01-27-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
WALTONVILLE - In the history of the Waltonville/Woodlawn Invitational Tournament only once had the championship ever gone to another team other than the two hosts of this rotating event.

Carterville won this title back in 2001.

You can add a second title and a second school to that list after Christopher left Jefferson County Saturday night.

Behind 22 points from eventual tourney MVP Nick Minor and some critical mistakes in the final moments by the Waltonville, the Christopher Bearcats upset the host Spartans squad 49-46 and in doing so probably changed where each of these teams will end up when the post-season regionals are seeded next week.

The most important aspect of the Christopher victory came at the other end of the court.

The Bearcats held down a Spartans' squad that had averaged 72-points in its three previous triumphs in the tournament.

Coach Mike Denault didn't have one player in double-figures in the loss as Christopher denied Waltonville a 20th win on the season.

Jordan Kabat led the Waltonville scoring with nine points.

“Our kids wanted to play them (Waltonville) and I was afraid this week that we would look past Woodlawn like we did last season,” said Christopher head coach Gary Gischer, referring to his team's loss last season to Woodlawn heading up to the Waltonville game in this tournament. “We played Waltonville tough last year and our kids wanted to play them again. Our team came in confident.”

Defensively Christopher not only held Waltonville to a low shooting percentage but also kept the Spartans off of the charity stripe.

Waltonville was just 18-of-43 from the floor, a far cry from the hot shooting that had produced a 3-0 record heading into Saturday night.

In a contest in which neither team led by more than four points, it seemed like Christopher was in command.

The favored Spartans never reached the 'feel good zone' that they had in most of its 19 victories in 2006-07.

When comparing the stats the Bearcats – Minor in particular – took advantage of foul problems by the Spartans.

Christopher finished 15-of-20 from the line while the Spartans were just 8-of-16.

Minor scored twelve of his points on a 12-of-15 free throw showing.

He converted two three-point plays in the first quarter.

His second conversion came on a fast break score while being fouled by Waltonville's Blake Henry.

His made freebie gave Christopher a 13-11 advantage.

Waltonville seemed on the verge of a breakthrough in each of the four quarters – but as turned out – the big offensive run never came.

However two Spartans came off the bench and contributed in the second stanza.

Seth McGovern and Alex Owens – while the starters were struggling – came off the pine to give Waltonville its biggest lead of the game.

Owens scored on a drive to the basket while McGovern hit a mid-range shot in consecutive possessions to make it 24-20 with 2:46 to go before intermission.

Christopher scored the final four points of the second quarter to take a one point lead into the locker room.

Waltonville held the ball for a final shot but Minor made a steal of an errant cross-court pass and scored a fast break lay up with :04 remaining to give the Bearcats a 26-25 lead at the break.

The Spartans missed four important free throws in the third quarter while Christopher got a late quarter 3-pointer from the top of the arc from Zach Thomas to give the Bearcats a 35-33 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Spartans finally made a run at Christopher at the beginning of the final quarter.

Six straight points with McGovern, John Paul Kubiak and then Ralls scoring gave Waltonville back the lead.

In most games this season when the Spartans struggled, a big run would bail them out of difficulty.

That run never happened Saturday night.

Christopher came right back with seven consecutive points.

Getting to the foul line on back-to-back offensive trips – Minor converted 3-of-4 free throws.

Thomas and Josh Overturf each scored baskets to finish the spurt at 42-39 Christopher with just 3:22 remaining in regulation.

The two teams would trade the lead four times in the final 2:43 of the game.

Derek Tepovich hit a pair of free throws for Waltonville and after another McGovern score on a baseline drive – the Spartans had a 43-42 lead.

Christopher didn't score another field goal however they converted 7-of-8 free throws.

The most important ones came after a key turnover and even bigger mental breakdown by Waltonville's Henry.

While bring the ball up the court against Bearcat pressure – Henry dribbled the ball off of his leg and into the backcourt for a violation.

When he picked up the ball as the whistle blew – Henry in frustration bounced the ball into the air and was called for a 'game-changing' technical foul.

