02-15-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
WALTONVILLE - Coach Mike Denault of Waltonville has stressed all season long about wanting his team to get tough on the defensive end of the court.

On Tuesday night at home against highly regarded non-conference foe Cisne, the Spartans put together perhaps their best defensive effort of the 2004-05 season.

Holding the high scoring Lions in check for most of the night and using a huge 18-7 fourth quarter bulge, Waltonville won its 13th consecutive contest, 53-41, in front of a loud partisan crowd.

With the victory, Waltonville improved to 20-7 on the season and are now playing their best basketball of the year.

Adam Kitowski led the Spartans with 21-points while teammates Jon Kash and Anthony Lowery tossed in eight points each.

Lowery, who does most of his work on the defensive end, slowed down Cisne's top gun Drew Glover holding the 6-foot-1 shooting guard to just 19-points, well below his average.

"I have said all year to the kids that if we are going to win big games against good opponents that we are going to have to get it done on the defensive end," said Waltonville head coach Mike Denault. "It took a while to get them (the players) to believe in that concept and we have shown phenomenal improvement."

Besides Glover, no other Cisne player hit for double figures as the Lions saw their record drop a notch to 23-3 on the year.

"We went about six or seven minutes and didn't score in the fourth quarter and that about sums it up," said Cisne head coach Kevin Bowen. "We didn't play too awfully bad defensively but they (Waltonville) did a good job tonight and my hat is off to them. We had some easy looks tonight but they still made us work at it."

Cisne was a dismal 15-of-46 from the field, including a disastrous 5-of-24 in the second half.

That poor shooting effort can for the most part be blamed on Waltonville shutting down the Lions fast break and perimeter offense, which had been trademarks of the Cisne attack this season.

Waltonville's late game domination was a result of some excellent board work, especially on the offensive glass.

The Spartans held a 28-16 rebounding edge that included seven offensive rebounds, four of which resulted in Waltonville points.

From the outset on Tuesday night, it appeared to be business as usual for the visiting Lions as this veteran group jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

While Waltonville was showing some patience on the offensive end, the early Spartan shots wouldn't fall.

However Glover got going early, scoring seven first quarter points.

His 3-pointer coming off of a screen in the left corner with 3:27 left gave the Lions that 5-0 start.

But Kitowski got Waltonville rolling with a pair of early buckets.

A tip-in on an offensive rebound opportunity and a fast break lay in on a steal by teammate Jordan Kabat cut the lead down to 5-4 with 2:22 left.

Kitowski matched Glover in the opening frame with seven points of his own.

His 3-pointer from the right wing tied the score at 7-7.

Following a conventional 3-point play by Lowery that evened the score at 10-apiece, Glover scored on a drive to the basket to finish a good first quarter by both teams at 12-10 Lions.

Waltonville got its first lead of the contest just 1:09 into the second quarter after Kitowski connected on a fade away shot from the left side and Jon Kash, who comes of the bench for the Spartans, hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Spartans a 13-12 lead.

Cisne jumped back in front on Lance Endsley's score on a baseline drive and 3-of-4 free throws by Glover and Endsley, which made it 17-13 Lions.

A Kabat shot in the lane, courtesy of an assist by Kash, and a 3-pointer by Lowery gave Waltonville back the lead 18-17 with 3:35 left.
At this point Glover began to take control of the Cisne offense.

Catching the Spartans napping on the defensive end on one trip, Glover dribbled straight up the court and canned a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give back the lead to Cisne.

Despite having his shot blocked twice in succession by Brandon Spotanski, Glover continued to take the ball to the basket.

On one of the rejections, Waltonville got points as Kitowski scored again in transition to give his team back the lead 21-20 with 1:07 to go.

However Glover closed out the second quarter strong, with a pair of drives the basket. His floater in the lane dropped through with :16 to gave back the lead to Cisne.

Subsequently, Kitowski drove the right side toward the basket but was whistled for a charging foul, which gave Glover one more shot with :07.3 before intermission.

The Lions catalyst made the most of the opportunity by driving to the basket, which resulted in yet another score as the buzzer sounded, sending the clubs to the lockers at 24-21 Cisne.

While neither team shot the ball well in the opening half, unfortunately for Cisne it only got worse in the final 16 minutes as Waltonville assumed control.

