01-19-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE – After dropping a heartbreaking two-point decision to the host Hornets in the opening round of the Nashville Invitational Tournament on Tuesday night, the Wesclin Warriors were ready to make amends.

Jumping out to an 11-0 lead and surviving a couple of Waltonville offensive runs, Coach Andrew Wilson's squad romped past the Spartans, 68-47, on Thursday night to reach the consolation championship game of the NIT.

The Warriors were led by senior guard Alex Wilken who notched a game-leading 22-points while two other teammates, Michael Klein and Brady Kunz, finished with 15 and 11 points for Wesclin in the victory.

“This was a good game for us all around. The one thing that we were focused on was giving 100 percent effort the entire game which we did,” said Coach Wilson. “On both ends of the floor it was 100 percent tonight.”

The Spartans dropped into the seventh place game despite 19-points from junior guard Trey Witges and 12-points from Jordan Hale.

Coach Chad Harpers' Waltonville crew turned the ball over 17 times in the contest and couldn't overcome those miscues and a 1-of-10 performance from behind the 3-point line as they saw their overall mark slip to 5-13.

Waltonville connected on just 20-of-51 from the field.

“Our kids can guard when they want to. It is just a matter of motivating them to do so,” added Coach Wilson. “Most of their (Waltonville) runs came with some of our bench players in there. I would like to see the young ones do a little bit better. I thought they panicked a little bit because they aren't used to getting many varsity minutes. They are young and they will learn.”

Wesclin, on the other hand, were 7-of-16 from beyond 20-feet and were a sizzling 20-of-34 from in close. Overall the Warriors hit 27-of-50 from the floor.

They outrebounded the smaller Spartans 30-21.

Wilken, a 6-foot-1 senior vet, scored the first eight points of the game for Wesclin.

His 3-pointer from the top of the circle gave Wesclin a good start and he followed that shot up with a fast break score off of an assist from teammate Alek Sopiers.

Wilken then canned his second trey of the early going and when Sopiers dialed long distance from the left corner, the Warriors were up 11-0 with 4:24 remaining in the opening quarter.

“The boys played hard and never gave up. We battled to the end,” said Coach Harper. “We started down 11-0 and that is my fault. The report I got was that they weren't great shooters so we started in a zone and they made some 3-pointers. Our man-to-man defense is getting better but we need to get to the free throw line more.”

To the Spartans credit, they made some runs at Wesclin.

A pair of Hale baskets and a Witges score whittled the Waltonville deficit to just 20-8 at the end of the first quarter.

After falling behind 24-8 to begin the second quarter, the Spartans rallied to trail by just eight points at halftime.

Waltonville got five more points from Hale on a drive in the lane and a 3-pointer from the right wing.

Jake Phillips, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, scored on a fast break to cut the Wesclin lead to just 27-21 with 1:27 left in the second quarter.

The Warriors didn't let Waltonville get any closer the rest of the contest.

Wesclin got the ball inside to Daniel Takacs who closed the first half scoring on a spin move in the lane for a 29-21 lead at the break.

Coach Wilson's club pulled away in the third quarter, pushing the lead back up to double-figures with a 15-4 run to begin the second half.

Wilken drilled home his third trifecta of the game to open the run.

Takacs converted a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Matt Rogers and when Wilken scored on a lay in off yet another Spartan turnover, Wesclin led 44-25.

Seven consecutive points from the Warriors late in the frame closed the book.

Michael Klein and Kunz scored on back-to-back trips up the floor with Kunz converting yet another three-point play after being fouled by Phillips.

Wilken scored again driving to the basket as the Warriors lead reached its pinacle at 52-27 at the 1:40 mark.

The Spartans did manage to make a 10-0 run to cut into that lead with Witges scoring seven of those points.

His drive to the basket while being sent to the foul line by Michael Klein turned into three points and Waltonville trailed just 52-37.

“That is his strength, attacking the rim and drawing contact,” said Coach Harper about Witges. “There are a lot of times he gets the “and-one” buckets. We feed off of that.”

Coach Harper's crew would get not closer than 15-points the remainder of the contest.

The Warriors will face Mascoutah Saturday afternoon in the consolation championship game.

“Overall I'm very happy with the way the boys played,” added Coach Harper. “We will definitely get better from this game.”

Wesclin (68) – Rieger 3 0 0-0 6, Haselhorst 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Wilken 6 3 1-2 22, M. Klein 3 2 3-5 15, Eversgerd 0 0 0-0 0, C. Klein 2 0 1-1 5, Kunz 2 2 1-2 11, Takacs 4 0 1-1 9.
2FG-20, 3FG-7, FT-7-11, PF-14.
Waltonville (59) – Phillips 2 0 0-3 4, Halleran 1 0 0-0 2, Rapp 1 0 2-2 4, Hale 4 1 1-2 12, Witges 8 0 3-3 19, Rogers 3 0 0-4 6, Buza 0 0 0-0 0, Whisenant 0 0 0-0 0, Winchester 0 0 0-0 0, Coggins 0 0 0-0 0, Zahm 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-19, 3FG-1, FT-6-14, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None

Marshall Moore added 11-points for Mascoutah.

Justin Diecker led Freeburg with nine points while Miles Money added eight.

The Midgets connected on just 15-of-51 shots overall in the loss while Mascoutah were 21-of-47.

Freeburg will hook up with Waltonville for seventh place on Saturday.  

Mascoutah (54) – Oltmann 1 0 0-2 2, Willliams 0 0 2-2 2, Surmeier 0 0 0-0 0, Lindsay 0 0 2-2 2, MacDonald 1 0 0-0 2, Pearson 0 0 0-0 0, Lowell 1 0 0-2 2, Moore 5 0 1-1 11, Taylor 2 4 1-2 17, King 2 0 0-0 4, Parks 3 2 0-0 12. 2FG-15, 3FG-6, FT-6-11, PF-14.
Freeburg (42) – Money 1 2 0-0 8, Crunk 1 1 0-0 5, Yung 1 1 0-0 5, Diecker 1 0 0-0 2, Mueller 0 0 0-0 0, Gerdes 0 0 0-0 0, Kemper 1 0 1-2 3, Borrenpohl 2 0 1-3 5, Cockrell 0 0 3-4 3, McDonald 1 0 0-0 2, Diecker 3 0 3-4 9. 2FG-11, 3FG-4, FT-8-13, PF-7.
Fouled Out – King - Mascoutah.
Technical Fouls – None.