Minor converted both of the technical shots to give Christopher the lead for good at 47-46.

“A lot of the close games that we have won this year we've hit our free throws late,” added Gischer. “Minor is the one that we want with the ball and shooting those free throws late in the game.”

With the Bearcats in possession after the technical tosses – Waltonville had to foul.

Christopher's Todd Twitty was sent to the line and he made both free throws with :13.1 left.

The Spartans had a shot at a tie but Alex Owens' 3-point attempt from the right wing bounced harmlessly off the iron as the buzzer sounded sending the Christopher kids into a celebration mode.

Following Minor in the Bearcat scoring was Thomas with nine points and Overturf and Justin Palmer with seven each.

The 'Cats hit on 16-of-36 shots overall (44 percent) but their free throw shooting (75 percent) made all the difference.

Waltonville was just 18-of-43 overall from the field.

“Our guys know traditions and they know what other schools are about,” Gischer added. “What better atmosphere could you ask for with a small school tournament like this. A packed house and our kids wanted to play.”

The Bearcats improved to 16-5 on the season while Waltonville slipped to 19-3.

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Christopher	14	12	07	14	-	49
Waltonville	12	13	08	13	-	46

Christopher (49) – Twitty 1 0 2-3 4, Minor 5 0 12-15 22, Overturf 2 1 0-0 7, Palmer 3 0 1-2 7, Thomas 3 1 0-0 9, Crnokrak 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-2, FT-15-20, PF-13.
Waltonville (46) – Owens 1 1 1-2 6, Ralls 4 0 0-1 8, Henry 0 1 0-0 3, Tepovich 1 0 4-6 6, Reeves 0 0 0-0 0, Kubiak 3 0 2-4 8, McGovern 3 0 0-0 6, Kabat 4 0 1-3 9.
2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-8-16, PF-22.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Henry, Waltonville.

WOODLAWN 73, PATOKA 49
Late in the second quarter – while trailing 24-22 – Woodlawn's offense errupted on a 21-0 run to close out the first half and well into the third quarter.

This run got the Cardinals a win to go 2-2 in the event.

Eight Woodlawn players inked the book in the blowout win.

Coach Shane Witzel saw his team improve to 10-11 on the season with the victory as Scott McNeil and Jase Green scored 17 and 14 points respectively.

Freshman reserve Casey Hammond scored 13 points off the bench and his three-point play in the second quarter helped the 21-0 run begin.

Hammond was 5-of-5 from the foul line while Woodlawn was 20-of-26 as a unit.

Kyle Boldt added nine points and Jesse Hart and Ethan Shurtz added eight apiece in the rout.

Patoka saw its record slip to 6-14 on the year despite 20 points from Jordan Potter.

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Patoka	16	08	14	11	-	49
Woodlawn	16	21	19	19	-	75

Patoka (49) – Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0, Whisler 0 0 0-0 0, L. Murfin 0 0 0-0 0, Towler 0 0 0-0 0, Belcher 1 0 1-2 3, Beard 0 0 0-0 0, Myers 1 0 0-0 2, Back 0 2 0-0 6, Potter 5 2 4-7 20, McKinley 0 0 0-1 0, Hames 2 0 3-5 7, Murray 2 0 1-2 5, Carroll 3 0 0-1 6.
2FG-14, 3FG-4, FT-9-18, PF-17.
Woodlawn (75) – McNeil 8 0 1-2 17, Hart 4 0 0-0 8, Shurtz 4 0 0-0 8, Boldt 1 0 7-7 9, Green 2 1 7-8 14, Smith 2 0 0-0 4, Mannond 4 0 5-5 13, Simmons 0 0 0-0 0, Gaither 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-26, 3FG-1, FT-20-26, PF-18.
Fouled Out – Hart, Woodlawn.
Technical Fouls – None.

The Six Member All-Tournament Team: Nick Minor (MVP) and Zach Thomas, Christopher; Josh Ralls and Derek Tepovich, Waltonville; Scott McNeil, Woodlawn and Jordan Potter, Patoka.