12-02-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL - It took Coach Shane Hawkins’ Trico club a few minutes to get rolling in the final game of their own Pioneer Invitational Tournament.

Exactly seven minutes and forty-two seconds.

Spotting the Egyptian Pharaohs a 20-10 advantage by missing nine first quarter shots to go with eight turnovers, the Pioneers were like a Head East album.

Following wins on Friday night against rival Steeleville and a Saturday afternoon tournament clinching victory over Christ Our Savior Lutheran, Trico was ‘Flat as a Pancake.’

At least for those first seven or so minutes.

But then the Pioneers got in gear and left Egyptian in their wake with a 16-0 run that became a 28-6 finish of the first half.

Trico coasted home in the final two quarters to a 76-44 win to go 5-0 in the PIT and 6-0 overall in Hawkins’ first season as a head coach.

“We came out tonight like we did this morning against Christ Our Savior and the kids kind of had a let down after beating Steeleville the night before,” added Hawkins. “Our mental approach wasn’t as good today in either game as it was Friday night but we were able to overcome that and finish the tournament.”

Trico crushed the Pharaohs on the boards by out-rebounding Egyptian 41-25 while four players hit for double figures for Trico. Ten different Pioneers scored points in the final game of the sixth annual event.

Bryan Rodewald topped Trico with 15 points, Allen Brandon added 13 points while Ryan Ellet and Brandon Crain added 12 and 11 points respectively.

Crain was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player while other Trico players Skyler Barlow, Casey Bollmann and Allen Brandon were named all-tournament.

“I’m excited for Brandon Crain to be the MVP because no question he was the best player here this week,” Hawkins explained. “We’ve got a really good group of seniors and for those guys to get a coaching change and have a new coach come in with a totally different philosophy they have responded and are our leaders,” added Hawkins.

Other than that early lapse, the Pioneers dominated an Egyptian squad that was playing their seventh game (all on the road) in the first two weeks of the season.

Not unlike the morning game with COSL, Trico struggled early in the finale and Coach Matt Mandrell’s team took advantage with a good start.

Brady Buckley, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, had a hand in nearly everything that Egyptian accomplished in the first quarter.

Scoring 10 of his team and game high 19 points, Buckley had four offensive rebounds in the run.

His six consecutive points with a little over five minutes gone from the opening tap led his squad to a 16-8 lead.

Buckley finished the run with a fast break lay in on an assist from Rayshaun Woodson following a Trico turnover. At this point Hawkins had seen enough and called a timeout with 2:10 to go.

Consecutive rebound baskets by Darius Ballentine and Tim Ward gave the Pharaohs that 20-10 advantage.

At this point, Trico turned things around in a rush.

Forcing nine turnovers in the second quarter and holding Egyptian to a 1-of-11 shooting mark, the Pioneers rallied quickly.

Trico scored from the inside mostly as they got the ball in the paint against Egyptian’s zone defense.

Ellet scored twice in transition in the run, once on a lob pass from half court from Barlow.

Allen Brandon scored seven points in the second quarter, six of them in that 16-0 run.

By the time he cashed in another Barlow assist on score in the lane, the lead was 26-20 forcing Mandrell to have a talk with his team.

Egyptian’s Ray Simmons came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 3:53 to go before halftime cut the margin back to 26-23.

It was the Pharaohs only basket of the quarter.

Another Ellet score on a fast break and four points from Rodewald and the rout was on at 32-23.

Egyptian managed just 3-of-6 free throws the rest of the quarter while Trico got a six points from Crain on a 3-pointer from the left corner and a three-point play on a fast break while being fouled by Buckley.

When the halftime buzzer sounded, Trico was in control at 38-26.

If there was any chance for Egyptian to make a run at Trico in the second half, it ended quickly as Coach Mandrell’s team missed its first eight shots in the third quarter while the Pioneers put an end to the outcome with three consecutive scores.

Baskets by Brandon Dilday, Bollmann and Crain on a rebound of his own miss ballooned the lead to 44-26.

Egyptian would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the way as they fell to 2-5 on the season.

