02-22-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL - In a game that came down to the final moments – Waltonville's Alex Owens became an unlikely hero.

And the moniker fit him well on a night when his Spartans could have easily wilted away and saw their season end.

This senior point guard – while the rest of his teammates struggled from the foul line all night in their semifinal contest against host Trico in the regional semifinal – Owens toed the line and got the job done.

Sent to the line on three different occasions in the final :37.2 of the fourth quarter – Owens hit 5-of-6 free throws to help Waltonville hold off the Pioneers and - in doing so - punched their own ticket into the regional title game with a 55-51 win.

Coach Mike Denault's club improved to 24-5 with the victory and now have a shot at fourth-ranked Pinckneyville on Friday night.

“We made the free throws when they counted,” said Denault, whose team has now won 53 games in two seasons. “He (Owens) came up big for us in the last game and he did it again tonight down the stretch.”

Trico head coach Shane Hawkins saw his team get off to yet another shaky start that they couldn't overcome in seeing their season come to a close at 24-7.

“We got off to a bad start and we never could get into a flow,” said Hawkins, who just completed his first season as head coach at Trico. “I told the kids that when we played in big games this season – I don't know if it was nervousness or not – we struggled at the start of those games. Tonight was the same way.”

Neither team shot or handled the ball well on this evening.

However it was the Spartans that managed to make the best offensive runs in the second half and the necessary defensive stops to grab the biggest win of the season.

Owens ended up being the top scorer on the night with 11 points for the Spartans as two of his high-scoring teammates – Josh Ralls and Derek Tepovich – spent most of their evening sitting on the Waltonville bench as a result of early foul trouble.

While the top ones were seated comfortably on the pine – the other Spartans stepped up.

Eight different Waltonville players scored in a game that could have gone to either side.

Seth McGovern – a 6-foot senior reserve - hit some key shots in the first half and finished with eight points.

His rebound bucket in the final minute of a brutal first quarter gave the Spartans a 10-9 lead at the first stoppage.

Brutal was being kind as the two clubs were a combined 6-of-28 in those opening eight minutes.

Both Ralls and Tepovich were called for a pair of personal fouls each and both were on the bench for the last 1:51 of the first quarter and all of the second frame.

But without those to threats on the floor – Trico failed to take advantage.

Having to deal with their own foul woes – the Pioneers did little in the way of offense in the second quarter.

Trico's Skylar Barlow connected from 3-point range with 3:14 to go before the half to knot the score at 12-all.

It was the Pioneers' lone made field goal in the quarter as they missed their other 12 attempts.

The Spartans could have gotten some separation in that second frame had they not missed three consecutive one-and-one chances while going 3-of-15 from the floor themselves.

Trico was no better from the line as they missed five straight charities in that second quarter that was even uglier that the first.

McGovern scored again – this time on an assist from teammate Blake Henry – to give the Spartans back the lead at 14-12.

Henry grabbed a rebound of his own missed shot and scored in close to the basket to extend the lead by four.

After Trico's Jacob Carlock hit a pair of free throws to cut the Spartans lead to 16-14 – Waltonville reserve Derek Reeves got an offensive rebound score to close the half at 18-14 Spartans.

It wasn't just the shooting that was sub-par on this evening.

Trico (10) and Waltonville (9) combined for 19 first half turnovers.

Somehow the lid came off of the baskets after the break and the game miraculously got better.

Trico made the first run of the second half with seven straight points to grab the lead.

Senior Brandon Crain – playing in his final prep basketball contest – connected on a 3-pointer from the right wing to start the scoring in the second half.

He then took a pass from teammate Allen Brandon and scored in transition to give Trico the lead at 21-18 with 6:30 to go.

Waltonville fired back with an 11-2 run with Ralls and Jordan Kabat producing eight of the points.

Ralls hit a short shot near the basket and then stuck back a rebound to give the Spartans back the lead at 22-21.

Following a Henry 3-pointer Kabat hit a pair of free throws and converted a Henry pass into an assist with a 10-footer along the right baseline to force Coach Hawkins to burn a timeout at 29-23 with 3:00 remaining in the third quarter.

Ralls closed the quarter with a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Carlock.

His made free throw took the teams to the benches at the end of the quarter at 36-32 Waltonville.

The separation that the Spartans had searched for the entire game came about at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Scoring nine of the quarters first 12 points – Waltonville got its first double-digit advantage.

Tepovich hit a trio of big shots for Coach Denault's club in the fourth quarter.

His first was a rebound basket in close to open the final frame scoring.

The second bucket - 17-footer at the top of the arc – pushed the lead to 42-35.

Owens then canned a 3-pointer from the right wing to force another Trico “T-O” with 5:22 left.

Coach Hawkins got an offensive spark from Casey Bollman in that final quarter.

Bollman scored eight points down the stretch – which included a 3-pointer from the right side.

After Tepovich's third big shot - a 3-pointer that matched the long range bomb by Bollman – Waltonville led 48-38.

Bollman then scored five consecutive points on a short bank shot and three free throws after being fouled by Tepovich while attempting another long range shot.

When he finished off the free throw trifecta – Trico trailed just 48-43.

Barlow scored six late points to try and get his team back the lead.

He grabbed his own rebound and scored on a baseline drive to whittle the lead down to 50-47 with :40 left.

Following a timeout – Trico had to foul and Owens took care of the rest.

His five made free throws – including two game-clinching charities with :04.4 remaining - sealed the victory.

The Spartans won the contest in spite of a 19-of-51 performance from the field, hitting just 13-of-23 free throws and committing 17 turnovers.

Trico hung in the game despite an 18-of-55 showing from the field and 18 turnovers. Six of the miscues came in the final eight minutes when it appeared the Pioneers were ready to make a grand comeback.

Barlow and Crain each scored 14 points for Trico.

But while Trico gets ready for spring sports – Waltonville can look forward to at least another game against fourth-ranked Pinckneyville.

“Against good teams in the post season you can't have breakdowns defensively and tonight we had way too many,” added Coach Hawkins.

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Waltonville	10	8	18	19	-	55
Trico	9	5	18	19	-	51

Waltonville (55) – Owens 0 2 5-6 11, Ralls 4 0 2-3 10, Henry 2 1 0-1 7, Tepovich 3 1 0-2 9, Reeves 1 0 0-0 2, Kubiak 0 0 4-6 4, McGovern 4 0 0-1 8, Kabat 1 0 2-4 4, Reynolds 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-4, FT-13-23, PF-20.
Trico (51) – Barlow 3 2 2-2 14, Bollman 1 1 5-7 10, Ellett 2 1 0-0 7, Crain 4 2 0-0 14, Carlock 0 0 2-4 2, Rodewald 0 0 0-0 0, Brandon 2 0 0-0 4, Richmond 0 0 0-0 0, Schutte 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-6, FT-9-13, PF-20.
Fouled Out – Rodewald, Ellett - Trico.
Technical Fouls – None.