12-14-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - For the first time since 1989, the Clay City Wolves will play in a boy's basketball championship game.

The last time was the title game of the 36th Annual Conrad Allen Holiday Tournament.

No regional or any other tournament finales.

Sixteen long years it took before this school reached the final night of any tournament with championship aspirations.

After Wednesday nights' 70-37 whipping of Grayville, coach Adam Ellis' squad improved to 7-3 overall and are champions of Pool A at 3-0.

Friday night in the finale they will take on the winner of the Cisne/Webber Township matchup to be played on Thursday night.
Patrick Bangert led three Wolves players in double-figures with 23-points in the decisive win.

The Wolves sprinted out to an early lead, thanks in part to some hot shooting and five early turnovers by the Bison.

Brandon Allison and Bangert scored eight points in a 10-0 Clay City run that broke the only tie of the game at 2-2 and opened the floodgates for the Clay City surge.

Allison's two baskets were on offensive rebounds while Bangert muscled inside for a pair of scores.

His second bucket made it 12-2 with 3:45 left in the opening quarter.
"Patrick has made huge strides since we first started working with him," said Ellis, in his first season at the helm of Clay City. "We wanted to pound the ball inside and attack their (Grayville) pressure. It worked tonight."

Sophomore Drew DiMaggio did his best to keep Grayville in the contest.

He scored all six of the Bison points in the frame. His dribble drive to the basket cut the lead down to 14-6 at the 2:28 mark.

But Clay City responded with another scoring burst, hitting for six additional points.

Two baskets by Tyler Frohning and another score from Allison made it 20-6 at the end of one.

Grayville made one brief run at the Wolves, opening the second quarter by outscoring Clay City 8-2.

Cody Lynn connected on a pair of shots. His last one on a 15-footer from the left corner cut the Wolves lead to 22-14.

However Clay City would have none of the Bison comeback bid.
The Wolves took of in the final 4:44 of the frame, putting the outcome to rest with a 17-2 sprint to intermission.

Allison was everywhere on the court for Clay City, collecting rebounds, dishing out assists and adding six additional points to his totals.

His score on a backdoor lay in on an assist from Frohning make it 30-16 with 1:46 left.

"Brandon can do a little bit of everything for us out on the court," added Ellis.

Ricky Nelson got into the scoring mode to finish the half. Two baskets, one on a steal fast break lay in and a second one on a short jumper got the lead over 20 for the first time.

When Clay City's Austin Workman worked his way into the lane and stuck home a rebound just before the buzzer, the Wolves were howling at a crest of 39-16.

"We just have to take better care of the ball it is as simple as that," said Grayville coach Chad Albers, referring to the Bison's 11 first half miscues. "One of our goals was to play on the final night and it doesn't look like that is going to happen."

Bangert had by far the best quarter of his basketball career in the third quarter Wednesday night.

He 'banged' away in the paint for 10 points, including six of the Wolves final eight in the stanza.

His basket from the left block on a pass from Allison gave Clay City a 53-25 lead heading to the final quarter.

Clay City pulled away quickly in the fourth.

By the time Frohning scored on a 15-footer from the right baseline, the 30-point mercy rule took effect at 65-35 with 3:30 to go.

After Bangert's game high 23, Allison added 17 while Frohning tossed home 16.

In a game that didn't produce many fouls, Clay City hit 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.

The Wolves also shot the ball very well on the night. They connected on 31-of-58 shots overall (53 percent) even though they were just 1-of-6 from behind the 3-point line.

Clay City owned the glass, topping Grayville 27-21.

However Grayville closed the rebounding gap well after the outcome had been decided when the reserves were in the game.

DiMaggio was the lone member of the Bison squad to hit for double-figures with Cody Lynn adding eight points.

Grayville hit just 16-of-51 shots from the field (31 percent) and committed 17 turnovers.

"We stuck to our game plan tonight to work the ball around and while taking care of the ball," said Ellis, whose club committed just eight turnovers. "We are starting to get there with our overall play."