Other than Buckley’s 19 points, the Pharaohs had no other player in double figures.

Trico was 30-of-63 from the field but committed 16 turnovers (eight in the first quarter).

“This was a good week for us to get a chance to work on a lot of things. We played against three or four different styles of basketball and we saw some things we probably weren’t prepared for. That will make us better down the line,” said Hawkins, a former assistant coach in the college ranks who is in his first season at Trico. “I see a lot of positives and I think that this team can continue to get better.”

Connecting on just 18-of-57 shots (32 percent) and committing 20 miscues, the Pharaohs were as cold as the weather from the floor and produced more turnovers than shots made.

“We wanted to come out and win the first four minutes that is one of our goals and we led after the first quarter but our shooting woes kind of returned,” said Egyptian coach Matt Mandrell. “They (Trico) took it to us after that. We were still getting pretty good looks at the basket but we weren’t making anything and Trico didn’t give us any second shots. Defensively they (Trico) did a good job on us and we couldn’t keep them off of the boards when they did miss some shots. We were competitive this week and even the first half of this game we were right there but this is a real good experience for the young kids to play this many games.”

Egyptian (44) - R. Woodson 0 0 0-1 0, Simmons 0 3 0-0 3, Toots 0 0 0-0 0, Z. Woodson 3 0 1-3 7, Ballentine 2 0 1-2 5, Buckley 9 0 1-3 19, Holmann 0 0 4-4 4, Petermichel 2 0 0-1 4, Ward 1 0 0-0 2..
2FG-17, 3FG-1, FT-7-14, PF-14.
Trico (76) - Walker 0 0 0-0 0, Barlow 0 0 0-0 0, Bollmann 3 1 0-0 9, Ellet 4 1 1-1 12, Crain 2 2 1-1 11, Stocks 0 1 0-0 3, Carlock 1 0 0-0 2, Dilday 4 0 0-0 8, Rodewald 4 0 7-10 15, Rieckenberg 1 0 0-0 2, Schutte 0 0 0-0 0, Brandon 6 0 1-2 13, Richmond 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-25, 3FG-5, FT-11-14, PF-19.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.

STEELEVILLE 64, ELVERADO 46
Behind 33 points from Jacob Wente and some sharp shooting from the charity stripe, the Warriors finished the tournament 4-1 with a victory over Elverado on Saturday night.

Coach Matt Laur’s team improved to 4-2 on the season with the win.

Wente scored 16 of his points in the fourth quarter and his teammates combined with him to hit 16-of-22 free throws, which included 11-of-17 in the final eight minutes.

Sophomore Jason Becker added 16 points for Steeleville as they finished in second place in the event.

Elverado (0-5) got 15 points from Justin Snell and 10 points from Jordan Evans in the loss.

CHRIST OUR SAVIOR LUTHERAN 59, FORT BOWMAN ACADEMY 38
Three of the Soldiers hit double-figures for COSL in the win over the Rangers.

Coach Jim Zobel got a combined 24 points from his sons’ Danny (14) and Peter (10) in the victory, the teams’ third on the young season.

Jacob Mayer stepped up big for COSL with 11 points, including three 3-pointers (two in the fourth quarter) for Coach Zobel.

Cory Ward with 14 points led Ft. Bowman Academy (1-9 overall).

Christ Our Savior Lutheran (59) – Hawkins 1 0 0-0 2, D. Zobel 6 0 2-2 14, Schaffner 4 0 1-2 9, Schrader 1 0 0-0 2, Mayer 1 3 0-2 11, Grammenz 1 0 2-2 4, Boeden 2 0 1-1 5, P. Zobel 5 0 0-0 10, Diercks 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-22, 3FG-3, FT-6-9, PF-9.
Fort Bowman Academy (38) – Crum 0 0 0-0 0, Ward 4 2 0-0 14, Boyd 1 0 0-0 2, Pepples 3 0 0-0 6, Weeden 2 0 0-1 4, Clay 4 0 2-5 10, Thomas 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-15, 3FG-2, FT-2-6, PF-8.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.