03-05-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - He is the silent assassin of southern Illinois high school hoops and because of his accuracy his team is now vying for a trip to Peoria.

Justin Matyi is that marksman and Mounds Meridian is just another notch on his team’s gun belt.

This 6-foot-4 senior center dropped 42-points on the state-rated and ABV top-ranked squad on Friday night – leading the Sesser-Valier Red Devils to their first ever “Elite Eight” spot with a 64-54 win to take home the Eldorado Class 1A Sectional crown.

Matyi also grabbed 13-rebounds and hit four consecutive free throws in the final :33 to seal the win for his school in its first sectional title game appearance in 11-years and first ever sectional championship.

The Red Devils had other heroes on the night as Coach Chip Basso watched his club rally from 10-points down in the third quarter to outmuscle the Bobcats in the fourth frame 24-9 to pull away.

“These guys have played in a lot of big basketball games in their lives and that is what I told them tonight in the lockerroom before the game,” said Coach Basso. “You’ve been winners your whole lives and won championships before. This is what you do. This is why you play the game and they stepped up and answered the bell when they needed to.”

His backcourt of Dane Eubanks and Myles Tinsley were superb at handling the Meridian pressure.

Forwards Kendall Gibson and T.J. Eubanks did their respective jobs well.

Gibson – a 6-foot-3 senior defensive specialist – spent most of his night making Meridian’s high scoring Devante McClung miserable.

McClung finished with 11-points but produced zero points in the second half.

Eubanks hit three crucial 3-point shots for nine important points. The biggest one started a game-winning drive to the final buzzer as this 6-foot-2 senior canned a shot from the left corner with 3:42 to go to give the Red Devils back the lead 53-51.

Meridian was outscored 11-3 the rest of the way in defeat – a crushing blow and the end of a grand season at 29-2.

“We didn’t make enough shot and we really didn’t get the shots that we wanted to get, either,” said Coach Mandrell. “We didn’t concentrate and execute the way you need to – to give us a chance tonight and I credit them (Sesser-Valier) for their defensive effort. We just didn’t play well enough.”

Sesser-Valier held the high-scoring ‘Cats to 21-points below their season scoring average and kept them from getting easy transition baskets – a trademark of Coach Jeff Mandrell’s club all season.

Forced to bomb away from the outside due to a stingy inside defensive scheme by Sesser-Valier – Meridian hit just 5-of-29 shots from behind the 3-point arc.

Sesser-Valier – on the other hand – was 24-of-52 for the contest overall.

After Matyi’s 42 and Eubanks’ nine – Gibson finished with seven second half points while Tinsley netted six.

Although Dane Eubanks didn’t score – he came up big in getting the ball to the “big guy.”

All of these small things added to Matyi’s offensive explosion produced a gigantic win and a trip to the Salem Class 1A Supersectional.

“We obviously worked on their defensive pressure in practice but you only have a day prep to get ready for it,” Coach Basso explained. “We can’t simulate that sort of athleticism in practice so we showed it to them on film and let them see it. I thought they (the kids) did a great job tonight.”

Sesser-Valier got off to the same sort of fast start that they had used in their four previous postseason wins and led 6-0 after T.J. hit his first trey of the night from the right wing with 5:39 to go in the opening frame.

After McClung hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc – Matyi scored on a nice assist from Gibson after the Red Devils broke the Meridian press.

This was in fact a bad omen of things to come for the Bobcats as they failed to “shake up” the Red Devils defensively.

Matyi scored baskets in the first quarter – two on assists from Gibson and twice-on offensive rebounds.

His second offensive put back made it 12-9 at the 1:47 mark.

“They (Meridian) didn’t double team him (Matyi) and when we broke the press we wanted to attack it,” said Basso. “We wanted to try and get some points off of their press. We knew we would give up a few of them on the turnovers at our end.”

At this point Meridian got going and the Bobcats looked the part of sectional champion as they scored the next seven points of the game for a 16-12 lead with 5:43 to go in the second quarter.

McClung – a 6-foot-3 senior forward – hit his second 3-pointer of the game during this scoring move from the top of the arc.

The key to the second period was that this run couldn’t be extended. In nearly all of the 29 previous victories by Meridian the ‘Cats went on big offensive scoring spree’s to put away the opposition.

But on this night – Sesser-Valier stayed within striking range.

Matyi’s next three baskets all came on assists from Eubanks (2) and Gibson and all came from S-V breaking the Meridian “trap.”

When Matyi hit his fourth shot in a row to close the half – the Devils were down just 28-24 at the break.

The best run by Meridian came in the early part of the second half.

Following another 3-point bomb by T.J. Eubanks – the Bobcats outscored S-V 14-5 for their only double-digit lead.

Five-foot-eight senior guard Tim Hackney helped lead the charge with a pair of fast break scores.

When Brandon Madison scored on fast break lay up on a long pass from Zach Mitchell with 2:58 remaining Meridian was on top 42-32.

