02-15-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL – Senior nights for basketball teams are usually a situation where teams can get caught up in the emotion and not get off to a good start.

That didn’t happen to the Trico Pioneers on Saturday night.

Hosting their rivals Chester on a cold evening, the Pioneers started hot and stayed that way for nearly all of their 68-40 win.

Three players for Coach Mike Denault went for double-figures in the win as the Pioneers improved to 16-10 overall and 8-2 in the Black Diamond Conference West Division.

Six-foot-six junior Chase Rednour paced the Pioneers with 17-points while teammates senior’s Kyle Hammel and Jordan Jones added 15-points each.

Missing just two field goal attempts in the first half, Trico was never headed in picking up the victory in the final home game of the season.

“We talked about it (Senior Night) but more importantly we have a conference championship looming in the balance and the momentum we have gained over the last month or so we needed to maintain that,” said Coach Denault. “I thought our seniors did a nice job tonight. Kyle (Hammel) and Jones are used to starting and Stromeyer started for us in the last two years and he fills a role for us. DJ Bryant started for us and he handled the ball well. That is tough for a kid that doesn’t play a lot of minutes to come in and run the show.”

Chester never found any rhythm on offense as they fell to 10-14 overall and 3-6 in the BDC.

The Pioneers are playing their best basketball and it showed just moments into the game on Saturday night.

Chester head coach Brad Norman wanted his club to play a slower style of game to off-set the Pioneers’ speed advantage.

They won the opening tap and ran 1:11 off the clock before sophomore Jordan Berner scored from the right blocks for a 2-0 lead.

It was the only lead the Yellow Jackets held.

Seconds later Trico responded and took off.

Rednour scored on a midrange shot and Hammel nailed the first of his four 3-pointers for a 5-2 advantage.

Another 3-pointer, this time by Jones, extended the Trico lead to 8-3.

“The majority of this (loss) came from Trico’s intensity on defense. We didn’t respond very well and we were rushing shots on offense. We got down a few points and we got in a hurry, which ultimately ended up hurting us,” said Coach Norman. “We didn’t do a good job of sticking to our game plan, which was to be patient. Trico’s defense had a lot to do with those turnovers. They were being very physical on the post.”

Chester, when they managed to get into their zone press, failed to force the Pioneers into mistakes.

Twice in the first quarter Trico scored off a press-break. Rednour scored twice on those chances in the lane.

Coach Denault’s team hit 6-of-7 shots from the floor in the first eight minutes and led 17-9 at the end of one.

As if things couldn’t get worse for the visitors, Trico jumped out in the second quarter with the same vigor as they did in the first.

Back-to-back 3-point bombs by Hammel and Jones pushed the lead to 23-9 and forced a Yellow Jackets’ time out.

Chester had an awful stretch in which they committed five-consecutive turnovers that all ended up in points for Trico.

“Defensively I thought the first half was one of the two best performances that we have put on all year,” added Coach Denault. “The first 16-minutes was some of the best that we have played. Our focus is to put together 32-minutes.”

Part of the issue for Chester on the evening was foul trouble by their point guard and team leader Jake Lochhead.

The 6-foot-2 senior vet was forced to the bench in the second quarter with three personals at the 5:48 mark.

With Lochhead on the pine, Trico took advantage with yet another run (6-0) for a 29-11 spread.

Six-foot-one junior Ryan Meyers got into the excitement, hitting a pair of shots.

He took an assist from senior Ryan Stromeyer, who was lying on his back after a mad scramble for a loose ball, for a lay in.

Meyers made a steal on the Chester end of the floor and went the distance for another score and a 29-11 lead.

“It is a tough situation for us (Lochhead foul trouble) when Jake is on the bench. Usually he is very good about avoiding contact when he has fouls so he can stay on the floor,” said Coach Norman. “But he was trying to be aggressive and trying to play his style of basketball and Trico took a couple of big charges on him.”

With the game slipping away, Coach Norman was forced to put Lochhead back into the contest.

