12-19-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
MCLEANSBORO - An average game with a classic finish, the Waltonville/Hamilton County game on Tuesday night will go down as a lost opportunity for the visiting Spartans.

Behind some late baskets by Derek Tepovich, Waltonville rallied from five points down in the final minutes to take the lead.

Having trailed nearly the entire contest, Coach Mike Denault’s team was just :05.9 away from victory and an unblemished 8-0 mark.

With Jordan Kabat at the line shooting a one-and-bonus and leading by 44-43, the game was in Waltonville’s hands.

After the 6-foot-2 senior hit the first free throw, the Spartans looked the part of the conqueror.

But Hamilton County was far from done.

Grabbing the rebound of the second free throw miss, the Foxes’ Travis Johnson sent an outlet pass to teammate Luke Thomas.

Defying a Waltonville double-team Thomas launched a leaning 12 footer from the right side that found the mark just before the buzzer, sending the game into overtime at 45-all.

“It really hurt us to have Josh (Ralls) on the bench late in the game,” said Waltonville head coach Mike Denault, talking about the senior forward fouling out late in regulation.
“It’s a game changing thing when he fouled out because he is 6-foot-7 and he could have been in there to make it tough to get off that last shot. The kid (Luke Thomas) made a tough shot with our guys on him.”

Following an even first overtime, Hamilton County wore down the foul-plagued Spartans in that second extra session.

Behind 21 points from Jake Welch and 18 from Bryan Thomas, Hamilton County came out with a 62-57 victory and improved to 3-2 on the season.

Tepovich led all scorers with 24 points but when he joined 6-foot-7 teammate Josh Ralls on the Waltonville bench having fouled out in the final moments of the first overtime, Waltonville didn’t have enough firepower on the floor to make it past a second session.

Waltonville got a spark off of the bench with Blake Henry scoring 18 points.

But it was the hot shooting of the Foxes that overshadowed both teams’ turnovers (37) on this evening.

It isn’t often that a Curt Reed coached team will commit 20 turnovers in a contest and Waltonville botched its chance to make the Foxes pay for their miscues.

Ham Co. connected on 21-of-34 shots overall (58 percent) compared to 21-of-51 from the Spartans. Launching away from the outside, Waltonville hit only 3-of-14 attempts from behind the arc.

“I can’t complain about the way we guarded them tonight because they did about what we thought they would do and we kept them from getting many back door baskets,” said Denault. “We made them earn the stuff they got.”

Supported by seven points from Bryan Thomas and seven Waltonville turnovers, Hamilton County jumped out to a 12-6 lead at the first horn.

Coach Denault wasn’t happy about his team’s offensive work in the opening eight minutes.

Two of the Thomas baskets in transition came off of the Spartans mistakes.

“We didn’t make adjustments in the first half. I’ve got eight seniors out there and they have been in our system long enough to know that they (Hamilton County) are switching screens and there is no excuse for the turnovers we had early,” said Waltonville head coach Mike Denault. “At least four of those early turnovers were just that, us failing to recognize what they were doing on defense.”

Waltonville jumped right back at the Foxes with a 9-0 run to begin the second quarter.

Tepovich had five of those points in his back pocket, having a pair of free throws and 3-pointer from the right wing.

Hamilton County nearly matched the Spartans in turnovers, having committed six of their own in the second stanza.

But they continued to put points on the scoreboard.

Thomas hit the final Fox field goal of the quarter on a back door lay in with 3:50 to go to give Ham Co. a 17-15 lead.

Four free throws from Welch and L. Thomas ended the sloppy first half at 21-18 Foxes.

The chances were there for Waltonville in the third quarter but Coach Denault’s club failed to capitalize.

Hamilton County was once again careless with the basketball, committing six more turnovers in the quarter.

But their opponents again made little headway and when Ralls picked up two third quarter fouls to add up to four, the Spartans looked in trouble.

Back to back buckets by B. Thomas and Welch gave the Foxes their largest lead at 30-22 with 3:02 left; the Thomas score was of 3-point variety.

Waltonville trailed 33-29 heading into the fourth quarter after Henry drove the lane for a nice off-balanced score.

As it turned out, Henry was just breaking a good sweat and the game was just now bringing the crowd out of its three-quarters’ slumber.