Three straight offensive rebound baskets got Waltonville even in the third quarter.

In spite of five points by Jake Tannahill, which extended the Cisne lead to 29-25, the Spartans were on the verge of taking command of the game defensively and on the boards.

Kabat and Spotanski combined for six points on three offensive rebounds.

During this stretch, both Endsley and Tannahill picked up their third personal fouls.

Spotanski's second score off of a Waltonville miss forced Tannahill to join Endsley on the bench with 2:46 left in the quarter.

Even though Spotanski missed his free throw attempt, the game was tied at 29 and Cisne was on the ropes with their two top interior defenders on the pine with foul difficulty.

"When ever I sub in my 5-foot-10 post player (Seth Hough) off the bench for my 6-foot-4 post player (Endsley) that is a big difference for us and we don't get an lot of offensive rebounds when we have to do that," added Bowen.

The fouls, at this point of the contest, started racking up for the Lions as they had trouble guarding the Spartans.

Kitowski and Jordan Norris converted four-straight free throws to give Waltonville the lead back at 33-29.

Cisne wasn't about to go away at this point in the proceedings as Glover and 6-foot-1 sophomore Ben Farleigh hit big shots.

Sandwiched around a Kash basket in the paint on a Kitowski assist, Glover scored on yet another drive to the basket and Farleigh, who has been a pain to many opponents this season from the outside, canned a 3-pointer from the right corner to make it 35-34 Waltonville with just eight minutes to go in the game.

After 3-of-4 free throws by Waltonville's Kash, Cisne got a score in the lane by Endsley to cut the Spartan advantage down to just two at 38-36 with 5:41 left.

However as it turned out, that would be as close as the Lions would get the rest of the way.

Cisne continued to send the Spartans to the free throw line as they were forced to chase the Spartans on the defensive end.

Following a Kitowski baseline drive to the basket made it 41-36 with 4:41 to play, Cisne didn’t score another basket until :28 left.

In the interim, Waltonville cashed in on the free throw opportunities.

Forcing the issue by spreading the floor, the Lions watched Waltonville parade to the foul line in the final minutes.

Coach Denault's club polished off the cold shooting Lions by connecting on 11-of-12 charities, including nine in a row to start the run.

Kitowski finished his night with a final pair from the line, which made the final 54-41.

Waltonville was a very good 14-of-32 from the field (44 percent) while hitting 21-of-30 (70 percent) from the free throw line.

Coach Bowen summed up the loss with an optimistic look.

"I would rather this (cold shooting) happen now than next week," Bowen said, referring to the Flora Class A Regional where the Lions, along with the host Wolves, are the favorites. "It is just one of those nights. This is a tough place to play and they (the Spartans) are a good ballclub."

Waltonville can now look to a showdown with Webber Township in a game that means nothing in the Mid-South Conference standings but has ramifications for both schools wanting to finish the regular season well.

"Our two main points of emphases tonight were to keep them off of the boards and to contain Glover," said Denault. "I thought we did a real nice job doing both tonight. Last year he (Glover) got us for 38-points up at their place and 18 of them came from the line (18-of-20) but tonight we kept him from doing that."

The Lions have to travel up to Louisville on Friday to take on Midland Trail Conference rival North Clay. With a win, Cisne will clinch the MTC regular season title outright.

"This was a big win for us. They (Cisne) are one of the top small school programs in the South and they gave Galatia their only loss and we are looking at Webber Township the same way," finalized Denault. "We look at this game and the one Friday as another measuring stick for our program."

Cisne (46) - Endsley 3 0 2-2 8, Farleigh 0 3 0-0 9, Glover 5 2 3-4 19, Simpson 0 0 0-0 0, Tannahill 2 0 1-2 5, Hough 0 0 0-0 0, McCleary 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-5 FT-6-8, PR-21.
Waltonville (53) - Norris 0 0 2-2 2, Kitowski 5 1 8-8 21, Lowery 1 1 3-3 8, Kash 2 0 4-6 8, Spotanski 2 0 1-3 5, Owens 0 0 0-2 0, McGovern 0 0 0-0 0, Kabat 2 0 5-6 9.
2FG-12, 3FG-2, FT-21-30, PF-12.
Fouled Out - Endsley, Cisne; Simpson, Cisne.
Technical Fouls - None.