01/15/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
ANNA - When a program hasn't been accustomed to success it can take time to envision just how to win games.

The Eagles have been figuring things out this season.

After winning a grand total of nine games in the past two seasons (three wins in 2019-20, six wins 2020-21) head coach Stephen Dreher has his 2021-22 club playing well and they added yet another win on Saturday night.

Following a fast start to the contest, Vienna managed to overcome some fourth quarter problems as they held off Anna-Jonesboro on the road in front of a large crowd Saturday night.

Vienna never trailed as the Eagles held on to a 63-58 win.

Despite five fourth quarter turnovers Coach Dreher's club is now 15-4 on the season

The Eagles overcame a late technical foul and some missed shots in the final eight minutes as they have won six-consecutive games.

“We're learning 'on the fly' here. We're not used to this (winning) and we have to get used to it,” said Coach Dreher. “I'm really excited about it for the kids. To see the joy on their faces, that's what coaching is about.”

On the other hand head coach Mike Chamness and his team continue to show improvement but without much to show for it in the won-loss column.

The Wildcats have just a single early season win and are now 1-15 overall.

Although they rallied from down 17-points in the second half to get close, A-J lost its 11th consecutive game.

Coach Chamness can point to a glaring early stat as to the reasoning behind his team falling behind.

Vienna crashed the boards on Saturday night, coming up with a 29-22 edge overall.

But it was the offensive glass that allowed the Eagles to gain the advantage in the first half.

“We came out in man-to-man and we had a hard time guarding (Skylar) Blankenship so we went to zone. They (Vienna) have a lot of kids who can hit shots and tonight they did a great job hitting the glass,” said Coach Chamness. “I thought we did a much better job in the second half.”

Coach Dreher's club grabbed five early offensive rebounds (seven in the first half) with nearly all of the boards leading directly to points.

“We usually don't rebound that well but we've been working really hard on it in practice. They (kids) are getting better,” said Coach Dreher.

Six different Vienna players scored in the game with four of them reaching double-digits in a balanced offensive attack that led to the win.

Five-eight senior Sean Acree 'lit up' the Wildcats from the outside as he drained four 3-pointers and finished with 18-points.

Senior Skylar Blankenship, a 6-5 senior forward, netted 12-points.

Kaden Vaughn and Charlie King, both juniors, added 11 and 10 respectively in points for the Eagles.

Two other Vienna players; senior guard Dawson Hill and sophomore guard Owen Treat, added six-points each.

Anna-Jonesboro got 20-points from sophomore guard Dylan Harvel and 19-points from senior Landon Trammel.

Trammel knocked down five 3-pointers for A-J.

Junior Dawson Trammel added 13-points for the Wildcats.

All of the Vienna players, with the exception of King, scored in the first quarter as the Eagles took the lead.

Treat nailed down the first shot of the game for Vienna, a 3-pointer from the right wing for a quick advantage.

Consecutive scores from Vaughn and Blankenship forced an A-J timeout at 8-0 Vienna.

Although the Wildcats managed to get some points in the quarter, they ended up just 3-of-8 shooting and added three turnovers to the problems.

Senior Bryce Henry scored the first basket for Anna-Jonesboro and L. Trammel added two of his long range shots.

Acree knocked down his first of four trifecta's late in the quarter which ended at 18-9 Vienna.

All five of the first quarter missed shot by Anna-Jonesboro were rebounded by the Eagles who held a 10-1 rebounding edge in the first eight minutes.

Vienna pushed its lead out to double-figures just a few minutes into the second quarter.

Three 3-point bombs by the Eagles' were part of an 11-4 run.

King scored all 10 of his points in the second quarter, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the early run while D. Trammel helped keep the Wildcats from getting farther behind.

Trammel scored the final six-points of the quarter for his team, with a conventional three-point play on a drive to the basket off of an offensive rebound and a 3-pointer from the top of the circle as the Wildcats went to the break down 31-21.

After playing pretty even to start the second half, Vienna put together another run to lead by 16-points heading to the final quarter.

Acree scored 10 of the Eagles points in the third (including the last three baskets) connecting two more times from beyond 20-feet.

He also added a couple of nice drives to the goal for points.

When he canned his final shot of the night, another long bomb with :09 left, Vienna led 52-36.

Although L. Trammel hit three of his five 3-pointers in the third, the Wildcats were in trouble.

A-J had an offensive run left in them and it began early.

Acree hit a free throw to stretch the lead to 17 before A-J got going.

Ten-consecutive points, with a pair of three-point plays, one each by D. Trammel and Harvel along with buckets by Harvel and L. Trammel made it 53-46 with 3:04 remaining.

Vienna, however, managed to make enough plays in the final minutes to hold off the Wildcats.

Blankenship came up with a nice defensive play on a blocked shot in the lane on a Harvel drive.

But the 6-5 senior also made a mental mistake that could've been costly.

A fast break attempt turned into a two-handed dunk by the senior.

However he slammed the ball down after the score and was issued a technical foul with just :35 remaining.

L. Trammel made both technical foul shots and a few moments later Harvel nailed a 3-point shot as A-J took a timeout with :22.8 left down 61-54.

Vienna scored on a set inbounds play against full-court pressure, which resulted in a long pass and an easy score by Vaughn that 'iced the game'.

A couple of A-J scores in the final seconds sandwiched around an Acree missed free throw cut the margin five at the horn.

“A lot of times in the middle of the season an underdog comes into a game thinking that 'if we get them then we're back in business' and they (Anna-Jonesboro) had a great effort tonight,” said Coach Dreher. “What will happen is we are going to get everyone's best effort. We're not going to sneak up on anybody the rest of the year.”

The Wildcats hit just 22-of-52 from the floor, 8-of-22 from the arc.

Coach Chamness' team did manage to take care of the ball Saturday night; committing just eight-turnovers while forcing Vienna into mistakes.

Coach Dreher got a 21-of-45 shooting effort from his kids, but these Eagles were better from the outside.

At the 3-point line they ended up 10-of-21.

The early issues with blocking out on rebounds was the biggest factor for A-J.

Both teams head into tournaments next week.

Vienna is at the Metropolis “Superman Classic” where they will play Graves County (KY.) in the eight-team bracketed event.

Anna-Jonesboro will play in the Johnston City “Arrowhead Classic” next week as their first game in the round robin tournament will be Tuesday against Eldorado.

“We made a nice run and gave ourselves a chance in the second half. We went back to man and then caused some turnovers in the fourth quarter but when you lose by five you go back and think about some critical points in the game,” said Coach Chamness. “We gave ourselves a chance to win and that's all you can ask for. Now we have to find a way to win.”

Vienna (63) – Acree 3 4 0-0 13, Hill 1 0 4-7 6, Blankenship 4 0 4-6 12, Vaughn 2 2 1-1 11, Treat 0 2 0-1 6, Nichols 0 0 0-0 0, King 1 2 2-2 10, Clay 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-11, 3FG-10, FT-11-17, PF-12.
Anna-Jonesboro (58) – Hall 0 0 0-0 0, D. Trammel 4 1 2-2 13, L. Trammel 1 5 2-2 19, Harvel 6 2 2-4 20, Denny 1 0 0-0 2, Gerardi 0 0 0-0 0, Carver 0 0 0-0 0, Henry 2 0 0-0 4, Sullivan 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-14, 3FG-8, FT-6-8, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Blankenship - Vienna.