This 5-foot-9 senior reserve guard scored seven straight points for his team, including a 3-pointer at 4:20 to knot the score at 36.

“He (Henry) can take people off the dribble and he can hit those big shots,” added Denault, talking about the senior transfer from Webber Township that has helped the Spartans in the first eight games of the season. “He is another weapon that we have and he continues to get more comfortable in our system. I’m happy with his progress.”

Waltonville got its first lead of the second half on a rebound basket by Ralls.

Grabbing a missed free throw by Tepovich, Ralls threw in a short shot for a 38-36 advantage at the 2:43.

Hamilton County came right back for six points in succession on a B. Thomas drive, a steal and fast break lay in from Welch and a pair of free throws from Matt Hall.

But the Foxes failed to close the door.

Missing three consecutive free throws, Hamilton County let the Spartans back in the fray.

Trailing just 43-42, Tepovich drove the right baseline for a bucket that hit every bit of the iron before falling through to give the Spartans a 44-43 lead with just :22 remaining.

Working the ball for a final shot, Hamilton County’s Orry Taylor missed from 15 feet and when Kabat corralled the rebound, Waltonville looked prepared to escape with the win.
Waltonville again had a chance to win the game in the first overtime.

Henry scored on a drive to the basket that gave Waltonville a two-point lead to start the extra stanza.

After Luke Thomas matched Henry with a score, Tepovich scored his final three points on a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Thomas.

Welch and Travis Johnson hit shots on consecutive possession but Henry hit another shot – a 15-footer from the left elbow with :14 left – giving the Spartans their final lead of the night at 52-51.

With no panic visible, Hamilton County got the ball quickly up the court and Welch drove to the basket and was fouled by Tepovich with :04.4 to go.

After Tepovich hit the pine with his fifth foul Welch missed the first of his two free throws after Waltonville had burned a timeout.

Another timeout by Waltonville couldn’t ice Welch as this 5-foot-10 senior drilled home the second toss to send the teams to a second overtime.

A 9-1 start by Hamilton County finished the Spartans in the second overtime.

Welch scored the first five points in the run on a fast break lay in and a three-point play on a baseline drive and subsequent free throw.

“A kid like him (Welch) is going to find a way to get comfortable against a defense and score points,” said Denault about trying to guard Welch. “We wanted to keep him off the foul line tonight but that is easier said than done.”

Hamilton County out-rebounded the taller Spartans 22-21; mostly because of the Foxes accuracy from the floor gave Waltonville few defensive rebound chances. In fact, the Spartans had just nine of those 21 rebounds were on the defensive end.

Waltonville also shot themselves in the foot with a 12-of-25 performance from the free throw line.

Twenty turnovers was Hamilton County’s only blemish on an otherwise excellent win.

Behind Welch’s 21 and B. Thomas’s 18, Ham Co. got seven points apiece from Hall and L. Thomas.

After Tepovich (24) and Henry (18) Ralls chipped in eight points.

The Foxes will next take on Massac County at 1:45 pm on December 28 in the first round at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

Waltonville is the top seed at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament and will meet Cobden in the first round at 6:30 pm on the same day.

“This game makes us better in the long run,” finalized Denault. “This game I would rather win it, but I’d rather get beat in double-overtime tonight than to blow out some other team by 30 points. That is why they (Hamilton County) are on our schedule. They are going to push us and do things differently than other teams and you just hope that you can win more of these games than you lose.”

Waltonville (57) – Owens 0 0 0-0 0, Ralls 3 0 2-4 8, Tepovich 8 1 5-9 24, Kubiak 2 0 1-2 5, Kabat 0 0 2-4 2, McGovern 0 0 0-0 0, Henry 5 2 2-4 18.
2FG-18, 3FG-3, FT-12-25, PF-25.
Hamilton County (62) – B. Thomas 7 1 1-1 18, Welch 7 1 4-5 21, S. Thomas 0 0 0-0 0, Hall 1 0 5-8 7, Taylor 1 0 4-8 6, L. Thomas 2 0 3-6 7, Johnson 1 0 1-2 3.
2FG-19, 3FG-2, FT-18-30, PF-21.
Fouled Out – Ralls, Tepovich - Waltonville; B. Thomas, Hamilton County.
Technical Fouls – None.