PIONEER INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Red Bud rolls past Trico, wins tourney title
Musketeers defensive effort too much for Pioneers; Steeleville, Egyptian win

12-06-08
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL – It didn’t take the Red Bud Musketeers long to set the tone for their opponent on Saturday night in the title game at the Trico Pioneer Invitational Tournament.

Converting early steals into fast break points using its quickness on the defensive end of the floor - head coach Dave Gilllingham’s Red Bud club soundly defeated the Pioneers, 57-27, to capture the tournament crown.

Like a guest that stays too long at a party – Red Bud overstayed its basketball welcome by treating host Trico to a severe hardwood beating.

While both teams are very young with little in the return of experience – Red Bud is clearly a step ahead in its rebuilding process.

“You never know what you are going to get at the beginning of the season and with us having no returning starters we came in here thinking that we want to get better every game,” said Gillingham. “With it being the second game today I thought the kids came out with intensity tonight. This is a good tournament for us and a good championship for the kids. Trico is a good young team and they will get better.”

Forcing Trico (4-1) into 21 turnovers on the evening – which included 12 Red Bud steals – the Musketeers finished their week at 5-0. This is a good beginning of the season for a young group that will head into tough Cahokia Conference play in the coming weeks.

“We changed our defensive philosophy this year. I had always been a man-to-man coach but we are playing a 1-2-2 ball press this year and it created some turnovers for us tonight.”

“Some” is an understatement. Trico committed five turnovers in each of the first three quarters (six in the fourth) and trailed from the outset. Nearly all of the miscues turned into Red Bud points.

The MVP of the tournament went to Tim Conway of Red Bud – a 6-foot-1 senior forward – who netted eight points Saturday night. Conway scored six straight points (two baskets on transitions after making steals) to close out the third quarter, which removed all doubt of the final outcome.

But the real thorn in the side of Trico on Saturday night was Red Bud’s Stefan Gregson – a 5-foot-11 junior guard.

This guard dropped five trifectas on the Pioneers in the first half and finished with those 15 points.

Point-guard Adam Kunkel – a 5-foot-10 sophomore – ended up with 13 points in the rout.

Logan Thies was the lone bright spot for head coach Shane Hawkins’ club – finishing with 12 points as only five of the Trico players hit the board in points.

Red Bud’s supremacy was from the beginning to the end.

Coach Gillingham witnessed his club explode to a 7-1 lead in the opening moments.

Conway scored his first points on – what else – a steal and fast break lay in for a quick 2-0 lead on Trico’s first half-court possession.

The Pioneers had a couple of brief runs in the contest – the first coming midway through the opening stanza.

Logan Thies scored a basket in between two Jesse Smith scores in a 6-0 run that cut into the Red Bud lead at 12-9 with 2:19 to go.

However that would be as close as Trico would get the rest of the way.

Every time the Pioneers made any sort of run Red Bud answered quickly.

Those Musketeers finished the frame with a 7-0 blast – with a Gregson bomb from the left wing making it 19-9 at the first horn. It was the guard’s second 3-pointer of the quarter and was the precursor to what the future would hold for Trico.

Gregson delivered three more daggers in the second quarter.

His first one from the left corner in front of the Trico bench doubled the score at 26-13.

He netted back-to-back bombs off of nice Kunkel assists as part of a 10-2 half-ending sprint.

When Kunkel scored on a fast break lay in after yet another steal – Trico limped into the lockerroom down 36-15.

The best of the Pioneer runs came in the opening moments of the third quarter.

Thies (4), Smith (2) and Travis Carlock (2) combined on an 8-2 scoring spree that forced Gilllingham to burn a timeout at 38-23 with 5:18 left.

Unfortunately for the Trico backers – that was the last hurrah for the home-team.

The Pioneers wouldn’t score again until 3:54 remained in the contest.

Red Bud hammered in the next 15 points – those six straight by Conway, six by Kunkel, a rebound basket by Chance Albertson and a free throw by Jordan Buch.

When Buch hit the second of a two-shot opportunity – the lead had grown to a “mercy rule” 53-23 score.

Continuous clock kicked in as the Musketeers prepared for the celebration.

