12-08-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOODLAWN - Waltonville veteran point guard Brock Wheatley never seems to have any trouble getting up for games against the Spartans' rival Woodlawn.

Tuesday night on the road he was again “sky-high.”

This 6-foot-1 senior scored a game-best 28 points - connecting on 13-of-16 free throws as the Spartans bounced back from a trouncing on Saturday night to beat nemeses Woodlawn, 69-57 in front of a packed house at Woodlawn.

On the defensive end Wheatley and Company forced the Cardinals into 22 turnovers and a 23-of-55 result from the field (4-of-12 from behind the arc) as the Spartans improved to 4-1 on the season after finishing second in the Du Quoin Tip-Off Classic last week.

Once a conference battle these two Jefferson County rivals will play just once this regular season unless they meet at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament.

Waltonville handled the pressure of the situation and took control of the contest in the second quarter.

Turning an early six-point first quarter deficit into a five-point halftime lead – Coach Mike Denault’s Spartans then seized command of the game in the second half.

Had Waltonville been a bit more accurate from the foul line (20-of-30 as a team) the score may have been more lopsided.

“I grabbed him (Wheatley) after the game and said ‘If you don’t do anything else the rest of the season, just do one thing; every time you walk out on that court pretend that it is Woodlawn’,” said Waltonville mentor Mike Denault. “He always gets up for them. Last year when we played them he had 30. He is a “big-game” player and he is capable. We need him to press to the basket and get that penetration. He is so strong and a hard match up for a lot of people. There are not very many guards in southern Illinois at our level that can guard him.”

The Cardinals (2-2) wasted a 15-point, 17 rebound performance by 6-foot-7 junior Josh Wiggs.

Wiggs got most of his points off of offensive rebounds as Woodlawn found it difficult to get the ball into the post.

“I thought (Justin) Lewis did a great job on him (Wiggs) by staying in front of him but the other half of that equation is that we pressured their ball-handlers – making it tough to throw over the top,” added Denault. “That is the way that we have to defend. If we play people straight up we are going to be in foul trouble.”

John Cavender added 12 points for Woodlawn while Casey Hammond hit for 11.

Hammond – one of the Woodlawn team leaders – started strong for the Cardinals in the first quarter.

He took the ball to the basket for three drives that resulted in field goals.

A three-point play by Kirk Dunbar, a rebound basket by Christian McNeil and Hammond’s final hoop of the quarter capped a 7-0 run for Woodlawn.

The Hammond score made it 13-7 with 1:16 left.

The significance of the Hammond basket was that he would only score twice more in the game as Waltonville turned up the heat.

“I think that was the difference for us offensively – they (Waltonville) pressured the ball a lot and we had a hard time getting into our offense,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel. “When we were able to break the initial pressure we were able to get some good shots but you can’t turn the ball over that much.”

The Spartans took the lead for good with 2:56 to go before halftime as Lewis canned the first of his three 3-pointers for a 26-24 advantage.

Woodlawn finished that quarter 5-of-13 from the field but committed nine turnovers.

Wheatley scored 10 points in the second quarter and his drive to the basket past a foul-plagued Wiggs closed the half at 32-27 Spartans.

Waltonville hit 4-of-9 shots from behind the arc in the second half with Skyler Witges connecting on back-to-back 3’s from the right wing.

When his second one found the mark with 5:38 left in the third quarter – Waltonville had its first double-digit lead at 40-29.

“Wheatley – we just had a hard time containing him,” added Coach Witzel. “He had a great game and played great defense on our point guard. We tried to stop his dribble penetration but he was still able to get to the basket and make some good decisions.”

Woodlawn’s best run in the second half was at the end of the third quarter.

Cavender hit a pair of shots – including a 3-pointer from the right wing off of an assist from Hammond – to cut the Waltonville lead to 44-41.

However Wheatley scored 11 of his points in the game’s final eight minutes and he picked up a pair of important steals to thwart Woodlawn comeback attempts.

His steal and fast break lay in pushed the lead to 50-43.

Wheatley then scored five straight points – on a drive to the basket and a conventional three-point play while fouling out Woodlawn’s Kirk Dunbar.

His made free throw to finish the sequence gave Waltonville an overwhelming 59-48 advantage with 3:44 remaining. Woodlawn could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

He stole the ball from Hammond with under a minute left as Hammond fouled out on the play trying to the ball back.

Wheatley’s two free throws and another pair from Lewis closed the game’s scoring.

The Spartans finished 21-of-47 from the floor (45 percent) but were an exceptional 7-of-15 from 3-point land.

Waltonville was out-boarded 39-21 by the Cards but Coach Denault’s team took much better care of the ball – committing just seven turnovers.

“Our M-O (modus operandi) has always been our defense and we kind of got away from that this past week – we didn’t guard nearly as well as could have,” said Coach Denault. “We’re 4-1 but we would like to be 5-0. We have played some tough teams but 4-1 is just a record. We have to keep working to get better.”

Woodlawn will travel to Breese Mater Dei for a Friday night contest while Waltonville will play host to Carlyle next Tuesday.

“Defensively I thought our kids did a decent job and a pretty respectable job on Lewis and Witges but you can’t overlook (Luke) Stanhouse who got some big baskets for them,” added Witzel. “To be a good team you need those other players to step and make some shots and they did tonight.”

Waltonville (69) – Askew 0 0 0-0 0, Wheatley 6 1 13-16 28, S. Witges 1 3 3-8 14, Stanhouse 4 0 0-0 8, Compton 1 0 0-0 8, Johnson 1 0 1-2 3, Lewis 1 3 3-4 14.
2FG-14, 3FG-7, FT-20-30, PF-15.
Woodlawn (57) – Hammond 4 1 0-0 11, Wiggs 6 0 3-6 15, Dunbar 3 0 1-1 7, McNeil 2 0 1-2 5, Cavender 3 2 0-0 12, Johnson 1 1 2-2 7, Webb 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-4, FT-7-11, PF-24.
Fouled Out – Dunbar, Hammond - Woodlawn.
Technical Fouls – None.