12-15-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - In most situations, a team trying to reach a championship game of a holiday tournament must do the little things to advance.

One of the key stats in a tight game is always free throw shooting.

On Thursday night at the Conrad Allen Wayne City Holiday Tournament, Webber Township advanced to the title tilt with a narrow 47-43 victory over Cisne in a rematch of last season's finale.

They got by the pesky Lions by making just enough of its attempts at the charity stripe.

But it was quantity, not quality, that got the Trojans in a spot to win the school's first WCHT crown since 1996 and seventh title overall.

Coach Clarence Gross' club outscoring Cisne by 12-points from the line.

Connecting on 17-of-25 free throws, including 9-of-15 in the final quarter, the Trojans chalked up another win.

Webber Township has surprised many with its early season success and this coach is wanting even more now.

"It (the win) wasn't pretty but it was effective enough to get us to the championship game," said Gross, whose club stands 8-1 overall, 3-0 in the tournament. "It was a goal coming in to win it and we have come this far so we kinda want to finish it (the tournament) off by winning the title. We didn't get the job done last season so we would like to bring home the title."

Cisne did nearly everything that they wanted to do on both ends of the floor. However they fell behind in the fourth quarter, digging a hole that they never fully recovered from.

"The kids didn't quit and we haven't done that (quit) this season," said Cisne's second year mentor Kevin Bowen. "We let them (Webber) get away from us in the fourth quarter then we just ran out of time when we made our final run."

Clearly from the opening quarter on, Cisne was in no hurry offensively and were content on limiting Webber's possessions.

Although the Lions never got a lead in the game, they stayed within range.

Webber opened the game with five straight points from a pair of free throws by Cody Swartz and a conventional three-point play by Derick Trout.

But Ben Farleigh and Brandon Kincart kept things close.

Farleigh, a 6-foot-1 junior guard for Cisne, connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the opening frame and his second 'bomb' cut the Trojans lead to 10-9 with 1:41 left.

A basket by Webber's Brandon Loker closed the quarter scoring at 12-9.
Cisne showed its patience on offense at the end of the first stanza by milking the clock the final 1:27 before turning the ball over with :01.4 left.

The second quarter was pedestrian by most high school basketball standards.

Just nine total points were scored as Webber tried to pick up the pace but hit on just 2-of-9 from the field.

Two inside the paint baskets by Cisne's Jon Lowery got the Lions to within a point at 14-13.

However Trout got loose for late basket, scoring on a baseline inbounds play with a little over a minute before intermission.

Cisne once again kept the ball away from the Trojans the final seconds of a quarter.

Still the Lions came away empty on that last possession of the half as some confusion left them without a shot attempt.

The quarter ended at 17-13 Webber.

"I am proud of the effort but execution-wise we made some mistakes," added Bowen. "We got some guys that don't have enough varsity experience yet and are still going through some growing pains."
Trout, a 6-foot junior, scored six points in the third quarter to lead Webber.

His second three-point play of the game was a spin move in the lane while being fouled by Lowery again.

The made free throw gave Webber a 23-19 lead.

"We wanted to guard McKenzie and Swartz and make someone else beat us," Bowen explained. "They (Webber) did a good job of getting the ball to the Trout kid and he hurt us."

McKenzie didn't get his second basket of the game (both 3-pointers) until 1:10 remained in the third quarter.

His 20-footer from the left wing, as he came around a screen, made it 26-19.

Swartz, who was held to a single basket in the game, connected on two free throws with :00.4 left in the third quarter.

The contest suddenly turned into a track meet in the final quarter.

Showing urgency of the moment, the Lions rallied behind five 3-pointers in the frame.

Farleigh hit a pair of long-range shots in the comeback.

Trailing 34-25 after a Swartz score in the paint, Farleigh hit back-to-back 3-pointers.

His second made 'trifecta' whittled the lead down to 36-31, which forced a Webber timeout with 3:54 remaining.

While the Trojans managed to cool down Farleigh, his backcourt mate Kincart, who hadn't scored since early in the first quarter, caught fire in the final minutes of the game.

A pair of free throws and two tough 3-pointers against strong defense, got the Lions within two possessions of the lead.

But during this streak, the Lions were forced to foul.

While not the free throw shooting juggernaut they were a season ago, the Trojans managed to hang on to this victory by making just enough of their freebies.

Kincart's final 3-pointer from the right wing closed the gap to 46-43 with just nine seconds left.

McKenzie iced the game, making 1-of-2 free throws with :07.1 to go to send Webber back to the Conrad Allen title game.

"I thought we played well defensively and their kids made some contested shots," Gross added. "Farleigh stepped up and made some big shots from 3-point range for them. He is one of the best players in that Midland Trail Conference and he showed it tonight. They run a lot of offensive sets to get him open."

The two teams nearly matched each other in the statistical battle.
Webber and Cisne both hauled down 25 rebounds.

Each club had 16 defensive boards and nine offensive rebounds.