Gibson stepped up with a pair of big buckets to help stop the Meridian run.

He scored twice in the lane on a rebound and a short shot in the paint while finding an opening in the Meridian zone.

“He (Gibson) is our ‘whatever it takes’ guy. If you need him to defend, he will defend and if you need a bucket he will the bucket that you need,” Basso added. “He just a good-hardnosed kid.”

If those Red Devils weren’t playing well enough – reserve Shad Donovan made a big save on a ball headed out of bounds and got the ball to Matyi who scored underneath the basket to close the quarter at 45-40.

Sesser-Valier foreclosed on the Bobcats in the fourth quarter – taking the game over with a 10-2 cavalcade of points and stops.

Tinsley scored four of his six points in succession on a fast break lay in and a nice cut to the basket on an assist from Gibson.

Then it was Matyi picking up the scoring flag to carry the Devils to the Super-Sectional.

He hit two more shots from the field and then did the rest from the foul line.

His second bucket - after grabbing yet another offensive board – put the Red Devils up by three.

The last hurrah for Meridian came when sophomore Jerry Johnson scored with 4:03 to go to give the Bobcats back the lead briefly at 51-50.

It was on the next S-V possession that T.J. Eubanks hit the “afore” mentioned trifecta - perhaps his biggest prep shot of hit four-year/1,000-point varsity career.

Sesser-Valier left the comeback door slightly open when Gibson missed back-to-back 1-and-1 opportunities from the foul line but Meridian failed to step through the opening

The Bobcats – following a shot by Madison with 2:46 left – didn’t make another field goal.

Coach Mandrell’s team was just 3-of-17 from the floor in the fourth quarter and committed three costly turnovers.

Johnson committed his fifth personal foul on a charge taken by Matyi and Gibson scored again on a rebound of a Matyi miss to make it 59-53 with under a minute left.

McClung picked up his fifth foul a few moments later and the Red Devils had reason to celebrate as Matyi and Gibson closed the scoring from the foul line.

“It’s great (the win) and it is great for our fans – they are such a loyal group and they turn out whether we are winning or losing,” said Coach Basso. “Our kids have worked so hard for this. I’m just so happy for them.”

McClung finished his prep career with 11-points to top the Meridian scoring while Hackney added 10.

Madison ended up with nine points while Brent Kennedy and Amos scored eight points apiece.

The Bobcats finished with a 33-30 rebounding edge but committed way too many turnovers with 16 mistakes.

S-V did turn the ball over 12 times but only once during the fourth quarter rally.

Matyi not only led both teams in scoring but finished 15-of-19 from the field.

“Matyi had too much on us. We weren’t surprised about what they could do but we just didn’t play well,” added Mandrell. “They got back on defense tonight and kept us from getting going offensively in transition.”

In fact of Meridian’s 14 missed shots in the final stanza – S-V grabbed defensive rebounds on ten of those.

Meridian finished with the second most wins in the program’s history with 29 behind the 1971-72 teams’ 30-2 mark when that team finished second in the state tournament.

“We’re going to get some fouls because that is the way we play – we try to pressure and turn people over,” Mandrell added. “Tonight it (the loss) hurts but when we look back on what we accomplished we will look upon it as a great season.”

The Red Devils have a very familiar foe that will be waiting on them on Tuesday night in Salem.

Woodlawn won the Red Hill Class 1A Sectional title for the second year in a row with a 61-60 win over Cumberland in overtime.

The Cardinals and Red Devils cooped this past fall to form a playoff football team and the two teams met twice this season on the hardwood with each club winning once.

S-V won the third place game of its own holiday tournament to hand Woodlawn its last loss, 53-43.

The Cardinals have won 20-consecutive games since then – including a 63-41 win at Sesser-Valier on February 2.

Since that loss – Sesser-Valier has won 11-straight.

“It will be exciting and emotional for the kids facing Woodlawn,” finalized Coach Basso. “They know each other and they played football together this fall. It will be a great game for the two communities. Both communities support their sports and their kids. It will be a really fun night Tuesday. It will be special.”

Sesser-Valier (64) – D. Eubanks 0 0 0-0 0, Tinsley 3 0 0-0 6, Gibson 3 0 1-4 7, T.J. Eubanks 0 3 0-0 9, Matyi 15 0 12-14 42, Donovan 0 0 0-0 0, Pitchford 0 0 0-0 0, Edwards 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-21, 3FG-3, FT-13-18, PF-11.
Meridian (54) – Hackney 4 0 2-4 10, Kennedy 1 2 0-0 8, Amos 4 0 0-0 8, Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, McClung 0 3 2-2 11, Mitchell 0 0 0-0 0, Nesby 2 0 2-2 6, Engram 0 0 0-0 0, Madison 4 0 1-2 9.
2FG-16, 3FG-5, FT-7-10, PF-8.
Fouled Out – Johnson, McClung - Meridian.
Technical Fouls – None.