11-28-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHRISTOPHER - There are some high expectations for the Christopher Bearcats in 2015-16 and rightfully so.

Goals have been set for this veteran lineup and winning their own Thanksgiving Tournament the first week of the season was one of those.

They can put a collective “check mark” on the first box.

The Bearcats, after spotting Webber Township an early lead, took advantage of their overall athletic ability and pulled away in the second half for a 68-52 championship game victory.

Despite allowing the Trojans a few runs that cut the deficit into single-digits, Christopher never got too uncomfortable in completing the week unbeaten at 3-0 in the bracketed tournament.

The Bearcats defensive effort forced Webber into a poor shooting night.

Coach Eric Stallman's Bearcats, ranked #6 in the ABV 1A Preseason Rankings, did nothing to dimish that status as they put three players in double-figures with 6-foot-3 sophomore Bradley Young netting 18-points to top all scorers.

Kaeleb Pedigo added 11-points while tourney MVP Hunter Wheeler tossed in 10.

“We settled for 3-pointers the other night against Wayne City but tonight I thought we did a better job of getting to the rim,” said Coach Stallman.

For Webber Township, it was the second consecutive season of going 2-1 in the week and the Trojans hung tough with the defending champs but couldn't put together enough defensive stops to rally for the win.

Junior guard Jaxon Helm topped the Trojans with 13-points while sophomore Dylan Stratton added 10.
Charles Neal and Brody Mount chipped in nine points each.

Webber's best run of the contest was in the opening minutes as Coach Brad Beaty's squad took an early 9-4 lead.

Stratton hit a 3-pointer to start the run and 6-foot-4 senior Corey Hammer scored on an inbound lob pass from Stratton where the forward grabbed the pass with one-hand and banked it home for a five-point lead with 5:02 left in the opening quarter.

However it didn't take the defending tournament champs very long to get going.

A 10-0 run gave Christopher the lead back for keeps.

Junior guard Isaac McPhail scored six of the points as the 6-foot-1 forward began the run with a fast break on an assist from Wheeler and ended the sprint the same way, converting a transition bucket on another pass from the tournament's MVP.

His lay in made it 14-9 Bearcats.

“We distribute the ball well with our guards and we had some guys off the bench step up for us,” said Coach Stallman. “That was really key tonight, we got some minutes out of some kids who may not play that much each night but they did a good job tonight.”

Stratton hit another long range shot for the Trojans but four consecutive free throws by the host closed the frame at 18-13 Christopher.

In the world of boxing, the phrase keeping an opponent at “arms length” is used to describe having the other team where you want them.

The Bearcats had, for the most part, Webber in that predicament.

The Trojans would make a brief move to get within striking range but Christopher would respond.

Back-to-back scores from Webber's Neal and Hammer cut the Trojans disadvantage to just 23-19 in the second quarter.

But Christopher used Webber's foul trouble in the second stanza to add some points to the totals.

Coach Stallman's group hit 8-of-9 charity tosses before intermission and led 34-27 at the break.

“We got into some foul trouble tonight but I thought that the guys on our bench came in and gave us a good effort,” said Coach Beaty. “But they (Christopher) are so hard to defend. Hunter is an extremely strong guard and it is difficult to square him up and keep him in front and he has two shooters on the wings to go to and he has a big guy in the middle.”

Christopher appeared ready to completely coast home by taking its biggest lead during a third quarter move.

The first double-figure lead of the evening came in the early going in the second half as the Bearcats caught Webber napping for an easy score, which started another run.

Senior reserve forward Luke Winget scored inside while being fouled by Neal.

Winget missed the free throw but Webber's Neal thought it was a two-shot situation and let the ball go.

Wheeler was right there, knowing the situation, and capitalized with a short lay in for a 40-28 lead with 7:15 left in the third.

The lead ballooned to its largest point on a 7-1 run, culminated with a trey from junior guard Gabe Schimpf at the 3:41 mark.

His 20-footer from the left corner pushed the lead to 50-34.

Behind Brody Mount, the Trojans “mounted” a third quarter rally.

The 6-foot sophomore scored six of his nine points in the third quarter, with back-to-back 3-point bombs helping to get Webber back in the game.

When Neal followed up with 1-of-2 free throws, Webber had closed the quarter with a 7-0 sprint and trailed just 53-45 heading to the final quarter.

Mount added to his total with a score in the first minute of the fourth to get Webber to within six and forced a Christopher timeout.

“I took the timeout (in the fourth quarter) and told the kids 'let's not fall in love with the 3-pointer, lets get some quality shots' and we did that,” added Coach Stallman. “Let's get to the rim and get some easy buckets.”

This was as close as the visitors would get as Christopher made a move and put the game on ice.

A 10-2 run, sparked by pair of drives to the basket by Young and a back door lay up by senior Josh Calloni on yet another assist from Wheeler put an end to the drama at 65-50 with 2:11 remaining.

Wheeler and McPhail closed the book with 3-of-4 free throws in the final 1:15.

“The three-peat is nice. When you are the host of a tournament, you are supposed to win it. It is a great start to the season,” finalized Coach Stallman. “A lot of these tournaments, and there are too many of them, have went to Pool Play and different ways to guarantee games. They want to play a lot of games early on and I understand that. But I really like this, the old bracket format. This is the 41st year and it is still a traditional format. You win and you move to the right (on the bracket) and that is a good goal to have. I like that type of tournament.”

Webber hit just 4-of-19 3-point attempts and just 17-of-46 overall in the loss.

The Bearcats weren't too much better but they hit enough big shots to win comfortably.

Coach Stallman saw his club finish 22-of-49 on the night, 6-of-13 from the arc while edging Webber on the glass, 34-33.

After committing five turnovers in the first quarter, Christopher settled down and had just six more the rest of the way for 11-total.

Webber turned the ball over 14-times.

“I thought we wore down but I told the guys, we probably got more out of tonight than we got the first two nights,” said Coach Beaty. “Tip my hat to Christopher. It would not shock me to see them at SIU (supersectional) because they are that good. This is a great atmosphere for our guys to play in. This was a fun game. It was a good night's work but we have some things to work on.”

Webber Township (52) – Johnson 0 0 2-2 2, Neal 4 0 1-2 9, Hammer 3 0 2-4 8, Helm 4 0 5-7 13, Stratton 1 2 2-4 10, Girvan 0 0 0-0 0, Hart 0 0 1-3 1, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Burrell 0 0 0-0 0, Munt 1 2 1-4 9.
2FG-13, 3FG-4, FT-14-26, PF-22.
Christopher (68) – Snell 0 0 0-0 0, McPhail 2 0 4-4 8, Pedigo 0 3 2-4 11, Wheeler 3 0 4-4 10, Schimpf 0 2 0-0 6, Curry 0 0 2-2 2, Young 4 1 7-11 18, Calloni 3 0 1-1 7, Winget 2 0 2-3 6.
2FG-14, 3FG-6, FT-22-29, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Mount - Webber Township.
Technical Fouls – None.

In other games on the final day of the event, Thompsonville picked up its first win of the season with a 51-24 victory over Egyptian in the seventh place contest.

Cobden won the consolation championship with a 64-57 victory over Zeigler-Royalton.

Waltonville edged Wayne City, 45-43, to nab the third place trophy.

The all-tournament team consisted of MVP Hunter Wheeler, Isaac McPhail, Bradley Young and Josh Calloni from Christopher. Webber Township's Charles Neal, Jaxon Helm and Corey Hammer. Waltonville's Ryan Majewski and Dylan Miller, and Zeigler-Royalton junior Steven Anderson was also named to the all-tournament team.