	1	2	3	4		Final
Clay City	20	19	14	17	-	70
Grayville	6	10	9	12	-	37

Clay City (70) - Frohning 6 1 1-1 16, Nelson 2 0 0-0 4, B. Allison 8 0 1-1 17, Workman 3 0 0-0 6, Bloehs 2 0 0-0 4, Bangert 10 0 3-5 23, Henry 0 0 0-0 0, Frank 0 0 0-0 0, Prosser 0 0 0-0 0, Martin 0 0 0-0 0, M. Duvall 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-31, 3FG-1, FT-5-7, PF-8.
Grayville (37) - Conner 2 0 0-0 4, C. Lynn 4 0 0-0 8, Thompson 1 0 0-0 2, Hosman 0 0 0-0 0, O'Neal 2 0 0-0 4, Rudisill 1 0 0-0 2, Short 1 0 0-0 2, DiMaggio 4 0 2-2 10, T. Lynn 1 1 0-0 5, Sexton 0 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-1, FT-2-2, PF-12.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.

CRAB ORCHARD 64, WAYNE CITY 61
Tommy Kissing ripped the Wayne City nets for 37-points on Wednesday night as the Trojans nipped the host Indians.

But a 3-pointer by Chris Duty turned out the biggest shot of the night.

This junior guard connected on a trifecta from the left corner with 2:26 to go to give Crab Orchard back the lead for good at 60-57.

Coach Jon Brown's club hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final :49 seconds to win their first game of the tournament.

Wayne City had one last chance to tie the game but Jason Braddock's 3-pointer from the left corner was off the mark at the buzzer.

No other Trojan player hit for double-figures. But the story of the game was Kissing who hit 10 2-point field goals and 5 3-pointers to go with a pair of free throws.

Wayne City was led by Jason Tubbs with 19-points while Tyler Bradford chipped home 12.

Crab Orchard improved to 8-3 on the season and 1-2 in Pool A.

Wayne City is also 1-2 in Pool A and are 4-7 overall.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Crab Orchard	10	17	17	20	-	64
Wayne City	12	22	11	16	-	61

Crab Orchard (64) - McCree 0 1 1-2 4, Duty 0 2 0-0 6, Boester 2 0 0-0 4, Brainard 2 0 4-7 8, Kissing 10 5 2-3 37, Thompson 1 1 0-0 5.
2FG-15, 3FG-8, FT-7-12, PF-9.
Wayne City (61) - Talbert 1 1 0-0 5, Braddock 4 0 1-1 9, Bradford 5 0 2-4 12, Clevenger 4 0 0-0 8, Tubbs 9 0 1-1 19, McCormick 4 0 0-0 8.
2FG-27, 3FG-1, FT-4-6, PF-13.
Fouled Out - Tubbs, Wayne City.
Technical Fouls - None.

WEBBER TOWNSHIP 57, THOMPSONVILLE 33
The Trojans improved to 2-0 in Pool B and 7-1 overall with a win over Mid-South Conference rival Thompsonville.

Brandon Loker paced four Webber players in double-digits with 15-points.

Cody Swartz and Bryce McKenzie contributed 13 and 11 while Derick Trout finished with 10.

Coach Clarence Gross' club pulled away from the Tigers with a 17-6 second quarter advantage to take a 35-16 lead to the locker room.

Coach John Robinson's Tigers continue to struggle from the floor, scoring under 40-points for the second game this tournament.

Trent Clark was a bright spot with 14-points, but the Tigers saw their Pool B record slump to 0-2 and their overall record fall to 3-7.

Despite hitting just 9-of-22 free throws, Webber Township can claim a spot in the title game for the second straight season with a win over Cisne on Thursday night.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Webber Township	18	17	15	7	-	57
Thompsonville	10	6	12	5	-	33

Webber Township (57) - McKenzie 5 0 1-2 11, Henry 1 0 0-0 2, Trout 5 0 0-7 10, Loker 6 0 3-4 15, Swartz 5 0 3-3 13, Truitt 2 0 0-0 4, Chambliss 0 0 1-2 1, Scott 0 0 1-2 1, Kiel 0 0 0-2 0, Summer 0 0 0-0 0, Snow 0 0 0-0 0, Skorch 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-24, 3FG-0, FT-9-22, PF-17.
Thompsonville (33) -Clark 3 1 5-7 14, Dial 2 0 0-2 4, Heern 1 1 4-5 9, D. Fisher 0 0 1-2 1, J. Fisher 1 0 0-0 2, Browning 0 0 0-2 0, Rumsey 0 1 0-0 3, Gaither 0 0 0-0 0, Sickmeyer 0 0 0-0 0, Householder 0 0 0-0 0, Ja. Nielsen 0 0 0-0 0, Jo. Nielsen 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-7, 3FG-3, FT-10-18, PF-17.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.