t seem like it was ticking off the clock very quick. When it came down to it, we made them make tough shots.”

Waltonville won the rebounding war in a big way – 38-25.

They allowed Sparta very few second shots as the Bulldogs grabbed just seven offensive rebounds.

“Skyler and Joseph get most of the credit but we feel like we have six guys that can flat out play,” Coach Denault added. “I thought we had pretty good balance in this game.”

Sparta – following White’s 24-points – received 12-points from Sams and nine points from Blake Shelton.

Sparta (61) – D. White 8 1 5-7 24, A. White 0 0 0-0 0, Shelton 0 2 3-4 9, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Sams 6 0 0-0 12, Oliver 1 0 2-2 4, Austin 0 2 0-0 6, Kiefer 0 0 0-0 0, Woods 0 0 0-0 0, Kiner 2 0 2-4 6. 2FG-17, 3FG-5, FT-12-17, PF-27.
Waltonville (68) – Bassett 6 0 5-9 17, Wheatley 2 1 4-8 11, Witges 2 0 8-12 12, Stanhouse 0 0 1-2 1, Compton 0 0 0-0 0, Johnson 3 0 2-2 8, Lewis 5 2 3-4 19.
2FG-18, 3FG-3, FT-23-37, PF-13.
Fouled Out – D. White, Austin - Sparta.
Technical Fouls – None.

Dane Eubanks and Kendall Gibson each scored 14-point for the 10-1 S-V squad that out-gunned the Cardinals 34-20 in the middle two quarters to come out with a win on the tournaments’ final day.

Josh Wiggs and Casey Hammond with led Woodlawn 14-point apiece in the loss.

The Cardinals were just 1-of-8 from the foul line for the game.

Woodlawn led this contest 7-0 in the early going but Sesser-Valier gradually rallied for the win.

Hammond and Wiggs each scored four points in the first quarter that ended 11-5 Woodlawn.

Sesser-Valier closed the second quarter on a 10-0 run with Gibson scoring six of the points.

His baseline drive beat the second quarter horn for a 26-22 halftime lead.

The Red Devils run reached 14-points when Myles Tinsley and Gibson each scored on drives to the basket.

Justin Matyi – Sesser-Valier’s top scorer – was held to just eight points in the game.

But a rare 3-point attempt by the 6-foot-4 postman found the mark with 2:36 left to push the lead to 39-29.

Woodlawn would get no closer than six the rest of the game.

Sesser-Valier (53) – D. Eubanks 3 0 8-10 14, Hicks 0 0 0-0 0, Tinsley 1 0 3-4 5, Gibson 7 0 0-2 14, Donovan 0 0 2-2 2, T. Eubanks 3 1 1-2 10, Matyi 2 1 1-3 8, Edwards 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-15-23, PF-10.
Woodlawn (43) – Verhines 1 0 0-4 2, Hammond 5 1 1-2 14, Wiggs 7 0 0-1 14, Dunbar 2 0 0-0 4, McNeil 2 0 0-1 4, Cavender 1 0 0-0 2, Johnson 0 1 0-0 3, Hollenkamp 0 0 0-0 0, Webb 0 0 0-0 0, Owens 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-18, 3FG-2, FT-1-8, PF-19.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Coach Todd Tripp’s troops were topped by Tyler Shadowens with 17-points while teammates’ Martin Powell and Lee Sopczak added 11-each.

New Athens was led by Vince Kiefer and Tyler Womack with 16-points each.

New Athens (55) – Gaubatz 3 2 2-4 14, Stolte 1 0 0-0 2, Womack 5 0 6-6 16, Weber 0 0 0-0 0, Ingles 1 0 3-6 5, Kiefer 4 1 5-7 16, Hepp 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-15, 3FG-3, FT-16-23, PF-25.
Goreville (60) – Lyell 0 0 0-0 0, Whitehead 0 0 0-0 0, Shadowens 2 3 4-6 17, Webb 0 0 0-0 0, Stout 4 0 1-2 9, Potocki 1 0 4-6 6, Kinder 1 0 2-2 4, Sopczak 2 1 4-7 11, Andros 1 0 0-1 2, Powell 4 0 3-6 11, Runge 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-4, FT-18-30, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Ingles - New Athens.
Technical Fouls – None.

Tyler Mitchell led Z-R with 22-points in the loss..

Century (81) – Baker 12 3 3-4 36, Wright 2 1 1-2 8, Wyatt 6 0 2-2 14, Pullett 0 0 1-4 1, Clemons 5 0 0-0 10, Wilson 1 1 0-0 5, Salley 2 0 3-5 7, Ahmad 0 0 0-0 0, Hight 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-28, 3FG-5, FT-10-172, PF-14.
Zeigler-Royalton (62) – Stevens 1 2 1-3 9, Mitchell 10 0 2-4 22, Stubblefield 6 0 0-0 12, Wawczak 1 1 0-0 5, Rumsey 3 0 1-2 7, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Arvai 3 0 0-1 6, Dominece 0 0 1-2 1, Clark 0 0 0-0 0, Leposky 0 0 0-0 0, Pedigo 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-24, 3FG-3, FT-5-12, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.