“I thought our defense jump-started our offense tonight,” added Gillingham. “We hit some three’s and that sure makes the offense look good. Shooting is contagious and when a couple of the kids hit shots early the other kids kind of feed off of it. It wasn’t that Trico was playing that poorly defensively – I just think we made some tough shots early.”

Red Bud was 23-of-47 from the floor but that is very disingenuous as to how well the Musketeers converted offensively. Eleven of the missed shots were in the fourth quarter after the game had already been decided.

Trico had as many rebounds (21) as they did turnovers, as they were out-manned on the glass by nine overall.

The Pioneers were just 13-of-40 from the field and didn’t convert any of their eight 3-point attempts.

Game 15
1
2
3
4
-
F
Red Bud
19
17
10
11
-
57
Trico
09
06
08
04
-
27

Red Bud (57) – Kunkel 6 0 1-2 13, Gregson 0 5 0-0 15, Kory Liefer 2 1 0-0 7, Conway 4 0 0-0 8, Albertson 3 0 0-0 6, Schrader 1 0 0-0 2, Ringering 0 0 2-2 2, Buch 0 0 1-2 1, Hoffman 1 0 1-2 3.
2FG-17, 3FG-6, FT-5-8, PF-11.

Trico (27) – Thies 6 0 0-0 12, Smith 4 0 0-0 8, McCaleb 0 0 0-0 0, Wilson 0 0 0-0 0, Carlock 1 0 1-4 3, Musselman 1 0 0-0 2, Coleman 0 0 0-0 0, Young 0 0 0-0 0, Heins 1 0 0-2 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-0, FT-1-6, PF-12.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

STEELEVILLE 78, ELVERADO 61
The Warriors finished the tournament 1-4 and are 1-5 overall after topping Elverado in the second game of the final session.

Andrew Pokrzywinski – a 5-foot-10 sophomore and Colin Smith – a 6-foot-1 sophomore – led all scorers with 23 and 21 points in the contest.

The Warriors used a 14-4 run to close out the first quarter and never looked back in picking up its first win of the season.

Steeleville also got a nine points from Jason Becker; eight points from Dustin Pim and five points from Josh Diercks.

Coach Carl Zumbahlen saw his team finish off Elverado by hitting 17-of-25 free throw attempts (including 6-of-9 in the final quarter).

Elverado (0-5) had a couple of bright spots in Kyle Kempfer – a 6-foot-2 junior – and 5-foot-11 senior Coy Cobin. Kempfer led his club with 17 points while Cobin chipped in 12.

Game 14
1
2
3
4
-
F
Elverado
10
18
16
17
-
61
Steeleville
20
16
17
25
-
78

Elverado (61) – Cobin 2 3 0-0 12, Arnett 1 0 2-4 4, Kempfer 8 1 1-2 17, Armstrong 2 0 1-5 5, Stewart 4 0 0-0 8, McCormick 2 0 0-0 4, Sarenson 1 1 2-2 7, Salinas 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-20, 3FG-5, FT-6-13, PF-19.

Steeleville (78) – Smith 6 1 6-8 21, Becker 2 1 2-4 9, Potter 1 0 0-0 2, Diercks 0 1 2-2 5, Wittenbrink 0 0 0-0 0, Lalis 2 0 0-0 4, Gerberding 0 0 0-0 0, Pokrzywinski 3 4 5-6 23, Reel 2 0 0-2 4, Pim 3 0 2-3 8. 2FG-20, 3FG-7, FT-17-25, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.


EGYPTIAN 67, SHAWNEE 47
In a battle of South Egyptian conference schools the Pharaohs took care of the Redskins to finish in third place overall at the Pioneer Invitational.

Opening the season with two-consecutive tournaments – head coach Matt Mandrell saw his Egyptian squad improve to 5-3 overall (3-2) in the Trico event.

Using the one-two punch of Bradley Buckley and Matt Petermichel – Egyptian raced past its SEC rival.

The 6-foot-1 senior Buckley scored 22 while Petermichel – a 6-foot-3 junior - added 19 in a contest that began with Egyptian roaring out to an 18-5 lead at the end of one quarter.

