02-13-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
WALTONVILLE - In the final contest on Saturday night of the Waltonville Shootout – the host Spartans shot themselves in the foot just one too many times and allowed state-ranked Madison to escape with a 64-60 overtime win.

Not only did neither team shoot the ball well but the two clubs combined for 33-turnovers in a mistake marred game between two very highly regarded Class 1A squads.

For the second season in a row – Madison came away with a victory over Coach Mike Denault’s club.

This time around – Madison (17-5) put three players in double-figures led by 6-foot-5 senior Eric Mason with 16 while 6-foot-1 sophomore teammate Corey Hardin added 15.

The two players combined to score eight of the Trojans’ ten points in the overtime.

Madison head coach Jamie Cotto-Rodriguez can point to a huge rebounding effort – 48-to-27 overall with 18 offensive rebounds – as the difference in the contest.

“I am very, very proud of Eric (Mason). He is so talented and he didn’t really have a good junior year but this year as a senior he has come out and played exceptionally well. He had 19-points against Metro-East Lutheran (a 66-57 win Friday night) and his confidence level is rising,” said Cotto-Rodriguez.

Ironically those 18 offensive boards were the exact number of shot attempts that Madison had more than Waltonville.

The Spartans were just 14-of-51 from the floor overall while the Trojans were 27-of-69.

Many of the Waltonville missed opportunities came in close to the basket – namely lay ups and shot in the lane shots that normally would have fallen.

“We battled them, we’re hurt and tired but we just couldn’t make a stinkin’ lay up,” Coach Denault said. “We don’t miss those shots, ever. I just told the kids that if we were going to miss them I would rather miss them now than in the regional. Hopefully we got that out of our system.”

Waltonville stayed close by cashing in 19-of-28 from the foul line - which included 12-of-18 from leading scorer Skyler Witges.

The 6-foot-3 senior Witges led all players with 21-points in the game – including a leaning, fall-away 3-pointer from the right wing that banked home just before the fourth quarter buzzer that sent the two teams to overtime.

Gavin Bassett was second in the Spartans’ scoring parade with 15. Madison held the rest of the Waltonville players in check with a quick, switching defense.

Justin Lewis – a 15-points per game average scorer – put in just five points in the loss.

Neither team led by more than four points until Madison’s 5-foot-9 senior guard Kendall Echols canned a 3-pointer with 5:30 remaining in regulation to give the Trojans a 43-37 lead.

Bassett and Witges led the late fourth quarter rally that forced the overtime.

Bassett scored five consecutive points around the basket including a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Hardin.

When he got loose for his second score in succession on a spin move in the paint – his made basket got Waltonville even at 48-all.

“We talked at halftime about controlling our emotions,” said Cotto-Rodriguez. “A couple of breaks went against us in the first half but that is going to happen on the road. Last year we won on a tip in and this year we won in overtime. Waltonville is a well coached and Witges is a phenomenal player.”

The Trojans appeared to have wrapped up the victory in the final minute of the fourth quarter following a three-point play by Hardin on a pass from Madison guard Torian Gregory.

After Mason made 1-of-2 free throws – Madison led 54-51.

However Mason’s second FT was missed and grabbed by Bassett as Waltonville used a timeout to set up the Witges prayer.

“That was a great shot (Witges’ 3-pointer) and it looked like it almost had ‘English’ on it – it angled in,” Cotto-Rodriguez added. “It was a great shot.”

The visitors took the lead for good on a score from Hardin with 2:04 remaining.

The Spartans were just 2-of-8 from the floor in the overtime and Madison made 4-of-6 free throws in the final :53.9 to hold on.

“We like to switch a lot (on defense) because our ‘bigs’ are so athletic that we can guard guards on the perimeter,” added Coach Cotto-Rodriguez. “I thought we definitely won this game tonight with our switching on defense.”

In the end it was the Trojans who had just enough left in the tank to come away with the win.

“We did what we had to do to stay in the game,” added Coach Denault. “Those guys are tough and I’m proud of our effort. We are too good of a team to take those ‘we played well but we lost’ type situations.”

Madison (64) – Echols 2 1 0-0 7, T. Gregory 3 0 0-2 6, Farrar 6 0 2-4 14, Hardin 7 0 1-3 15, Mason 5 1 3-6 16, D. Williams 2 0 2-2 6.
2FG-25, 3FG-2, FT-8-15.
Waltonville (60) – Bassett 6 0 3-4 15, Wheatley 4 0 0-0 8, Witges 3 1 12-18 21, Stanhouse 1 0 0-0 2, Compton 0 0 0-0 0, Johnson 3 0 3-4 9, Lewis 2 0 1-2 5.
2FG-13, 3FG-1, FT-19-28.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Mason - Madison.

Michael Aaron and Ryan Head added 10-points apiece.

Edwards County (56) – C. Smith 4 1 7-8 18, Aaron 2 1 3-5 10, Head 0 3 1-2 10, Winemiller 5 0 2-5 12, Dongu 0 2 0-0 6, Beadles 0 0 0-0 0, Goble 0 0 0-0 0, Lear 0 0 0-0 0, Harris 0 0 0-0 0, Laws 0 0 0-0 0, T. Smith 0 0 -0 0, Vanblarieum 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-7, FT-13-20, PF-13.
Goreville (74) – Lyell 0 0 0-0 0, Stone 0 0 0-0 0, Whitehead 0 0 0-0 0, Shadowens 2 1 0-0 7, Webb 0 1 0-0 3, Stoudt 2 0 2-2 6, Messmer 1 0 0-0 2, Smith 02 0 0-0 4, Potocki 7 0 0-0 14, Kinder 4 0 0-1 8, Madden 1 0 0-0 2, Sopczak 3 1 2-4 11, Andros 2 0 0-0 4, Powell 6 0 1-6 13, Runge 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-30, 3FG-3, FT-5-13, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Wright scored 11 of his points in the second half (seven in the third quarter) as head coach Lorenzo Duncan’s club led 42-27 at the end of three quarters.

Cairo (55) – Mayfield 3 0 1-2 7, Wright 8 0 1-3 17, Williams 5 0 2-2 12, Hill 3 1 0-0 4, Holden 4 0 0-0 8, Woods 0 0 00 0, Jones 1 0 0-0 2, Young 0 0 0-0 0, Childs 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-24, 3FG-1, FT-4-7, PF-4.
New Athens (41) – Wacker 0 0 0-0 0, Hoffman 0 0 0-0 0, Bickel 0 0 0-0 0, Gaubatz 4 2 0-0 14, Stolte 0 0 0-0 0, Womack 3 0 2-2 8, Weber 0 1 0-0 3, Ingles 2 0 0-0 4, Kiefer 3 1 3-4 12, Lambattus 0 0 0-0 0, Hepp 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-4, FT-5-6, PF-10.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.