12/28/2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - The Red Bud Musketeers couldn't have picked a worst time to have a bad night shooting the ball than the quarterfinals of the 40th annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament Tuesday night against the host Red Devils.

In fact after the game head coach Dane Walter was a bit shocked by how bad the numbers added up.

Although things didn't go well for three of the four quarters of the game for the visitors on the scoreboard, the squad managed to put together a pretty good third quarter after a horrible offensive first half.

But the bit of magic that materialize out of nowhere in the third quarter quickly vanished as fast as it appeared in the final eight minutes.

Sesser-Valier advanced to the semifinals on Tuesday night with a 52-38 victory by doing the kind of things they needed to do to win.

The defense didn't allow Red Bud many second chances and the offense cleaned up it's act and played better after a turnover filled first half.

“One of our keys coming into tonight was they were knew they (Red Bud) were going to attack hard. We wanted to just stay with them and force them to take tough shots, a contest shot over us. That's what we wanted and that's what we got for the most part,” said Sesser-Valier head coach Shane Garner. “I thought our guys battled on the boards.”

With senior guard Gavin Woodland's game-best 23-points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, S-V fought off the Red Bud comeback bid to advance to the semi's.

Senior Eli Schoenbaechler added 10-points and junior Gabe Gunter pitched in eight in a game in which scoring was at a minimum.

Red Bud was paced with 11-points each from senior guard Logan Cathell and freshman guard Trent Sternberg.

Six-three junior forward Devin Hall kicked in six-points before fouling out late and sophomore guard Owen Liefer added a pair of early baskets for four-points.

The key number to look at in why the Musketeers find themselves in the fifth place bracket on Wednesday is 15-of-49.

That was the overall shooting performance for Coach Walter's team on Tuesday night.

Some of it was defense by S-V and some were from missed open opportunities.

Either way, it added up into a loss that dropped RB to 6-7 overall for the year as they will face Marissa/Coulterville in the fifth place semifinals Wednesday at 6:30 pm.

“We had some of our shots that were rushed some but for the most part we had a lot of good looks and they just didn't fall,” said Coach Walter. “We had some that touched every part of the rim and rattled around and rimmed out. It didn't know it was that bad but it felt like it during the game.”

Sesser-Valier shot the ball much better, which helped offset an uncharacteristic 18-turnovers, 12 of which occurred in the first half.

The Red Devils ended up 19-of-35 overall, with most of that coming on drives and cuts to the basket.

Hitting just 1-of-8 from the arc, Coach Garner's kids were more patient on offense as the game progressed and the better shot selection improved as they pulled away late.

After Liefer scored twice in the early going the Musketeers and Hall scored in the paint the game was tied at 6-6.

Sesser-Valier scored the final five points of the sluggish, mistake plagued first eight minutes.

A backdoor cut to the rim by Woodland on an assist from Gunter was followed by a rebound basket by junior Colten Payne.

Woodland closed the scoring by hitting 1-of-2 from the foul line for an 11-6 first quarter lead.

In that frame, Red Bud missed 12 field goal attempts, six each from the arc and inside.

The hosts looked ready to put this game on ice early by halftime because of how cold Red Bud remained.

Coach Walter did get a spark from his bench as Sternberg stepped off the pine and delivered seven of his points as he scored twice on drives to the basket and then connected on the only made 3-pointer in the first half.

Sesser-Valier, however, had built upon its lead by getting a two scores from Schoenbaechler; one on a fast break lay in off of a Woodland steal and another assist from Gunter running the offense.

Four-of-six free throws by Woodland pushed the lead to 24-11 with under three minutes left in the half.

The Sternberg 3-pointer was followed by a Hoffard score sent the game to the half at 26-14.

Although clearly in trouble at the break, Red Bud was only down 12 and needed a third quarter run to get back into contention.

“I thought with everything that happened in the first half and as poorly as we shot the ball only being down 12 I knew we still had a shot,” said Coach Walter. “I love how we responded and we had a great third quarter. Unfortunately it didn't carry over into the fourth. They (Sesser-Valier) rebound very well and they are strong and physical. That is a tough team to go against when you're down.”

In by far their best showing of the evening, the Musketeers got going in the third quarter to get close to the Red Devils.

Hitting 8-of-13 attempts in the third quarter, including 4-of-5 3-point attempts, Coach Walter's team outscored S-V 20-11 to get to within 37-34 heading to the fourth quarter.

Cathell hit two of the long range shots while two teammates; senior Max Diewald and junior Drew Grohmann, each connected from long range for their only points of the game.

Two of those shots drew iron but managed to find the bottom of the net, including a buzzer beater from the left wing Cathell as his team trailed by just three.

“We had a little lull there in the third quarter. We lost a couple of their shooters. #11 can shoot it and so can #3. For the rest of the game after that two or three minute span I thought we did a good job of doing what we needed to do,” said Coach Garner.

To explain how bad things went in the fourth quarter for Red Bud can be summed up quickly.

The only field goal they made in the last eight minutes happened when Cathell hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with :20 left in the contest.

Red Bud misfired on its other 11-attempts.

Of those missed shots, the Musketeers managed only one offensive rebound.

The rest of the caroms were gathered up by the Devils.

The Red Devils owned the glass, out-rebounding RB 31-17, allowing just five offensive boards.

S-V scored the first 10-points of the fourth quarter to put the game to rest.

Woodland scored three of his buckets on drives to the basket as Coach Garner's team ran a spread offense.

His conventional three-point play with 4:01 remaining made it 47-34.

The senior guard then made 3-of-4 free throws late to seal the spot in the Final Four.

“One of the issues we have had this year is that sometimes we want to attack (the basket) too early instead of moving the ball and getting the defense moving,” said Coach Garner. “But tonight once we got the feel of it and everything spread stuff started opening up. We executed back-cuts really well.”