This strategy didn’t turn out as planned as this senior guard picked up foul number four on a charge with 1:31 to go.

With Lochhead back on the sidelines, Trico closed the half with another scoring sprint.

Meyers, Jones and Rednour added point to the scoreboard to push the lead to 23-points.

When Rednour took a pass from junior Jack Chapman for a bucket with :02 remaining, the teams went to the lockers at 35-12 Trico.

Trico hit 13-of-15 field goal attempts in the first 16-minutes.

“We have been playing with a lot of confidence and all five starters have played well for us,” added Coach Denault. “One night it might be Kyle, the next night it might be Jones. Meyers, Rednour, etc. Chapman has had some big games for us. It has been all five of them. Every night somebody has stepped up for us. The confidence that they are playing with is where you want to be this time of year.”

It is natural for teams to relax a bit with a big lead and the Pioneers did just that for the first few minutes of the third quarter.

Chester made its only real move of the contest in the third quarter.

After Rednour and Meyers scored for Trico to push the lead to 39-14, Chester scored eight consecutive points.

Sophomore Jason Schwartz hit a short jumper and senior Austin Gendron hit shots to force a Trico timeout.

A pair of free throws by senior Cody Mileur and another score from Gendron breathed a bit of life into the Chester sails at 39-22 with 4:48 left.

However as it turned out, that would be as close as the Jackets would get to Trico the remainder of the game.

Following a foul call on Berner, his fourth of the game, Coach Norman was issued a technical foul.

Two made free throws by Jones and subsequent baskets by Chapman and Hammel pushed the lead to 51-28.

The beginning of the fourth quarter saw Coach Norman pick up his second technical foul and ejection just seconds into the frame.

Lochhead picked up his fifth personnel foul on the next Chester possession on a charging call and the Yellow Jackets chances fell by the wayside.

“He (Lochhead) is one of the two or three best players in our league, night in and night out. He is a handful. But I think we have the best one-on-one defender in the conference in Hammel. Him with a little bit of help from his teammates taking charges on drives to the basket,” said Coach Denault. “It is important to understand the other teams’ strengths and weaknesses. I thought we did a good job of taking him away tonight.”

Trico added to the “pile on” with an 8-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers by Hammel and a drive by Chapman.

Jones added another long range bomb and sophomore Jake Compton “iced the cake” with a score with 2:14 left in the fourth quarter for the biggest margin of the night at 66-37.

The two clubs emptied the benches for the final moments.

The Pioneers ended up a scorching 24-of-42 overall (57.1 percent) as they nailed 7-of-10 3-pointers on the night.

They held a 22-14 rebounding edge and finished with 16-turnovers, with six of them coming in the final quarter after the damage had been done.

Chester didn’t shoot the ball that poorly at 15-of-32 overall but they were just 2-of-8 from beyond the arc, making five less treys (15-points) as this made the difference.

The foul trouble that plagued Lochhead was also a major factor as this senior finished with more fouls (5) than points (3).

The Yellow Jackets were led by Gendron with 10-points, the only Chester player to reach double-digits.

Berner finished with nine points for Chester.

Meyers followed Rednour, Jones and Hammel with eight markers for Trico, who will capture at least a share of the Black Diamond West Division title if they win out against Zeigler-Royalton and Elverado on the road.

They have split two conference games against Sesser-Valier, whom they are tied with at 8-2 currently.

Trico is at the Goreville 1A Regional and the Pioneers are the #2 seed behind the host Blackcats, a team they are 1-1 against this season with the most recent game on February 8 at home that was a 78-69 Trico triumph.

As for Chester, they have games remaining against Steeleville, Sesser-Valier and Goreville before heading into 2A regional play at Anna-Jonesboro where they are the #4 seed and will play Vienna.

“Most importantly we have to learn to play at a different level coming out of the gate. We have to be ready and not get ourselves in a hole like we did tonight,” added Coach Norman.