03-13-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA - Offensively the Sesser-Valier Red Devils ran into a near perfect storm on Saturday afternoon during the Class 1A state title game against Salt Fork.

Being held to just 34.1 percent shooting (15-44 from the field) for the game – Coach Chip Basso’s club fell 55-42 to finish at 26-10 that was good enough for second place.

The normally offensive effective Red Devils found themselves up against the number-one ranked Storm and became Salt Fork’s 33rd victim in the 2009-10 season.

“It was like looking in a mirror in a sense because they (Sesser-Valier) were very similar to us in every position,” said Salt Fork head coach Aaron Hird. “The offenses and defenses they played. The were a lot like us.”

Kendall Gibson – normally not called upon to carry much of the scoring load – topped S-V with 15-points.

He was the only Red Devil in double-figures.

High scoring forward Justin Matyi struggled from the field – hitting just 2-of-15 shots to finish with eight points.

T.J. Eubanks – who hit five 3-pointers on Friday in a semifinal win over Madison – was just 1-of-9 from behind the arc on Saturday to finish with three points.

Salt Fork blanketed the Red Devils for the whole game and took the lead back from Sesser-Valier early in the first quarter and never looked back.

“We had some good looks at 3’s today and the ball didn’t go down for us,” Sesser-Valier head coach Chip Basso. “Justin (Matyi) was a little bit off of his game today but you have to give them (Salt Fork) credit. They are so solid defensively and they run waves of guys at you. They are big, tall and athletic and they changed a lot of our shots.”

Senior guard Dane Eubanks finished with seven points in the game and scored the first points of the matchup on a drive in the middle of the lane just :11 into the contest.

When Gibson hit his first shot in the paint with 7:00 left – Sesser-Valier had its biggest lead at 4-0.

The game turned for the worst for S-V shortly there after.

Salt Fork outscored the Devils 8-2 the remainder of the low-scoring first quarter.

Five-foot-eleven senior guard Joe Pratt scored twice in the first quarter for the Storm – including an offensive rebound stick back from one of his own missed shots that beat the buzzer for an 8-6 lead.

Matyi missed his first four shots in the game and never got on track.

His first points to open the second quarter came from the foul line to tie the game at 8-all.

But the Red Devils were outgunned 12-4 the rest of the half and limped into the lockerroom down 20-12 at intermission.

“They did a great job inside on Justin and a lot of people haven’t been able to do that against us this year,” Basso explained. “They kept us off-balanced today and we really didn’t get into a true rhythm.”

Salt Fork got a pair of inside shots from 6-foot-5 junior reserve David Keenan in the scoring run and two late quarter scores from 6-foot-5 junior forward Joel Learnard to close the half.

His first shot on an offensive rebound looked like it might have glanced off of the shot clock that is above the backboard but it counted.

Sesser-Valier – who struggled in keeping Madison off of the offensive boards on Friday – had the same sort of trouble with the Storm.

“You can only overcome so many little things before they add up to big things and the rebounding was definitely one of those things today,” explained Basso. “It seemed like every time they needed a bucket they would get an offensive rebound and a stick back. We didn’t do a good job on the boards today.”

Salt Fork finished with 12 offensive rebounds with six of those coming in the second quarter.

Hitting just 5-of-19 shots in the first half and 0-of-6 from behind the 3-point line – Sesser-Valier was in trouble heading into the second half.

T.J. Eubanks made his only shot of the game – a 3-pointer with 5:05 left that cut the Salt Fork lead to just 23-17.

A pair of free throws by Learnard and a 3-point answer by Pratt got the lead back to double-figures at 28-17.

Both Learnard and Keenan would score again to close the third quarter at 35-25.

Sesser-Valier made one quick scoring run to start the fourth quarter – a 6-1 sprint with Gibson scoring twice on consecutive possessions and Dane Eubanks scoring on a drive to the basket while being fouled by Pratt.

Even though he missed the free throw – the Red Devils were in striking range.

But the hope of winning a title game quickly evaporated as Salt Fork scored the next seven points.

Learnard hit his only 3-pointer of the game to start the run and the strategy of fouling Salt Fork forward Nathan Fathouer backfired.

Fathouer came into the tournament hitting just 60 percent of his free throws but made 8-of-9 in the next two minutes of play as the Storm pulled away.

“This is nothing that surprises us because we know that he can make the free throws,” said Salt Fork head coach Aaron Hird when talking about Nathan Fathouer. “He holds a state record in grade school by hitting ten free throws in a championship game so we knew he was capable of doing it today.”

Learnard added another three free throws as Sesser-Valier was forced to foul late.

Gibson, Myles Tinsley and Dane Eubanks eventually fouled out in the final four minutes of the game as South Fork put the finishing touches on a title game victory.

Senior guard Josh Chandler closed the door with a long rebound that turned into a fast break lay up and a 55-40 lead with 1:16 left.

Both coaches let the reserves finish the game.

There are many stats to point to the Sesser-Valier loss but rebounding might have told the biggest tale.

Salt Fork out rebounded the Red Devils 38-27 with Learnard leading the way with what turned out to be a double-double with 20-points and 14-rebounds.

“I think part of the reasoning for that is that you have to give so much attention to Joel (Learnard) because he can dominate the glass by himself,” added Coach Hird. “By overplaying him some of the other kids got to the glass for us. It was a lot of different guys for us today that stepped up and I’m so proud of the kids.”

Fathouer added 10-points while Salt Fork got eight points apiece from Keenan and Pratt in the victory for the 33-1 Storm.

Tinsley ended his playing career at Sesser-Valier with two points while reserves Tim Witcher and Dustin Hicks each scored.

Hicks came off the bench and hit a late 3-pointer and Witcher hit a pair of free throws for two points.

“It was a great experience for us up here and to be a part of this final four atmosphere and March Madness,” said Basso. “This is a very, very special group and each individual part made up a great run. They played so well together and played unselfish basketball and we are going to miss them.”

Sesser-Valier (42) – Gibson 6 0 3-4 15, T.J. Eubanks 0 1 0-2 3, Matyi 2 0 4-4 8, D. Eubanks 3 0 1-3 7, Tinsley 1 0 0-0 2, Witcher 0 0 2-2 2, Hicks 1 1 0-0 5, DelBene 0 0 0-0 0, Pitchford 0 0 0-0 0, Donovan 0 0 0-0 0, Vercellino 0 0 0-0 0, Stanley 0 0 0-0 0, Edwards 1 0 0-0 2, Rock 0 0 0-0 0, Dorris 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-2, FT-10-17, PF-22.
Catlin South Fork (55) – Learnard 4 1 9-12 20, Anderson 0 0 0-0 0, Fathauer 1 0 8-9 10, Chandler 2 0 1-2 5, Pratt 2 1 1-4 8, Sacre 0 0 0-0 0, Isenhower 0 0 0-0 0, Plotner 0 0 0-0 0, Bodine 0 0 0-0 0, Danzl 0 0 0-0 0, Bowen 0 0 0-0 0, McCord 0 0 0-0 0, Fluhr 0 0 0-0 0, Manning 2 0 0-0 4, Keenan 4 0 0-0 8.
2FG-14, 3FG-5, FT-15-22, PF-11.
Fouled Out – D. Eubanks, Gibson, Tinsley - Sesser-Valier.
Technical Fouls – None.