Charlie Holman and Lemont Toots each added six points for the Pharaohs.

Head coach Cory Barker’s Shawnee club (2-3) was paced by 6-foot-1 junior forward Tyler Davis with 16 points while teammate 5-foot-11 senior guard Clay Murphy pitched in 14.

Tyler Glidewell added a pair of 3-pointers and finished with eight points for the Redskins.

 

 

Game 13
1
2
3
4
-
F
Shawnee
05
17
14
11
-
47
Egyptian
18
16
10
23
-
67

Shawnee (47) – Griggs 1 0 0-0 2, Glidewell 0 2 2-2 8, Murphy 2 2 4-6 14, Davis 7 0 2-7 16, Stevens 0 0 0-0 0, Brant 1 0 0-0 2, Spurlock 2 0 1-3 5, McMahon 0 0 0-0 0, Baltzell 0 0 0-0 0, Livesay 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-13, 3FG-4, FT-9-18, PF-15.
Egyptian (67) – Penden 1 0 0-0 2, Petermichel 8 1 0-3 19, Klein 1 0 0-2 2, Toots 1 0 4-4 6, Love 0 0 0-0 0, Buckley 10 0 2-5 22, 2 0 2-2 6, Marble 1 1 0-0 5, Ward 1 1 0-2 5.
2FG-25, 3FG-3, FT-8-18, PF-13.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Game 12
1
2
3
4
-
F
Egyptian
11
12
11
13
-
47
Red Bud
19
20
11
22
-
72

Egyptian (47) – Petermichael 1 1 0-0 5, Klein 0 0 0-0 0, Toots 3 0 0-0 6, Buckley 8 0 0-0 16, Holman 3 0 1-1 7, Marable 3 1 0-0 9, Delmore 0 0 0-0 0, Ward 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-20, 3FG-2, FT-1-1, PF-16.
Red Bud (72) – Kunkel 5 2 5-8 21, Gregson 0 3 0-0 9, Kory Liefer 1 3 2-4 13, Conway 5 0 5-5 15, Albertson 1 0 3-4 2, Ringering 0 0 0-0 0, Buch 0 0 0-0 0, Hoffmann 1 2 1-2 9.
2FG-13, 3FG-10, FT-16-23, PF-8.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Game 11 
1
2
3
4
-
F
Trico
21
20
17
04
-
62
Elverado
11
05
09
07
-
32

Trico (62) – Dintelman 1 1 1-2 6, Thies 4 0 9-10 17, Smith 2 1 0-0 9, McCaleb 1 0 0-1 2. Wilson 1 0 1-2 3, Carlock 2 0 0-2 4, Coleman 4 0 3-6 11, Young 1 0 1-4 3, Heins 4 0 0-0 8.
2FG-20, 3FG-2, FT-16-29, PF-15.

Elverado (32) – Cobin 3 1 0-0 9, Carlson 0 0 0-0 0, Bishop 0 0 0-0 0, Kempfer 5 0 1-4 11, Armstrong 3 0 0-4 6, Stewart 1 0 1-4 3, McCormick 0 0 1-2 1, Salinas 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-1, FT-3-11, PF-19.

Fouled Out – Kempfer, Elverado.
Technical Fouls – None.

Game 10 
1
2
3
4
-
F
Steeleville
11
11
13
16
-
51
Shawnee
20
06
13
25
-
64

Steeleville (51) – C Smith 4 0 5-9 13, Becker 4 1 3-4 14, Potter 0 0 0-0 0, Diercks 3 0 0-0 6, Wittenbrink 1 0 0-0 2, Lalis 1 0 4-6 6, Gerberding 0 0 0-0 0, Pokrzywinski 3 1 1-2 10,
2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-13-21, PF-16.

Shawnee (64) – Griggs 2 0 1-3 5, Glidewell 1 3 0-0 11, Murphy 4 2 6-6 20, Stevens 3 0 0-0 6, Spurlock 3 0 1-4 7, Brant 1 1 0-0 5, McMahon 5 0 1-2 9 2FG-18, 3FG-6, FT-10-17, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Glidewell, Shawnee.
Technical Fouls – None.