Sesser-Valier (6-3) will face Altamont, the number-two seed, Wednesday night at 8 pm in a rematch of a quarterfinal game two years ago in which the Indians won as they ended up in second place in their first appearance in the event.

“John (Altamont head coach Niebrugge) does a phenomenal job and his teams play hard. They play basketball the right way. It's going to be a tough night for us and we are going to have to execute even better than we did tonight to have a chance,” said Coach Garner. “I think it's going to be a good battle of teams that are similar.”

Red Bud (38) – Hall 3 0 0-4 6, Cathell 0 3 2-5 11, Lucht 0 0 0-0 0, Dewald 0 1 0-0 3, Grohman 0 1 0-1 3, Easter 0 0 0-0 0, Sternberg 4 1 0-0 11, Liefer 2 0 0-1 4. 2FG-9, 3FG-6, FT-2-11, PF-21.
Sesser-Valier (52) – Payne 1 0 0-0 2, Gunter 4 0 0-0 8, Schoenbaechler 4 0 2-2 10, Woodland 6 0 11-17 23, Packer 1 0 0-0 2, Ruffino 0 0 0-0 0, Hoffard 2 0 0-0 4, Menser 0 1 0-1 3. 2FG-18, 3FG-1, FT-13-20, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Hall - Red Bud.
Technical Fouls – Red Bud Bench.

Marissa/Coulterville (31) – Charleston 0 0 0-2 0, Weis 0 0 0-0 0, Hurst 1 1 2-3 7, Carter Trieb 1 0 0-0 2, Harrell 5 0 4-5 14, Caleb Trieb 4 0 0-0 8, Middendorf 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-11, 3FG-1, FT-6-10, PF-10.
Altamont (60) – Hammer 0 1 0-0 3, Scott 0 0 1-2 1, Phillips 0 0 0-0 0, Jahraus 1 1 1-2 6, Suckow 0 1 0-0 3, Robinson 5 1 0-0 13, Klimpel 3 0 0-0 6, McManaway 0 0 0-0 0, Robbins 0 0 0-0 0, Cornett 1 0 0-0 2, Winn 3 0 0-0 6, Eirhart 1 0 0-0 2, Elam 0 0 0-0 0, Schultz 2 1 2-2 9, Kollmann 4 0 1-3 9, Miller 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-20, 3FG-5, FT-5-9, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Goreville (69) – Moss 0 2 0-0 6, Suits 1 1 0-0 5, Green 0 0 0-0 0, Holm 0 0 0-0 0, Tripp 0 0 0-0 0, Dunn 7 0 6-11 20, Compton 7 0 2-2 16, Sopczak 2 3 2-2 15, Lingle 0 1 0-0 3, Francis 0 0 0-0 0, Damon 0 0 0-0 0, Geyman 2 0 0-0 4. 2FG-19, 3FG-7, FT-10-15, PF-27.
Cobden (81) – Reynolds 2 3 4-7 17, Campbell 2 1 2-6 9, Franklin 7 0 11-14 25, Lowndes 9 0 5-6 23, Flamm 0 0 5-10 5, Funes 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-21, 3FG-4, FT-27-43, PF-16.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Christopher (46) – Janello 1 0 3-4 5, Sveda 1 1 0-0 5, Hobbs 0 0 0-0 0, Traiteur 0 0 0-0 0, Ingoldsby 0 0 0-0 0, Cole 2 1 6-6 13, Freeman 0 0 0-0 0, Hudgens 1 1 4-4 9, Goins 2 0 5-6 9, Mazur 2 0 1-2 5.
2FG-9, 3FG-3, FT-19-22, PF-11.
Johnston City (32) – Peyton 1 0 3-5 5, Watson 3 0 0-0 6, Dover 0 0 0-0 0, Causey 0 0 0-0 0, Murrah 0 0 0-0 0, Butler 0 0 0-0 0, Neibeh 2 1 0-2 8, Clark 0 0 1-2 1, Fort 1 0 0-0 2, Hunter 1 2 2-2 10, Beers 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-3, FT-6-11, PF-15.
Fouled Out – Hunter - Johnston City.
Technical Fouls – None.

Ten different players wearing Blue and White marked the book in the victory.

Six-three junior Ethan Willis scored 20-points to lead the way while senior Dauntay Merideth added 12.

James Pillers (eight) and Zach Bodeker (seven) added points in the win as Sparta outscored the Centurions 23-6 in the first quarter and never looked back in the win.

Century (1-8) was led by junior Conner Skaggs with nine-points for Coach Mark Zahm.

Junior Gannon Birkner tossed home a game-best 24-points for the 8-5 club.

Freshman Isaiah Lintker added 14-points and senior James Range finished with 12.

Senior Noah Frailey (17) and senior Klayton Wright (14) were bright spots for Coach Brad Vineyard and his Bearcats (3-11).

Coach Anthony Lowery needed every point as Waltonville improved to 2-7 on the season, with both wins coming over the Tornadoes.

Senior Quinn Gajewski scored 19-points for the Spartans while junior Gavin Dressler added nine.

The Spartans got eight-points each from sophomore Aiden Kretz and senior Jordan Reynolds.

Coach Jimmy Stevens' Z-R club got 18-points from senior Joe Earl and 13-points from junior Talon Mills as the Tornadoes fell to 1-11 on the season.

For head coach Kevin Smith it's the third win of the year as four players hit double-digits in scoring with junior Hayden Linhorts scoring 15-points, 11 of which came in the third quarter.

Senior Brody Rone (14), junior Kade Shelby (13) and senior Skylar Woodring (10) all contributed for Thompsonville (3-8).

Elverado (5-6) was led by senior Chase Buser with eight-points.