While the Lions made 15-of-41 shots from the field overall, the Trojans connected on 14-of-41.

But the free throw line difference was the determining factor in the contest.

Individually the Trojans were led by Trout's 16-points while teammates McKenzie and Loker tossed in 13 and 10.

Cisne got 16 from Farleigh and 13 from Kincart as the Lions saw their record dip to 6-4 overall, 2-1 in the tournament.

"I thought our kids did a pretty good job of working our game plan tonight," said Bowen. "We knew we couldn't run with them. If it was an up-and-down game we were done so we made it a half court game."

Webber Township will tackle Clay City in the title game Friday night at 8:30 pm while Cisne will play Crab Orchard in the third place game slated for 7 pm.

Wayne City and Thompsonville, Mid-South Conference rivals that have played nine times in the last two seasons, will play for fifth place at 5:30 pm.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Cisne	9	4	6	24	-	43
Webber Township	12	5	11	19	-	47

Cisne (43) - Kincart 1 3 2-2 13, Rodgers 2 0 1-1 5, Farleigh 0 5 1-2 16, Lowery 2 0 0-0 4, Vaught 2 0 1-2 5, Rutger 0 0 0-2 0, Lowe 0 0 0-0 0, Obrecht 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-7, 3FG-8, FT-5-9, PF-21.
Webber Township (47) - McKenzie 2 2 3-5 13, Henry 0 0 2-2 2, Trout 5 0 6-12 16, Loker 4 0 2-2 10, Swartz 1 0 4-4 6, Scott 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-12, 3FG-2, FT-17-25, PF-12.
Fouled Out - Vaught, Cisne.
Technical Fouls - None.

CRAB ORCHARD 72, GRAYVILLE 71
The Trojans received two clutch free throws by Alex McCree with :01.4 seconds remaining to edge the Bison.
Tommy Kissing nearly broke the tournament's single-game scoring mark set 34-years ago at 48-points.
Kissing finished with 43-points but this 6-foot-1 senior was just 6-of-15 from the foul line.
Grayville got the lead with just :04 seconds to go on a pair of free throws by Greg O'Neal. But O'Neal, while chasing Kissing up the floor on the Trojans final chance, ran into McCree who was setting a pick to free up Kissing for a final shot.
Chris Duty added 15-markers for Crab Orchard while McCree finished with 12-points.
Cody Lynn topped the Bison (5-4) with 24-points. O'Neal and Drew DiMaggio chipped in 15 and 13.
Crab Orchard will play Cisne Friday night for third place.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Grayville	11	20	18	22	-	71
Crab Orchard	13	16	22	21	-	72

Grayville (71) - Conner 0 3 2-2 5, C. Lynn 12 0 0-1 24, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, O'Neal 5 0 5-5 15, Rudisill 2 0 0-0 4, Short 1 0 0-0 2, DiMaggio 5 1 0-0 13, T. Lynn 1 2 0-1 8.
2FG-25, 3FG-4, FT-7-9, PF-20.
Crab Orchard (72) - McCree 1 2 4-6 12, Duty 0 5 0-0 15, Boester 1 0 0-0 2, Brainard 0 0 0-0 0, Kissing 17 1 6-15 43, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, G. Pierce 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-8, FT-10-21, PF-15.
Fouled Out - O'Neal and Short, Grayville.
Technical Fouls - Kissing, Crab Orchard.

THOMPSONVILLE 68, PATOKA 49
The Tigers jumped all over Patoka in the opening game of the evening in waltzing to a easy win.
Having trouble most of the week on offense, Thompsonville had nine different players score in a win that allows coach John Robinson's team to play a fourth night in the fifth place game.
Ross Heern led the Tigers (3-6) with 15-points while Derrick and Josh Fisher added 10-each.
Jordan Potter finished with 13-points for Patoka, who saw their week come to a close at 2-8 overall, 0-3 in the event.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Thompsonville	23	19	15	11	-	68
Patoka	9	21	10	9	-	49

Thompsonville (68) - Clark 3 0 3-5 9, Dial 0 1 4-6 7, Heern 6 1 0-1 15, D. Fisher 3 0 4-6 10, J. Fisher 2 2 0-0 10, Browning 1 0 0-0 2, Gaither 2 1 2-2 9, Sickmeyer 2 0 0-0 4, Rumsey 0 0 0-0 0, Householder 0 0 0-0 0, Ja. Nelson 1 0 0-0 2, Jo. Nielson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-24, 3FG-0, FT-9-22, PF-17.
Patoka (49) -Junkins 0 0 0-0 0, Murfin 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 2 1 2-3 9, Cain 0 0 0-0 0, Back 0 1 0-0 3, Potter 0 2 7-8 18, Sullens 0 0 0-0 0, Hames 2 0 0-2 4, Metcalf 6 0 4-7 16, 1 0 2-4 4.
2FG-11, 3FG-4, FT-15-24, PF-19.
Fouled Out - Thompson, Patoka.
Technical Fouls - None.